Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

Friday news, part two:

My favourite Steam Next Fest game, Cozy Desktop Konbini, combines my love for shopping management sims and desktop idlers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/my-favourite-steam-next-fest-game-cozy-desktop-konbini-combines-my-love-for-shopping-management-sims-and-desktop-idlers/
Lately, there's been a bit of a desktop idler wave engulfing the PC Gamer team. It all started with Ropuka's Idle Island, but after I'd put 20 hours into this little game, I started looking for a new idle game. Luckily, I found my match while scouring through all the Steam Next Fest demos.
Cozy Desktop Konbini does pretty much what it says on the tin—while you're working or getting on with other tasks, you can also manage a little convenience store on your desktop. Within the first few minutes, I realised that this was going to be my forever idle game, mostly because I love management sims like TCG Card Shop Simulator.

EA just released source code for a bunch of old Command and Conquer games, and added Steam Workshop support to bangers like C&C 3: Tiberium Wars
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/ea-just-released-source-code-for-a-bunch-of-old-command-and-conquer-games-and-added-steam-workshop-support-to-bangers-like-c-and-c-3-tiberium-wars/
I have a diseased mind that only wants one thing—a proper remaster of Tiberian Sun, much like Red Alert and OG Command and Conquer got back in 2020 with the release of the Command and Conquer: Remastered Collection.
Well, I haven't got it yet, but I have got a decent second prize: EA's announced that it's releasing the source code for a bunch of old C&C games and—here's the bit where I, as a man who enjoys modding but is also very lazy, gets excited—adding Steam Workshop support to a few more.
>> Two miracles in one day? (the other the AMD pricing) Amazing!

The Splitgate 2 open alpha is live now and very fun
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-splitgate-2-open-alpha-is-live-now-and-very-fun/
It took a few matches of Splitgate 2 before I understood what 1047 Games was going for in the sequel. A preview session held a few weeks ago took us through every mode on offer in the alpha running today through March 2, and while I couldn't stay for the whole thing, I stuck around long enough to fall in love with Hotzone, 1047's take on King of the Hill.

Adult game dev reveals annual gamer 'kink survey' results: 'Monster Girls' are on top, but 'Tentacles dropped out of the top 25'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adult-game-dev-posts-gamer-kink-survey-results-monster-girls-are-on-top-but-tentacles-dropped-out-of-the-top-25/
Sexy games have been around for as long I can remember: I played Strip Poker on my Apple IIe way back in the '80s. But Steam's hands-off curation policy, the arrival of indie-friendly marketplaces like Itch.io, and the rise of monetization platforms like Patreon have led to a proliferation of adult games that means it's not unusual to see them sitting next to big-budget mainstream games on virtual shelves these days.
(...)
HotPink is a game developer who makes "cute lewd games" on Patreon and Itch like The Endless Stream, a twin-stick shooter where your reward for surviving hordes of zombies is sex with the game's cast of heroes, and River City Girls parody Lewd City Girls, a side-scrolling pixel beat 'em up where you can also, as the dev puts it, "beat 'em off."
Since 2020, HotPink has been polling players and fans about their kinks and preferences to help them decide what sorts of sex acts to put in their games. The polls present a randomly sorted list of kinks—shower sex, BDSM, femdom, cosplay, food play, body swap, just to name a few of the over a hundred kinks listed in the survey—giving users a chance to rank each from 1 to 5, with 1 being "I don't want to see this in a game" and 5 being "please include this in a game."
>> Careful with that link.

Dungeonborne, the game that once threatened to steal Dark and Darker's crown, is closing in May
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/dungeonborne-the-game-that-once-threatened-to-steal-dark-and-darkers-crown-is-closing-in-may/
Dungeonborne, the game that once looked set to compete with Dark and Darker on the fantasy hack-and-slash extraction game front, is throwing in the towel. Developer Mithril Interactive announced today that new account registrations and in-game purchases will be halted on February 28, and the game itself will go dark on May 28.

