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

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Monday gaming news, part two:

Helldivers 2 and Palworld devs wish players understood that 'easy' additions and updates are sometimes really hard: 'That's half a year's work. That takes six months'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/game-development/helldivers-2-and-palworld-devs-wish-players-understood-that-easy-additions-and-updates-are-sometimes-really-hard-thats-half-a-years-work-that-takes-six-months/
I don't envy game developers sometimes, nor do I envy the assumptions they have to hear time and time again from their players. Assumptions like, 'Why didn't they add a theft/crime system?' or 'Why don't they just do this, it's so simple?' and, most infuriatingly, 'These devs are so lazy'. As a critic, I might absolutely dunk on the end product—but I'm never in doubt that folks worked hard, even when it's a stinker.
That same frustration comes clear in some responses to a recent mega-interview by GamesRadar's Austin Wood—which is well worth a read. It's an assemblage of dozens of developers across the industry, who're keen to dispel myths about how they make their games.
>> Related to the same GamesRadar interview is this other aritcle: Most players 'know next to nothing about how games are made': New Blood devs sound off on gamedev misconceptions .

REPO will feature 'moon phases' as part of the new update, ramping up the difficulty every 5 levels
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/repo-will-feature-moon-phases-as-part-of-the-new-update-ramping-up-the-difficulty-every-5-levels/
REPO has been gearing up for its first significant update for a while now, and alongside new levels and weapons, it's also introducing difficulty-based progression.. In a video published by semiwork, this new system has been explained in more detail, clearing up any confusion from previous videos and sharing the changes that have been made since it was first hinted at.

This XCOM-style strategy game dares to ask: What if Napoleon Bonaparte was a woman who had an army of battlemechs?
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/this-xcom-style-strategy-game-dares-to-ask-what-if-napoleon-bonaparte-was-a-woman-who-had-an-army-of-battlemechs/
The French Revolution was a time of overwhelming and quotidian violence. As Louis Antoine de Saint-Just—the revolution's Angel of Death himself—put it in Georg Büchner's play Danton's Death, "Is it so remarkable that the stream of the revolution should at every bend and cataract cast up its corpses? … Are a few hundred dead bodies to hold us back? Moses led his people through the Red Sea and into the wilderness till the old corrupt generation was exterminated… Legislators! We have no Red Sea and no wilderness, but we have war and the guillotine!"
You know what would have made everything better? If they'd also had mechs.
This is the thesis of Bonaparte: A Mechanized Revolution, which puts you in the uniform of Bonaparte themself in the turbulent years of 1789 onwards. You know, Bonaparte! Cesar or Celine Bonaparte! The famous revolutionary hero(ine) who fought for either the Ultraroyalists, the Moderates, or the Jacobins depending on which choice you pick at the start of the game. Why, who did you think I meant?

Larian insists it did not accidentally leak Divinity: Original Sin 3, it was just a glitch on X
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/larian-insists-it-did-not-accidentally-leak-divinity-original-sin-3-it-was-just-a-glitch-on-x/
There was a brief surge of excitement a couple days ago when Larian Studios temporarily changed its handle on X from @larianstudios to @divinity. This was a big deal (or at least it appeared to be) because prior to hitting the big big time with Baldur's Gate 3, Larian was known as the studio behind the very long-running Divinity series of mostly-RPGs—and the name change had an awful lot of fans thinking that maybe the studio was going back to its roots for its next big game.
(...)
So, Divinity: Original Sin 3 then? Well, not so fast. Shortly after reports of the social media switcheroo started to gain traction, Larian director of publishing Michael Douse took a break from his day to throw cold water all over the whole thing.
"Unfortunately (depending on your perspective) this is just part of the process to take stock of what we own, and what we have and haven't claimed when it comes to our IPs," Douse posted on X. "Turns out it's a good idea to own the @'s relating to IPs that are yours. For example, to prevent people scamming off the back of your brand, etc. Twitter are transferring a bunch to us, but inexplicably swapped out this one for the Larian account.

'We're gonna do right by you': Splitgate 2 CEO apologizes for server meltdown after the open beta goes live
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/were-gonna-do-right-by-you-splitgate-2-ceo-apologizes-for-server-meltdown-after-the-open-beta-goes-live/
The Splitgate 2 open beta is not going well—in fact, it's not going at all. After running headlong into serious technical problems following the launch of the beta test on May 22, developer 1047 Games has taken the servers offline and is now "working around the clock" to get things fixed and back online.

