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

[JEMC]

And here’s the expected third part of today’s news:

The rights to one of the greatest PC games of all time languished in the vault of a Midwestern insurance firm until a frustrated player bugged them about a re-release, 'But they asked me if I wanted to do System Shock 3'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-rights-to-one-of-the-greatest-pc-games-of-all-time-languished-in-the-vault-of-a-midwestern-insurance-firm-until-a-frustrated-player-bugged-them-about-a-re-release-but-they-asked-me-if-i-wanted-to-do-system-shock-3/
Speaking to Nightdive founder Stephen Kick and VP of business development Larry Kuperman at this year's Game Developers Conference, I was curious about how it felt to be returning to System Shock 2 for the studio's upcoming remaster. After all, I had a loose understanding that Shock 2 is the game that kicked off Nightdive in the first place.
Kick recounted the unlikely story of how he found himself making deals to revive a dead franchise, and also supplied a detail I'd never known before: For the longest time, the rights to System Shock were in the hands of an insurance company that had no idea what to do with them.

That game jam based on Oblivion's terrible persuasion wheel actually produced some good, weird ideas
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/that-game-jam-based-on-oblivions-terrible-persuasion-wheel-actually-produced-some-good-weird-ideas/
A couple of months ago PC Gamer's Joshua Wolens bemoaned the state of this world with regards to how there is not in fact an elaborate remaster or remake of Oblivion available to him. He was consoled, however, by the fact that some indies were making an entire slew of jam games based on Oblivion's uh, polarizing, persuasion wheel. (It's bad, actually. You can watch a little video of it.)
Well, the game jam's runtime is over and it… actually produced some really good, weird ideas for games. These were all made in a week of total chaos by indie developers—which is to say they're proof of concept, not finished games. But they're free, cute, and fun.

You really should play Sultan's Game, a beautiful, cruel card shuffler which launched on Steam recently
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/you-really-should-sultans-game-a-beautiful-cruel-card-shuffler-which-launched-on-steam-recently/
Challenged to a supernatural game by the sultan, you have to fulfill the conditions of a mystical game that demands you commit dreadful sins: Carnality, Bloodshed, Conquest, and Extravagance.
You'll have to desperately scheme, manage your limited resources, and explore the depths and heights of society to win a stay of execution—and to survive the consequences of the horrible things you did to win.
Sultan's Game is a really cool narrative card game, a kind of bleak, terrible world where your poor character must sink to lowest lows in a desperate bid to survive a kind of gruesome One Thousand and One Nights fantasy world of mystics and madmen.

Arkane was 'devastated' by its cancelled Half-Life 2 Ravenholm game, but the masterclass it got from late visionary artist Viktor Antonov 'was pivotal to what would become Arkane later'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/arkane-was-devastated-by-its-cancelled-half-life-2-ravenholm-game-but-the-masterclass-it-got-from-late-visionary-artist-viktor-antonov-was-pivotal-to-what-would-become-arkane-later/
One of the most unfortunate missed shots in gaming is that of Arkane's cancelled Ravenholm game—in case you're unfamiliar, circa 2007-2008, Arkane was working on a standalone spin-off that would see players returning to Half-Life 2's zombie-infested Ravenholm.
The project got shuttered because Arkane wasn't able to deliver on time—though not for lack of trying. This was back when Valve was still attempting (and stumbling on) its episodic vision of Half-Life, and seemingly couldn't figure it out, either.

Former Awesomenauts developers finish the game they were working on when the studio went bankrupt in 2023, and it'll be free for the first 24 hours after release
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/former-awesomenauts-developers-finish-the-game-they-were-working-on-when-the-studio-went-bankrupt-in-2023-and-itll-be-free-for-the-first-24-hours-after-release/
Awesomenauts developer Ronimo Games filed for bankruptcy in 2023, bringing a premature end to an unnamed project it had in development. But a year later, four former members of the studio including the CEO got back together to form a new studio called Rangatang and resumed work on the project, which is now set to launch on May 15—and if you grab it within the first 24 hours of release, it's yours to keep forever.

Preppered: an existential platformer is a game that'll make you pay not just for your choices, but your sucky platforming skills, too
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/preppered-an-existential-platformer-is-a-game-thatll-make-you-pay-not-just-for-your-choices-but-your-sucky-platforming-skills-too/
Preppered: an existential platformer, which releases today (April 7, if you're reading this from the future), is shaping up to be a fascinating little exercise in interactivity. As you might've surmised from the title of the thing, it's 100% a platformer—the 'existential' bit comes from the looming doom that'll haunt your every step. Especially the wrong steps, which you'll be making frequently.