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

[JEMC]

The second part of the gaming news:

You can manipulate time itself in this ambitious MMORPG with soulslike combat
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/you-can-manipulate-time-itself-in-this-ambitious-mmorpg-with-soulslike-combat/
Chrono Odyssey appears to be a pretty traditional fantasy MMORPG for the first 30 minutes, but then time stuff happens and the entire look of the world and its monsters change. This is an ambitious MMO all about time-manipulation and I'm curious to see if it can pull it off.

Halo Infinite says 'screw it' and just becomes Halo 3 for a month—complete with grifball
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/halo-infinite-says-screw-it-and-is-just-becoming-halo-3-for-a-month-complete-with-grifball/
Halo Infinite has announced the start of Operation: Legacy, a range of multiplayer tweaks, maps and modes that essentially makes Infinite resemble the golden age of Halo 3. We've been here before, kinda: last year saw Infinite throw a similar Halo 2-themed nostalgia party for that game's 20th anniversary.

'I don't actually play horror games': Phasmophobia's lead developer had no intention of making a horror game but still kicked off a whole new genre
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/i-dont-actually-play-horror-games-phasmophobias-lead-developer-had-no-intention-of-making-a-horror-game-but-still-kicked-off-a-whole-new-genre/
I'll never forget the first time my friends and I played Phasmophobia. It was like nothing I'd ever played before, absolutely hilarious, and surprisingly terrifying—it still is. So it's rather funny to me that not only does Phasmo's creator not really play horror games but he didn't intend to make one either.

Konami announces Metal Gear Delta will include a new multiplayer mode, but don't expect Metal Gear Online 4 because 'the landscape of multiplayer games has changed a lot'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/konami-announces-metal-gear-delta-will-include-a-new-multiplayer-mode-but-dont-expect-metal-gear-online-4-because-the-landscape-of-multiplayer-games-has-changed-a-lot/
Konami has shown off a new take on Metal Gear multiplayer, with Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater boasting an online mode, Fox Hunt. This follows a recent tease that many, myself included, thought indicated a return of the beloved Metal Gear Online.
Well, no dice, but Fox Hunt actually looks pretty cool and, more than anything else, reminds me of rival stealther Splinter Cell's similarly cherished Spies vs Mercs multiplayer. The new video features Yu Sahara, the director of Fox Hunt, talking over some footage of the new mode, which features a pared-back version of MGS4's octocamo stealth system: When a player briefly pauses while touching a surface, they'll automatically blend into various environmental textures rather than having to select the right one from a menu like in MGS3's singleplayer.

Would-be Sims competitor Inzoi's publisher says Steam concurrents aren't as important as sales, which is only technically correct
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/would-be-sims-competitor-inzois-publisher-says-steam-concurrents-arent-as-important-as-sales-which-is-only-technically-correct/
Meant to be a direct competitor to the woefully under-staffed life sim genre—specifically, the Sims-like part of it—Inzoi's a bit of a strange beast. While it landed to some solid sales figures, over a million in a week, and is enjoying a "mostly positive" overall review score on Steam, it's also experienced a pretty sharp dropoff in players.
Speaking with IGN about these numbers earlier this week, Krafton responded: "Inzoi continues to steadily generate sales, and as a singleplayer game, it would be most appropriate to refer to the additional sales count at each major update point as opposed to concurrent player count on Steam in measuring the game's performance."

Cities: Skylines 2's latest patch has introduced quays and piers after seeing players using makeshift substitutes: 'We know how challenging they can be to build'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/cities-skylines-2s-latest-patch-has-introduced-quays-and-piers-after-seeing-players-using-makeshift-substitutes-we-know-how-challenging-they-can-be-to-build/
Cities: Skylines 2's latest patch includes a bunch of new fixes, and introduces actual quays and piers, which means players no longer need to play Frankenstein with their shoreline.
"We’ve seen how you have used the cut-and-fill roads to create makeshift quays in your cities, but we also know how challenging they can be to build," a blog post says. "Where roads and pedestrian paths are designed to follow the terrain, creating retaining walls and bridges only when there is a significant elevation change, quays detect the slightest change in elevation and create a retaining wall on the lower side."

'We have people working on fixing the goomba stomping'—Dune: Awakening's PvP is getting dominated by packs of rabid ornithopter pilots squishing their enemies
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/we-have-people-working-on-fixing-the-goomba-stomping-dune-awakenings-pvp-is-getting-dominated-by-packs-of-rabid-ornithopter-pilots-squishing-their-enemies/
Dune: Awakening's PvP meta has evolved—on the sand-blasted lands of Arrakis, one weapon has been dominating all others. That weapon is 'let's repeatedly try and squish someone with our ornithopters like we're the world's most inefficient flock of seagulls fighting over a single chip'.
As observed by Bombe18 on the game's subreddit, vehicles in Dune: Awakening don't take any damage when they whomp into stuff, which makes anything airborne a supremely effective weapon when you have an ornithopter and your enemy doesn't.
(...)
The unanticipated consequence being that players, being made of flesh and blood, do take damage from the vehicles colliding into them. Joel Bylos, creative director of Dune: Awakening, stepped in and replied to the thread, writing: "Yeah sorry about this. We have people working on fixing the goomba stomping ASAP."
>> Other players have found another way to be a d*ck to other players.

