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

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Friday news, part two of three:

Helldivers 2 CCO Johan Pilestedt says the industry's got it backwards by putting features over fundamentals: 'We talk way too little about the core philosophy'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-cco-johan-pilestedt-says-the-industrys-got-it-backwards-by-putting-features-over-fundamentals-we-talk-way-too-little-about-the-core-philosophy/
Helldivers 2's runaway popularity last year was, in part, due to just how focused it felt—while other games might bombard you from orbit with a silo of microtransactions, features, menus, and stats, Helldivers 2 basically said, "Hey, do you like shooting bugs? You wanna scrap some robots? Here's a bunch of guns to do just that. Here's a game that's very good at it. Go hog wild."
That's not to say it doesn't have secondary systems, mind. There's still an unlock system and microtransactional Warbonds for $10 a pop (or a dozen plus hours grinding currency) but it is, overall, a videogame that knows what it's about. Johan Pilestedt, CCO of Arrowhead Games—and formerly its CEO, before stepping down so he could get his mitts more on the creative process—had some similar thoughts at GDC, during a talk about the game's success.

You can finally try out Old School RuneScape’s first new skill in nearly two decades right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/you-can-finally-try-out-old-school-runescapes-first-new-skill-in-nearly-two-decades-right-now/
Old School RuneScape has always had a tightrope to walk—honor the past it exists to keep alive without completely stagnating while modern RuneScape, or RuneScape 3, does whatever it wants—which makes today a historic occasion for the long-running MMO. While past additions have been abstemious, largely in line with the school of design and scope you’d expect from RuneScape’s humble 2007 version, the new sailing skill adds a whole dimension of play.

'Searches for Invisible Woman went up 3,000%': Marvel Rivals devs innocently reflect on how popular some of their heroes have become
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/searches-for-invisible-woman-went-up-3-000-percent-marvel-rivals-devs-innocently-reflect-on-how-popular-some-of-their-heroes-have-become/
One of Marvel Rivals' biggest selling points is all the big-name heroes on the roster. Players get to enjoy suiting up as iconic characters like Iron Man and Captain America, as well as some curveballs, like Luna Snow and Jeff the Land Shark, all while in (appropriately) a hero shooter. The first additions to the roster came in the first half of Season 1, Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman.
(...)
Despite the Fantastic Four's long history in Marvel comics alongside a handful of film appearances, albeit some better than others, the team still noticed an uptick in searches, specifically for Invisible Woman. "When we announced Fantastic Four, the Google searches for Invisible Woman went up 3,000% in that period," Danny Koo, executive producer at Marvel Games, tells PC Gamer at GDC.
>> I wonder what other terms included those searches...

Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope says 'it's a tragedy' his 2013 immigration sim now feels so on-the-nose: 'You want your work to be relevant, but at the same time, wow, I really wish it was not that f***ing relevant'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/papers-please-creator-lucas-pope-says-its-a-tragedy-his-2013-immigration-sim-now-feels-so-on-the-nose-you-want-your-work-to-be-relevant-but-at-the-same-time-wow-i-really-wish-it-was-not-that-f-ing-relevant/
Papers, Please, first released in 2013, was among the vanguard of indie games that felt like they had something to say, turning the simple act of processing paperwork into a pointed commentary on the political brutality of immigration. It was set in a fictional Soviet-esque country in 1982, which creator Lucas Pope used to amplify the painful decisionmaking of who to allow across the border—defy your authoritarian leaders and your family would go hungry; enforce the letter of the law, and you were turning away refugees who were pinning their hopes on a new life on your understanding and grace.
(...)
"That's the wildest thing: When I made it, I felt like 'the relevancy of this is dropping. It was an issue, but things are going to get better from here,'" Pope said in an interview with PC Gamer at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. "It blows my mind that it's only becoming more and more relevant over time. Honestly, it's a tragedy."

After suspending development in 2024, People Can Fly brings Project Victoria back to life as survival-extraction shooter Lost Rift
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/after-suspending-development-in-2024-people-can-fly-brings-project-victoria-back-to-life-as-survival-extraction-shooter-lost-rift/
Just a few months after People Can Fly announced the suspension of work on Project Victoria, it's sprung back to life as Lost Rift, a survival shooter that blends solo or co-op PvE gameplay and base-building with "intense PvPvE expeditions" across a mysterious archipelago of islands.

Bloober Team’s new horror label just unveiled an isometric survival horror game straight out of a comic book: ‘Avoid the Horned Man at all costs’
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/bloober-teams-new-horror-label-just-unveiled-an-isometric-survival-horror-game-straight-out-of-a-comic-book-avoid-the-horned-man-at-all-costs/
You might know Bloober Team for its Silent Hill 2 remake, which everyone was really scared would suck until it turned out to be pretty okay, but the studio’s penchant for polarizing horror goes back a long way. These days, it’s cooking up games under a horror-centric co-development label called Broken Mirror Games—the latest of which is a crafty, shooty, isometric survive-em-up called I Hate This Place.

'He's just gonna show up one day and say, here's 100 new jokers:' Balatro's publisher doesn't know how big the 1.1 update will be or when it's coming
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/hes-just-gonna-show-up-one-day-and-say-heres-100-new-jokers-balatros-publisher-doesnt-know-how-big-the-1-1-update-will-be-or-when-its-coming/
"Of the new jokers being added to Balatro, which is your favorite?"
This was my incredibly lame attempt to extract a little classified information about the upcoming Balatro 1.1 update while talking to Wout van Halderen, the communications director at Balatro's publisher, Playstack, when we talked at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco this week.
My dumb little gambit didn't work (of course it didn't) but that's not the only reason van Halderen wouldn't tell me about the new jokers coming to Balatro. From what I gather, the notoriously private developer LocalThunk goes off and works on the game and doesn't necessarily share all the details with Playstack every step of the way.

