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

[JEMC]

And the last post of news:

The 37-year-old studio behind Myst and Riven laid off 'roughly half' of its staff: 'Our sincere hope is to continue to be around'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-37-year-old-studio-behind-myst-and-riven-laid-off-roughly-half-of-its-staff-our-sincere-hope-is-to-continue-to-be-around/
Less than a year after releasing its acclaimed Riven remake, Cyan Worlds announced last week that twelve of its employees were laid off in a statement on Bluesky.
That represents around half of the studio according to the statement, which adds: "We are having to weigh the future health of our studio against the month-to-month realities of game development in 2025." It says that leadership was "ultra-transparent" with employees about the state of the games industry and the "choppy waters" that led to these layoffs, and Cyan Worlds stated that "the news of a layoff was not a surprise to the team."

SAG-AFTRA makes exception for student devs and game jams in 8-month videogame performance strike: 'I'm thrilled that these types of projects can now be accommodated'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/sag-aftra-makes-exception-for-student-devs-and-game-jams-in-8-month-videogame-performance-strike-im-thrilled-that-these-types-of-projects-can-now-be-accommodated/
SAG-AFTRA is making a move to support student game developers amidst its ongoing strike with a new exception that will allow striking video game actors to work on student projects and game jams.

At one point, Avowed would have taught us to use magic with an explosive Elder Scrolls reference: 'How about we just have a guy on the road that blows himself up'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/at-one-point-avowed-would-have-taught-us-to-use-magic-with-an-explosive-elder-scrolls-reference-how-about-we-just-have-a-guy-on-the-road-that-blows-himself-up/
When I spoke to Obsidian region director Berto Ritger about Avowed earlier this month, the conversation mostly focused on the game's excellent level design and exploration. But he also touched on how drastically Avowed's early game changed in development. While that was probably for the best, a great Elder Scrolls gag in Avowed was originally even better.

Satisfactory 1.1 will have autoconnecting blueprints, vertical splitters, branching hypertube networks, controllers, photo mode, and more
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/satisfactory-1-1-will-have-autoconnecting-blueprints-vertical-splitters-branching-hypertube-networks-controllers-photo-mode-just-way-too-much-frankly/
Coffee Stain Studios has announced some contents of the upcoming 1.1 update for Satisfactory, the first update for the popular and genre-defining sandbox factory game since its quite successful 1.0 release last year. It's a doozy, combining a ton of quality-of-life and design features that players have been modding in on their own since Satisfactory came out.

Cult classic Rain World has dropped a new expansion about its most mysterious slugcat yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/cult-classic-rain-world-has-dropped-a-new-expansion-about-its-most-mysterious-slugcat-yet/
We've known it was coming since last year, but atmospheric, beautiful, ecologically-driven metroidvania platformer Rain World's new expansion has dropped.
In Rain World: The Watcher, you become Nightcat, AKA The Watcher, a new and adorable slugcat with its own (new, adorable) gimmick—finding mysterious echoes of itself, which will require you to check out all kinds of new places on the map.

Nordhold is out now, and one of the year's most interesting tower defense games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/nordhold-is-out-now-and-one-of-the-years-most-interesting-tower-defense-games/
Any strategy fan likes to see a nice tower defense game, and hey, here's one now: Nordhold has you managing a little Nordic village and using replayable combinations of towers to defend it from hordes of fantasy monsters.

Videogame collectibles don't have to suck, argues seasoned dev: 'I'm lookin' at you, Korok Seeds'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/videogame-collectibles-dont-have-to-suck-argues-seasoned-dev-im-lookin-at-you-korok-seeds/
Bear with me, dear reader, and ask yourself: What makes for a good collectible? I obviously have a few good ideas now, because I'm writing this article, but before then I admit I'd be hard-pressed to give you a proper list. I know what makes a bad one, mind, but what gives them the juice? Is it something that makes a little noise when you pick it up? Does it make a bar increase somewhere?
Joe Morrissey, a seasoned writer and director who spoke at GDC this year, has a few solid ideas. In case you're unfamiliar, Morrissey has quite a few credits, including Diablo 2 and 3, InFamous 1 and 2, and Ghost of Tsushima.

CEO of GTA 6 publisher Take-Two isn't worried about AI-generated slop games: 'It’s built on data that already exists, it’s backward-looking—big hits are forward-looking'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/grand-theft-auto/ceo-of-gta-6-publisher-take-two-isnt-worried-about-ai-generated-slop-games-its-built-on-data-that-already-exists-its-backward-looking-big-hits-are-forward-looking/
Generative AI has shunted its great technological heft into all sorts of industries over the past few years—and videogames aren't an exception, not by a long-shot.
(...)
That's not to say it doesn't have its uses—frame generation's neat, and deep-learning tech has lots of annoying busywork to automate, but the way you see some execs talk about it, generative AI is somehow the future of everything. Soon we'll be able to simply ask a machine to generate a game we want to play—and isn't that better? Not really, says CEO of Take-Two Strauss Zelnick, a publisher that's currently bankrolling a tiny little game called Grand Theft Auto 6.

Monster Hunter Wilds will finally let players transmog their ugly Artian weapons, and there's been some much-needed acknowledgement of PC performance problems
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/monster-hunter-wilds-will-finally-let-players-transmog-their-ugly-artian-weapons-and-theres-been-some-much-needed-acknowledgement-of-pc-performance-problems/
Monster Hunter Wilds has been out for over four weeks now, but that doesn't mean Capcom's finished cooking. We already have a roadmap for future updates, like this week's Title Update 1—introducing Mizutsune, a gathering hub, and arena quests—as well as more updates into May before a second major patch in the summer.
But wait, there's more. To commemorate the fact the game's sold over 10 million copies, director Yuya Tokuda has done a big ol' blog post. There's some stuff we already knew about, but there's also, finally, some much-needed recognition around the PC version's performance issues as well as some extra details on what we can expect to come in the following months.

Lovecraftian horror detective game The Sinking City's grand redemption arc continues, with a shiny new remaster coming free to all existing owners
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/lovecraftian-horror-detective-game-the-sinking-citys-grand-redemption-arc-continues-with-a-shiny-new-remaster-coming-free-to-all-existing-owners/
Back in 2023, I had a blast with developer Frogwares' remake of Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. Its blend of detective work and Lovecraftian horror felt like the studio fully in its element. I enjoy its straight Sherlock Holmes games, but increasingly they have this undercurrent of dark strangeness—particularly noticeable in most recent entry Chapter One—as if the team are straining to stop themselves slipping a tentacle and a cult sacrifice into the middle of the mystery.
All of which made it particularly sad to look back on the original fate of The Sinking City, Frogwares' full-on, mask-off Lovecraftian detective game. It felt rough on launch, and then owing to a dispute with the game's publisher, has existed in an awkward limbo for years that has prevented post-release support. Players on Steam couldn't get the latest patches, including basic features like achievements as well as serious bug fixes and even DLC.
It's definitely getting its second chance now, at least. Not only did Frogwares regain control of the Steam page last year and update the game to its most recent version with all expansions available, it also announced a sequel. And now there's one more treat to secure the game's legacy: it's getting a remaster, and it'll be free to all existing owners.