'Originally it was like, no, we are not interested': It apparently took 5.5 hours of hardcore pitching to get Thanos in Fortnite—and as you know, the rest is history
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/originally-it-was-like-no-we-are-not-interested-it-apparently-took-5-5-hours-of-hardcore-pitching-to-get-thanos-in-fortnite-and-as-you-know-the-rest-is-history/
It might be hard to imagine in our Fortnite-ified era of shooters, but Fortnite, once upon a time, didn't have a single crossover to its name. The battle royale, added to the game in 2017, was once free of twerking Thani (is that the plural?), famous pop stars, and Peter Griffin. What's more, there was even a vision of Fortnite without Goku getting wrecked by Rick Sanchez wielding a lightsaber, or uncomfortable AI Darth Vaders saying slurs.
Per a roundup from The Game Business live, our current Thanos-based future wasn't… inevitable. As a matter of fact, it was apparently a really hard sell. The president of interactive technology at AGBO—Joe and Anthony Russo (of Marvel fame)'s production company—Pete Wanat shares a story relayed to him by coworker Donald Mustard, who was Epic's chief creative officer at the time.

'No gay, no pay': The RuneScape community is absolutely mauling Jagex's new CEO over his decision to cancel new Pride Month events
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/no-gay-no-pay-the-runescape-community-is-absolutely-mauling-jagexs-new-ceo-over-his-decision-to-cancel-new-pride-month-events/
RuneScape players haven't relented since news broke a few days ago that new Jagex CEO Jon Bellamy—also known in-community as Mod North—was effectively killing off Pride Month celebrations in RuneScape and Old School RuneScape (OSRS) in order to "ensure the business is protected against those that would wish us harm."
(...)
That didn't mollify staff—who penned an open letter to Jagex execs asking to be allowed to run Pride content—and it certainly hasn't mollified the community. Across social media, RuneScape players are in a continuous uproar about the rollback.
>> When you try to please everyone, you end pleasing no one.

And now, the weekend deals at GOG and Steam:

+GOG

• We have new Weekly Deals, with up to 93% discounts during 5 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250612_weekly_deals_2_june.
  As a side note, the sales/promos launched this week, plus the fact that the above sale will last less than usual, makes me wonder if we’ll have a big Sale next week.

+Steam

• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, still in Early Access, is going to be 30% off until the 19th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2321470/Deep_Rock_Galactic_Survivor/
• PARANOIA PLACE gets a 40% discount until the same 19th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1592290/PARANOIA_PLACE/
• The Early Access title Stardeus will be free to try during the weekend and 50% off until June 19th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1380910/Stardeus/
• Creature Lab, that has a demo, will have a 75% discount until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1309990/Creature_Lab/
• And there are also a ton of sales/events:
  • Publisher/Developer QUByte Interactive puts its game on sale with up to 50% discounts until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40644789/sale/QUBytePublisherSale2025
  • Anshar Publishing puts its games on sale with up to 80% discounts until the 26th, although some deals will end sooner than that: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41215820/sale/publishersale
  • The Total War franchise celebrates its 25th anniversary with the games up to 80% off until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/TotalWar25HistoricalFranchiseSale
  • The Krafton Publisher Sale has games up to 85% off until June 26: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/kraftonpublishersale2025
  • The Tomb Raider franchise is on sale with up to 89% discounts until the 26th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35801496/sale/tombraidersummersale2025
  • Publisher HypeTrain opens its Summer Sale and puts its games on sale with up to 90% off. Most deals will end on the 26th, but some will end sooner than that so, be careful: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/26684285/sale/HypeTrainSummerSale2025
  • Time for Curve Games’ Feels Like Summer Sale, featuring up to 90% discounts. As with the former sale, most deals will end on the 26th, but others will end as soon as the 17th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33019968/sale/CurveFLSSale25
  • Publisher Klei Publishing (... that doesn’t feel right), puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts until the 26th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/kleifest2025
  • The 505Games Summer Sale features up to 90% discounts until June 26: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/33027220/sale/SummerSale2025
  • Crunching Koalas celebrates its Summer Sale and puts its games up to 90% off until the 26: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34046344/sale/summerSale2025
  • Team17 has a sale with up to 90% discounts until, once again, June 26: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Team17PublisherSale25
  • Related to the former sale, Hell Let Loose will be free to try during the weekend: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32941731/sale/hll_freeweekend_celebration25

And that’s it. While you wonder why some many Steam deals/sales end on June 26, I leave you until the next time wishing that you have a happy and gaming weekend.