Konami re-recorded the Snake Eater theme for Metal Gear Solid Delta, but don't worry—it's still the same excellent vocalist belting "Snaaaaaaaaake Eaaaterrrrrrrrr"
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/konami-re-recorded-the-snake-eater-theme-for-metal-gear-solid-delta-but-dont-worry-its-still-the-same-excellent-vocalist-belting-snaaaaaaaaake-eaaaterrrrrrrrr/
Snake Eater is special. And as much as I love Cold War Metal Gear, I'm not talking about the game. I'm talking about the song. From the first drum hits and horn blasts, the Snake Eater theme, sung by vocalist Cynthia Harrell, is in perfect alignment with the game it's introducing.
(...)
So when I saw a Eurogamer headline saying Konami had re-recorded the Snake Eater theme for the upcoming Metal Gear Solid Delta remaster, I instinctively reached for my pitchfork. As a rule I try to avoid indulging in internet outrage, but if I'm going to bat for anything, it's Cynthia Harrell singing about a hypercompetent weirdo's tactical reptile lunch.
If seeing those words gave you the same spike of terror, don't worry: They got Harrell back in the booth. Konami uploaded the remastered Metal Gear Solid Delta opening movie earlier today, featuring a new performance recording from Harrell and reworked visuals from title sequence designer Kyler Cooper.

Paradox is bringing back White Wolf for tabletop RPGs and at least one videogame
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/paradox-is-bringing-back-white-wolf-for-tabletop-rpgs-and-at-least-one-videogame/
10 years after buying White Wolf from CCP Games, and seven years after eliminating it as a "separate entity," Paradox Interactive is bringing it back as "the official licensing and publishing entity for all its transmedia properties, including Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and Hunter: The Reckoning."

Microsoft's take on Civilization is getting an expansion that lets you play through the Bronze Age collapse, the Mongol invasion, and something inexplicably called 'Spider World'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/microsofts-take-on-civilization-is-getting-an-expansion-that-lets-you-play-through-the-bronze-age-collapse-the-mongol-invasion-and-something-inexplicably-called-spider-world/
There's a case to be made that the Bronze Age collapse has the coolest name of any historical period. Sure, the Dark Ages might be moody and mysterious, while the Renaissance has flair on its side. But the Bronze Age collapse is pure drama. If your era of existence has the word "collapse" in it, you know shit went down. This ends my lecture on ancient Mediterranean history.
Anyway, when I learned that Ara: History Untold's upcoming expansion will let you play through the societal disintegration of the eastern Mediterranean in the 12th century BC, I was immediately curious. Titled Untold Scenarios, the DLC will let you play through several historical and hypothetical challenges within Oxide Games' turn-based strategy.

Mech farming sim Lightyear Frontier is getting a complete overhaul, adding a bigger map, massive tornados, and an interplanetary delivery cannon: 'It's been clear that we were not living up to the fantasy'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/mech-farming-sim-lightyear-frontier-is-getting-a-complete-overhaul-adding-a-bigger-map-massive-tornados-and-an-interplanetary-delivery-cannon-its-been-clear-that-we-were-not-living-up-to-the-fantasy/
Lightyear Frontier seemed well liked when it launched into Steam early access last March, garnering a Very Positive rating from players for its ingenious synthesis of first-person mech piloting and farming simulation. But it seems there's been some discontent bubbling beneath that big blue thumbs up.
In announcing its imminent Shifting Gears update, Frame Break opens with something of a mea culpa, explaining why it hasn't provided more information about the game's progress in the last six months. "Since we started, we've had the privilege of watching our game grow together with our amazing community," the studio writes. "As we've listened closely to your feedback, it's been clear that we were not living up to the fantasy that Lightyear Frontier promised."

The Finals' latest update adds a limited-time mode that's mostly just hitting each other with hammers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-finals-latest-update-adds-a-limited-time-mode-thats-mostly-just-hitting-each-other-with-hammers/
I've always been a fan of The Finals' destructible environments, although I've sometimes felt its desire to be a proper, grown-up multiplayer shooter obstructed the simple pleasure of ripping a building apart Red Faction: Guerilla style. But that looks set to change, at least temporarily, with the game's newly added limited-time mode. This is a straight-up 5v5 slugfest that mostly involves hitting everyone with hammers, and it's perhaps the closest The Finals has got to pure destructive chaos yet.