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

[JEMC]

Thursday gaming news, the slightly longer, but final, part two:

Rejoice, hammer users—Monster Hunter Wild's new patch just buffed the bonk squad, alongside a huge quality-of-life feature for hoarders and optimisation improvements on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/rejoice-hammer-users-monster-hunter-wilds-new-patch-just-buffed-the-bonk-squad-alongside-a-huge-quality-of-life-feature-for-hoarders-and-optimisation-improvements-on-pc/
Monster Hunter Wilds' hammer, despite being just as deliciously violent as previous incarnations, came out a little undercooked. It came in at A in our Monster Hunter Wilds weapon tier list, sure, but long-time hammer bros found it somewhat unwieldy. For example, its offset attack is (inexplicably) gated behind the third attack in their combo. Even then, I hear it's downright hard to follow-up once you land it.
Well, all that's about to change. Alongside the Street Fighter collab, the new patch has some major balance adjustments—and hammer users are downright being taken out to dinner and courted. Here's the full list of changes from the patch notes.

Yuri Lowenthal spills the beans on a Persona 4 remake by announcing that Atlus doesn't want him in it: 'Maybe I even begged, but they don’t want me to come back'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/yuri-lowenthal-spills-the-beans-on-a-persona-4-remake-by-announcing-that-atlus-doesnt-want-him-in-it-maybe-i-even-begged-but-they-dont-want-me-to-come-back/
Bad news for devotees of Persona 4's iconic fuckboy Yosuke Hanamura: Yuri Lowenthal has announced on Bluesky that, despite his best efforts, he won't be returning to the role for the Persona 4 Remake.
Also, I guess there's a Persona 4 Remake?

Grub's up: The hungry, hungry Necrophage faction is coming to Endless Legend 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/grubs-up-the-hungry-hungry-necrophage-faction-is-coming-to-endless-legend-2/
Amplitude has unveiled the third of Endless Legend 2's four early access factions today, and they're one of my faves from the last game: the Necrophage.
Broadly, it seems like this ravenous insectoid hive works similarly to its Endless Legend 1 variation: nothing will stop the Necrophage from consuming everything in their way. "They have little use for diplomacy," says Amplitude, "and minor factions are little more than extra food for the swarm."

Former BioWare lead writer says the best level in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines gave him 'ammunition' to argue that story can be just as engaging as combat
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/former-bioware-lead-writer-says-the-best-level-in-vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-gave-him-ammunition-to-argue-that-story-can-be-just-as-engaging-as-combat/
You ever get sick of trashmob fights? I admit it: sometimes I just want to run from A to B without massacring half a village, cutting down group after group of bandits, goblins, and imps who have only really been placed there to stop me from getting bored.
I am, apparently, joined in this philosophy by David Gaider, former BioWare lead writer and creator of the Dragon Age setting, who apparently spent a fair bit of time at the studio trying to stop people sprinkling those kinds of things everywhere. Even better, the game he used to support his point was none other than Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.

Cyberpunk 2, which is now officially called Cyberpunk 2, has entered pre-production, but don't expect it out before 2030
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/cyberpunk-2-which-is-now-officially-called-cyberpunk-2-has-entered-pre-production-but-dont-expect-it-out-before-2030/
Sound the "it's happening" klaxon, folks, because it's happening: CD Projekt announced today that Cyberpunk 2—which, by the way, the studio is now calling Cyberpunk 2 instead of Project Orion—is now in the "pre-production phase" of development.

Electronic Arts cancels Black Panther game and closes the studio making it
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/electronic-arts-cancels-black-panther-game-and-closes-the-studio-making-it/
The bloodletting continues at Electronic Arts, which has confirmed an IGN report that the Black Panther game announced in 2023 has been cancelled. Developer Cliffhanger Games is being closed as a result of the cancellation, and separately EA is also making other layoffs across some of its other teams, although the number of people being put out of work is unknown.

MindsEye co-CEO claims there's a 'concerted effort' to trash the game ahead of its release: 'I do KNOW that there are bot farms posting negative comments and dislikes'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/mindseye-co-ceo-claims-theres-a-concerted-effort-to-trash-the-game-ahead-of-its-release-i-do-know-that-there-are-bot-farms-posting-negative-comments-and-dislikes/
With less than two weeks remaining until the June 10 launch of MindsEye, the upcoming action game from former Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies' Build a Rocket Boy, studio co-CEO Mark Gerhard has stirred up controversy by claiming there's "a concerted effort to trash the game and the studio" being financed by... well, someone.