Epic will give Fortnite cheaters 'a second chance' with a new, more forgiving ban policy, as long as they didn't do anything too awful or illegal
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/epic-will-give-fortnite-cheaters-a-second-chance-with-a-new-more-forgiving-ban-policy-as-long-as-they-didnt-do-anything-too-awful-or-illegal/
Everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes arise from good intentions—paving the road to Hell and all that—and sometimes, well, maybe you just didn't think things through very well. But Epic Games says it believes in second chances, so if you've made a mistake in Fortnite at some point in the past, it's going to give you a shot at redemption—after you serve some suitable penance.

BioWare co-founder laments Jade Empire's commercial failure and blames it on 'the worst advice, absolutely moronic advice' from Microsoft
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/bioware-co-founder-laments-jade-empires-commercial-failure-and-blames-it-on-the-worst-advice-absolutely-moronic-advice-from-microsoft/
BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk left the company with fellow founder Ray Muzyka in 2012, four years after the pair had sold the storied RPG developer to Electronic Arts. It's fair to say that both are probably watching recent events with interest, after the lukewarm commercial reception to Dragon Age: The Veilguard saw the publisher react by slashing jobs at BioWare, leaving a smaller staff focused entirely on the next Mass Effect game.
Zeschuk has just appeared on the My Perfect Console podcast with Simon Parkin, during which he goes over much of Bioware's history (including his pipe dream of taking over EA "from the inside"). During the chat Zeschuk talks about the worst advice he ever received in the industry which, unfortunately, he acted upon: And it's all about Jade Empire.

D&D-skewering, Disco Elysium-inspired RPG Esoteric Ebb had me trying my best to be a cleric while my Intelligence stat kept telling me to become a wizard-king
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/d-and-d-skewering-disco-elysium-inspired-rpg-esoteric-ebb-had-me-trying-my-best-to-be-a-cleric-while-my-intelligence-stat-kept-telling-me-to-become-a-wizard-king/
Waking up in a morgue in the updated demo for Disco Elysium-like RPG Esoteric Ebb, the first thing I did was check out the other body lying in there with me. It's hard to tell what's a brand new interaction compared to my run through Esoteric Ebb's original demo versus pre-existing stuff uncovered by a fresh character build⁠—I went all in on Intelligence and Wisdom this time.

Civilization 7's first in-game event postponed so Firaxis can 'prioritize quality-of-life improvements'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/civilization-7s-first-in-game-event-postponed-so-firaxis-can-prioritize-quality-of-life-improvements/
Civilization 7 had a rougher-than-expected launch, thanks largely to changes that made it, as we said in our 76% review, "the most streamlined and pared-back the series has been in a long time"—and not always in a good way. The backlash was strong enough that developer Firaxis committed to fixes and improvements before Civ 7 was even in full release, and in a "check-in" posted today it shared details on what players can look forward to over the next couple months.
The 1.1.0 update is set to go live on March 4 and will make further adjustments and fixes to Civilization 7's UI, which Firaxis said in February was the studio's "top priority." A number of gameplay changes will also be made, including "significant changes to the Modern Age's Cultural Legacy Path and Victory," and AI leaders will be better able to complete Cultural Victories.

'It runs awful. It looks awful': Monster Hunter Wilds performance issues put a dampener on its record-breaking concurrents as it settles into an early Mixed rating on Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/it-runs-awful-it-looks-awful-monster-hunter-wilds-performance-issues-put-a-dampener-on-its-record-breaking-concurrents-as-it-settles-into-an-early-mixed-rating-on-steam/
I'm now over 100 hours into Monster Hunter Wilds, yet between a respectable rig and a CPU upgrade a few hours into playing, I gotta say: The game runs kinda bum. That seems to be the most commonly shared sentiment among the game's negative Steam reviews right now too, with the first few hours of launch seeing it dip below 50% positive into a 'Mixed' rating.
>> If the game crashes for you, try turning frame gen off.

