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

[JEMC]

Monday gaming news, part two:

Balatro creator gets 'a taste of my own medicine' as he struggles in vain to score the game's hardest achievement
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/balatro-creator-gets-a-taste-of-my-own-medicine-as-he-struggles-in-vain-to-score-the-games-hardest-achievement/
Balatro was PC Gamer's 2024 Game of the Year for many good reasons, but one of them was that no-one on the team could stop playing this thing. We weren't alone either: developers went gaga for the poker roguelike. And now it turns out that even Balatro creator LocalThunk just can't stop banging his head against the wall he created.
>> Worry not, for he has managed to achieve it (pun intended).

Monster Hunter Wilds has been hit by over 2,000 negative Steam reviews in the last week as players lose hope that Capcom will fix its egregious performance issues
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/monster-hunter-wilds-has-been-hit-by-over-2-000-negative-steam-reviews-in-the-last-week-as-players-lose-hope-that-capcom-will-fix-its-egregious-performance-issues/
Monster Hunter Wilds has become the latest Steam review battleground as an influx of disgruntled players have tanked its review rating down to "overwhelmingly negative" in the last week. Since Monday, over 2,000 negative reviews have been filed, most of which criticize its poor PC performance and a lack of substantial fixes from Capcom in the months since it was released.
>> Next time don’t buy the game, more so after the game had a beta that already showed those problems.

No More Room in Hell 2's latest update transforms its zombie horror from a cooperative game to a solo extraction shooter when enough players die
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/no-more-room-in-hell-2s-latest-update-transforms-its-zombie-horror-from-a-cooperative-game-to-a-solo-extraction-shooter-when-enough-players-die/
Although No More Room in Hell 2 launched into early access a little too early for its own good, I still think it was a better zombie game than it gets credit for. Not only did it capture the essence of zombie horror with its eerie, pitch-black nights and undead hordes that seemed fairly unthreatening right up until they steamrollered you in their dozens. But it also had a clever concept where players started the game alone, having to find each other within the map before converging on the objective.
That organic team-building was a big part of what made No More Room in Hell 2 interesting to me, even if its single map became repetitive after a while. Now, developer Torn Banner has added a new feature to the game that adds a further twist to team assembly.

That 16-bit Terminator 2 throwback doesn't feature Arnie's likeness, but it did license the guy who played adult John Connor for 30 seconds in the film's intro
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/that-16-bit-terminator-2-throwback-doesnt-feature-arnies-likeness-but-it-did-license-the-guy-who-played-adult-john-connor-for-30-seconds-in-the-films-intro/
I was seriously impressed by Terminator 2D: No Fate when it was revealed earlier this year. I love the idea of a tie-in that's authentic not only to the events of the film, but also the era of gaming in which the film was released. Developer Bitmap Bureau seems to have largely nailed the authenticity on both counts, too, showing some excellent 16-bit adaptations of the film's characters, and playable recreations of key scenes that are mechanically suited to the depicted events.
There is one big thing missing from No Fate, however, and that's Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though we see the T800 punching bikers and blasting cops with tear gas during game sequences in the trailer, publisher Reef Entertainment recently revealed that it wasn't able to nab the rights to Arnie's likeness in-game. Hence, depictions of the T800 are limited to the character.

Grounded 2 will have less frequent, much larger early access updates
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/grounded-2-will-have-less-frequent-much-larger-early-access-updates/
Obsidian will be shaking up its early access strategy for the release of Grounded 2 next month. Rather than the monthly micro-updates that were the norm when Grounded launched, the developer has decided that something more like every four to five months will be the norm.

Tempest Rising's first major update targets the Command and Conquer successor's multiplayer, adding 6 maps, a 2v2 ranked mode, and an extensive balance overhaul
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/tempest-risings-first-major-update-targets-the-command-and-conquer-successors-multiplayer-adding-6-maps-a-2v2-ranked-mode-and-an-extensive-balance-overhaul/
Throwback RTS Tempest Rising is one of my favourite games from this year, a spectacular and thrilling tribute to Westwood's tragically absent Command and Conquer series. I thought its twin campaigns were pretty much perfect when I reviewed it a couple of months back, which is possibly why its first major update focuses mainly on multiplayer.

Total War: Warhammer 3's latest patch radically reattunes its magic item system: 'In total some 600 ancillaries have had their effects and rarity adjusted'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/total-war-warhammer-3s-latest-patch-radically-reattunes-its-magic-item-system-in-total-some-600-ancillaries-have-had-their-effects-and-rarity-adjusted/
Creative Assembly's long-running readjustment of Total War: Warhammer 3 presses on with the slow but inexorable determination of an army of dwarves. Back in March, the developer completely overhauled the game's maligned Kislev faction to make its polar-bear riding humans more fun to play. Now, it has issued a new patch targeting another specific area of the game with deep restructuring—its magic item system.