If you're 'scared of PvP', don't worry: Dune: Awakening's endgame deep desert area has a PvE zone, too
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/if-youre-scared-of-pvp-dont-worry-dune-awakenings-massive-deep-desert-has-a-pve-zone-too/
When confronted with a new MMO where the best blueprints and resources are hidden in a sprawling and deadly PvP zone, a lot of players have one important question: "So, what if I'm not into PvP?"
Rest assured, you'll still be able to visit the 'deep desert' endgame zone of Dune: Awakening. According to Funcom, as shown in today's livestream, while the deep desert is almost entirely PvP, there is a sizeable PvE-only area where you won't have to worry about fighting other players.

'The absolute sincere truth is that I don't want anyone to pay any more than they should or are comfortable with': Randy Pitchford's latest post on the Borderlands pricing controversy is a whole dang essay
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-absolute-sincere-truth-is-that-i-dont-want-anyone-to-pay-any-more-than-they-should-or-are-comfortable-with-randy-pitchfords-latest-post-on-the-borderlands-pricing-controversy-is-a-whole-dang-essay/
The videogame discourse cycle does another lap, racing past "videogames are too easy" and "singleplayer is back" and hitting the straight of "videogames are too expensive" one more time. (...)
Now Randy Pitchford has delivered a 557-word missive on the hatesite formerly known as Twitter putting his earlier statements into context, and it's actually pretty effective at explaining his position—which is not actually that you have to pay more money to prove you're allowed to call yourself a "real" Borderlands fan.

This narrative thriller takes place in a fictional '80s OS, and the devs obsessed over keeping just the right amount of old school jank: 'We did retain the dial-up modem'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/this-narrative-thriller-takes-place-in-a-fictional-80s-os-and-the-devs-obsessed-over-keeping-just-the-right-amount-of-old-school-jank-we-did-retain-the-dial-up-modem/
Few games commit to building an alternate reality like Vice Undercover. Much of the game is played on the fictitious Amigo OS, an amalgam of Windows 3.1 and early Apple operating systems with a dozen built-in applications, a boxy media player, and even a persistent Clippy pastiche with all sorts of eager advice for you. But this isn't a starry-eyed trip down memory lane—it's a "narco-thriller" where you poke around in drug cartel communications, careful not to get caught.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City is a TMNT parkour-action game for VR
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/vr/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-empire-city-is-a-tmnt-parkour-action-game-for-vr/
We've had a TMNT sidescrolling beat-em-up, a TMNT turn-based tactics RPG, and a TMNT Hades clone with co-op. They're even in Call of Duty, if you can afford to fork out like $90. It's a good time to be into the Ninja Turtles, whether or not you believe 2025 is the year of the ninja.
That run is continuing in a literal sense with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Empire City, a parkour action-adventure coming from Cortopia Studios. That's the developer behind Gorn 2, and like that game it'll be a VR-exclusive. Tom Waltz, who wrote 100 issues of the well-regarded TMNT comic for IDW is serving as a narrative consultant, and apparently it's set after Shredder has been defeated yet again, and sees the heroes in a half-shell mopping up the Foot Clan and dealing with "fan-favorite villains".

'You've seen the number of releases from AAA publishers dwindle and dwindle and dwindle': Clair Obscur's runaway success was helped by staying smaller scale in a world of inflated budgets
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/youve-seen-the-number-of-releases-from-aaa-publishers-dwindle-and-dwindle-and-dwindle-clair-obscurs-runaway-success-was-helped-by-staying-smaller-scale-in-a-world-of-inflated-budgets/
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a tight, 30-hour RPG from a relatively small team that, since release, has sold over 3.3 million copies. In short, it's been a resounding success—singular and distinct, it looks and feels like nothing else around.
It's a game that's particularly interesting when compared to probably the most well-known turn-based RPG series in the world. As much as people love the Final Fantasy games, it's hard not to see how unwieldy they've become—expensive and time-consuming to make, the pressure is clearly on for them to sell increasingly unrealistic numbers to be considered a success. Both FF7 Rebirth and FF16 failed to meet the mark according to Square Enix's own financial reports.
In contrast, Clair Obscur operates in a different development space—smaller scale and with a much smaller budget. In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Matthew Handrahan, the portfolio director at Clair Obscur's publisher Kepler Interactive, opined on the game's place within an industry that he sees as growing increasingly obsessed with big-budget releases.
>> I’d say that this trend started with the HD consoles, when most AA games and studios went down.