Palworld's developer gives staff day off after Monster Hunter Wilds causes 'a series of mysterious reports from many employees that they may feel unwell'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/palworlds-developer-gives-staff-day-off-after-monster-hunter-wilds-causes-a-series-of-mysterious-reports-from-many-employees-that-they-may-feel-unwell/
Monster Hunter Wilds is, well, real popular right now. With over 1.1 million people hopping into the game on Steam alone in less than 6 hours, it seems like everyone and their Palicos are venturing into the wastes to slay some beasties. So much so, in fact, that several companies in Japan are simply throwing up their hands and saying fine, fine, take the day off.
This includes Palworld's developer Pocketpair, which posted to X this morning the following (machine-translated) statement: "For some reason, many employees have reported that they may be feeling unwell tomorrow, so tomorrow [they've] been given an extra day off." The full image also reads:
"Regarding February 28th, we have received a series of mysterious reports from many employees that they may feel unwell tomorrow, so the company has decided to institute a special holiday." Not everyone's got the day off, mind—there's a note that some departments are excluded, and "updates to 'PalWorld' and 'Craftopia' are progressing smoothly and are expected to be implemented as scheduled."
>> Monster Hunter is the new Dragon Quest.

I became a domestic terrorist to steal a lightbulb in the best immersive sim I've played this Steam Next Fest—and it isn't even a Next Fest demo
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/i-became-a-domestic-terrorist-to-steal-a-lightbulb-in-the-best-immersive-sim-ive-played-this-steam-next-fest-and-it-isnt-even-a-next-fest-demo/
Looking back, we'll call this period a renaissance for games that are kind of a pain in the ass. Stalker 2, Kingdom Come, Atomfall on the horizon—the gaming public of 2025 wants nothing more than to die face-down in the mud, victims to clockworld worlds that have their own rules and obey them unsparingly.
I couldn't be happier, and in my Next Fest meandering I think I might have found the true king of the genre: Peripeteia, a cyberpunk immersive sim set in an alt-reality Poland, whose developers were brave enough to ask the question: 'What if Jucika had a gun?' Its demo is also, well, not actually part of Next Fest, though I can't recommend strongly enough that you try it anyway. The game hit early access last week, and I'm eager to see where it goes.

And here come the load of weekend deals rom GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• Let’s start with the Limited Time Offers, lasting 70 hours:
  • Laika: Aged Through Blood will be 40% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/laika_aged_through_blood
  • SteamWorld Heist II has a 50% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/steamworld_heist_ii
  • And SteamWorld Build is 60% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/steamworld_build
• The first sale is the 505 Pulse Games Launch, with up to 66% off games during 5 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/505_pulse_games_launch
• The Stealth Promo has up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250228_stealth_promo
• The new Weekly Deals come with up to 92% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250228_weekly_deals_1_march
• The Great Soundtrack Promo brings games up to 95% off: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250228_great_soundtracks_promo
• The Point, Think, Click! Promo features up to 95% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250228_point_click_promo
• And the last one is the Sci-Fi Promo, with up to 95% deals during the next 10 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250228_sci_fi_promo

+Steam

• Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be 20% off until Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2677660/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Great_Circle/
• Only Climb: Better Together will have a 20% discount until the 6th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2500750/Only_Climb_Better_Together/
• Ratten Reich, still in Early Access, is going to be 30% off until the 6th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1717250/Ratten_Reich/
• Dark Hours, also in Early Access, will have a 20% discount until the 12th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2208570/Dark_Hours/
• Another Early Access title, Travellers Rest, will be 33% off until the 13th of March: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1139980/Travellers_Rest/
• Expeditions: A MudRunner Game will be free to try during the weekend and 40% off until the 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2477340/Expeditions_A_MudRunner_Game/
• The Command & Conquer franchise is on sale, 70% off until March 13: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/commandconquer-franchise
• PHOGS! has a demo and an 80% discount until, again, the 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/850320/PHOGS/
• Ubisoft puts its games on sale with up to 85% discounts until March, the 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Ubisoftpublishersale2025
• Publisher Team17 also puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts until Thursday the 13th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32941731/sale/Pre-Spring25
• And last, but not least, the Days of Ramadan Festival, with lots of demos and some games on sale with up to 80% deals. The Festival will last until the 31st of March, but the deals will end sooner than that, with some of them ending this Monday: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45022621/sale/RamadanFestival2025

That’s enough gaming news for the week. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.