Survival game Once Human now has custom servers, complete with all manner of tweakable parameters
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/survival-game-once-human-now-has-custom-servers-complete-with-all-manner-of-tweakable-parameters/
Free-to-play survival adventure shooter Once Human now has custom, dedicated servers available.
The independent server infrastructure is officially supported by developer NetEase games, which said in a press release that it hopes players will use private servers to "push the boundaries of the Once Human experience, such as transforming it into a cozy building experience or a brutal survival game where only the most skilled survive."

Here's the entire soundtrack for Europa Universalis 5 even though the grand strategy game doesn't have a release date yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/heres-the-entire-soundtrack-for-europa-universalis-5-even-though-the-grand-strategy-game-doesnt-have-a-release-date-yet/
You can now listen to the entire soundtrack for grand strategy game Europa Universalis 5, as it's been posted to YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music. Composed by Håkan Glänte, the music spans a lot of history and a lot of Europe in an impressive 26 tracks lasting nearly two hours.

Hypnospace Outlaw sequel Dreamsettler has been cancelled: 'We just way overscoped'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/hypnospace-outlaw-sequel-dreamsettler-has-been-cancelled-we-just-way-overscoped/
In our Hypnospace Outlaw review, Andy Kelly called it "a cyber-detective adventure set within a fictional computer operating system", with an alternate 1999 setting let you explore a nostalgic pocket internet full of music, animations, and screensavers. "This garish low-res internet, inspired by the digital shanty towns of GeoCities, is fully realised. There are hundreds of pages to click around, split into zones that reflect the personalities of their eccentric creators. In Teentopia you'll find edgy teenagers, nu metal, and drama. In Open Eyed, new age spiritualists and conspiracy theorists. It's a brilliantly observed snapshot of the primordial web."
A sequel called Dreamsettler was announced in 2022, alongside an FPS spinoff with the gloriously mangled name Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer. While Slayers X came out in 2023, Dreamsettler remained in development, with a "Coming Soon" Steam page and No More Robots attached as its publisher.
In the video announcing Dreamsettler's cancellation, lead developer Jay Tholen is at pains to make it clear that No More Robots wasn't behind the decision. "They didn't pull support or anything and they did what they could to keep it going, but it's just time to stop it," he says. Going further into the decision he explains that a central feature of Dreamsettler's alternate 2000s internet would have been "Oomph", a "fake Flash" that would let players make their own looping animations synced to music, reminiscent of Hynospace Outlaw's tune sequencer. When Oomph had to be cut to get Dreamsettler under its budget, it seems like a lot of Tholen's motivation went with it.

'This happened because of the best elements of our community': Borderlands 4 won't have a minimap, but thanks to player demand it will have an optional combat radar
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/this-happened-because-of-the-best-elements-of-our-community-borderlands-4-wont-have-a-minimap-but-thanks-to-player-demand-it-will-have-an-optional-combat-radar/
I think we can all agree that an always-on minimap is bad. Like the TV in a bar, you find your eyes drawn to it even when there are other things you should be looking at. You stare at a corner of your monitor while ignoring the fancy grandeur of whatever expensive open world is taking up the other seven-eighths of your screen.
But the absence of navigational aids can be just as bad. I got lost more than once in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 in areas where there was no map at all, and just had to loop around the place trying to find the one bit I was supposed to go to next. And in an FPS, you may not need to worry as much about getting lost, but you will need to worry about losing enemies when they duck behind cover.
When early footage of Borderlands 4 showed it lacking a minimap, some players were distraught. If you can hear psychos ranting but can't tell exactly where they are, how will you figure out they're actually on the other side of that hut in particular? Well, as Gearbox founder Randy Pitchford explained on the hatesite formerly known as Twitter, Borderlands 4 actually will have a combat radar in time for its September launch.
>> He could have said that from the beginning, but I guess that bad publicity is still publicity for Pitchford.

Shotgun Cop Man just got a free DLC that proves every game is better with bullet time
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/shotgun-cop-man-just-got-a-free-dlc-that-proves-every-game-is-better-with-bullet-time/
My Friend Pedro was a Flash game that evolved into a standalone release in which you played a man who used his skateboard gun-fu skills to kill bad dudes at the command of a talking banana (named Pedro). It was a lot of fun. I gave it an 81. You could throw a frypan into the air and then ricochet bullets off it in slow-motion.
Its developer, DeadToast Entertainment, followed it this year with Shotgun Cop Man. A more lo-fi take on the action-platformer genre, Shotgun Cop Man saw you descend into Hell to fight demons with a shotgun that launched you into the air when you shot the ground. Want to double-jump? Shoot twice. It was almost as much fun, though it didn't have a skateboard or bullet time.
Until now. DeadToast has generously bolted three new worlds with 17 levels in each of them onto Shotgun Cop Man. These 51 levels are themed around My Friend Pedro and add skateboards and bullet time, as well as breakable glass, frying pans, ziplines, swing ropes, and a friendly banana. There are also three new boss fights, one of which is with a helicopter.