Wizards of the Coast gaming head says Baldur's Gate 3 'certainly raised the bar' and changed how they think about big budget D&D, but they still want 'different entry points' including smaller games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/wizards-of-the-coast-gaming-head-says-baldurs-gate-3-certainly-raised-the-bar-and-changed-how-they-think-about-big-budget-d-and-d-but-they-still-want-different-entry-points-including-smaller-games/
Earlier this week, Wizards of the Coast senior vice president of digital games Dan Ayoub said that we won't have to wait too long to see what the company has in store for D&D. In an interview with PC Gamer, I asked him just what that meant—did "soon" in fact mean sometime in 2025?
"Definitely," he told me.
While I couldn't lure Ayoub into saying the words "Baldur's Gate 4" in our interview, we did talk about the impact Baldur's Gate 3 has had on the company's future plans for videogame adaptations of D&D. It has made an impact—a big one—but Wizards is clearly looking to adapt the tabletop game in more forms than giant, systemic RPGs like Larian's.

Nightdive's remaster of System Shock 2, the peak of immersive sims, finally has a release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/nightdives-remaster-of-system-shock-2-the-peak-of-immersive-sims-finally-has-a-release-date/
Here's my confession: I think I prefer System Shock 2 to Deus Ex. Not that I don't love JC Denton like a son, mind you, it's just that SS2's creepy hallways and pitch-perfect antagonists have taken root in my heart forever.
So I gotta be honest, of all the whizzbang announcements spilling out of the Future Games Show, the one I'm most excited about is Nightdive's KEX Engine redo—the System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster, which just got shown off during the show. It's coming out on June 26 this year on Steam and GOG, a brisk six years after it was originally announced.

The Finals new season is here, toting permanent team deathmatch and a giant minigun
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-finals-new-season-is-here-toting-permanent-team-deathmatch-and-a-giant-minigun/
The Finals has experimented a fair bit with its gamemode selection since it came out, ranging from a serviceable free-for-all format to the more popular Power Shift—and that continues with today’s launch of Season 6, which will permanently add team deathmatch as a mode for anyone eager to trade all these fancy rulesets for a no-nonsense bloodbath.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is heading to the ocean with a Viking-themed naval expansion this summer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/mount-and-blade-2-bannerlord-is-heading-to-the-ocean-with-a-viking-themed-naval-expansion-this-summer/
What's summer for if not heading to the nearest body of water and flinging yourself into it? But if you'd rather stay dry, you can instead send an army of hardened warriors into the sea in Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord's upcoming naval expansion, War Sails.

If you were worried Onimusha 2 won’t be hard enough, I have great news: Hell mode is here to ruin your life
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/if-you-were-worried-onimusha-2-wont-be-hard-enough-i-have-great-news-hell-mode-is-here-to-ruin-your-life/
If you’re at the center of the Venn diagram comparing Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny fans and masochists who prefer their protagonists go down in one hit, rejoice: a new developer diary trailer for the game’s remaster debuted at the Future Games Show today, and it shows off the appropriately titled "hell mode."

In this airship-building survival game, I faced an enemy worth punching trees over: 'The hubris of man'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/in-this-airship-building-survival-game-i-faced-an-enemy-worth-punching-trees-over-the-hubris-of-man/
Sometime in the first or second century AD, the ancient Greek mathematician and engineer Heron of Alexandria invented the world's first steam engine. In Echoes of Elysium, an upcoming survival game from Loric Games, Heron didn't stop there: He's punched a hole into Elysium, the mythic paradise of Greco-Roman mythology, where he's harvesting the souls of heroes to power a legion of violent automatons.
During a hands-on preview demo at this year's GDC, Loric Games told me that, by reclaiming Elysium from Heron's mechanical hordes, I would be battling "the hubris of man." And as we all know, the best weapon against mankind's hubris is a sick airship.

Wield a brinerevolver as a brinehunter in Abyssus, the briniest ‘brinepunk’ shooter this side of the Mariana Trench
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/wield-a-brinerevolver-as-a-brinehunter-in-abyssus-the-briniest-brinepunk-shooter-this-side-of-the-mariana-trench/
When Abyssus first dredged itself up and into view at last year’s PC Gaming Show, I was immediately struck by its glowy firearms, which appeared moddable on the fly and unique in the world of co-op FPS. I love Deep Rock’s flamethrowers and Vermintide’s swords and sorcery just fine, but let me have my cake and eat it too with a gun I can stuff full of magic gubbins and whatnot.
It seems like that’s developer DoubleMoose’s exact intention, as a press release from the game’s publisher today noted Abyssus’ primary inspiration was "frequent sessions of playing Deep Rock Galactic, Warhammer 2: Vermintide and Gunfire Reborn." Being a co-op roguelite FPS, this is no surprise, but what makes this game stand out to me is its deep-sea aesthetic—which we got a closer look at in the game’s newest trailer, which debuted at Future Games Show today.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's director was 'starving for new turn-based RPGs,' and figured if he wanted them, there would be others out there who'd want to play his game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/clair-obscur-expedition-33s-director-was-starving-for-new-turn-based-rpgs-and-figured-if-he-wanted-them-there-would-be-others-out-there-whod-want-to-play-his-game/
I had the chance to talk to Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 producer François Meurisse during the 2025 Game Developers Conference, and the Sandfall Interactive COO got down to brass tacks about how the game draws on JRPG history, the types of stories that can be told with these mechanics, and how the ambitious Expedition 33 has more in common with previous JRPGs than it might seem.