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

[JEMC]

These are the Thursday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

This week, the Epic Store gives away Legion TD 2: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/legion-td-2-a244b9.
Next week, the free game will be Pilgrims.

GOG has launched three new promos:

• The Build & Manage Promo will have games up to 90% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250724_build_manage_promo
• There are new Weekly Deals, featuring up to 92% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250724_weekly_deals_3_july
• And the Anything Goes Promo has a bit of everything and up to 95% off during another 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250724_chest_of_treasures

Steam has four new deals. No sales or events today:

• SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream, that has a demo, gets a 34% discount until the 30th of July: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1858630/SWORD_ART_ONLINE_Fractured_Daydream
• Pile Up! will be 50% off until the 30th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2094910/Pile_Up
• Accident will feature a 70% discount until the 6th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/852220/Accident
• AndUltimate Fishing Simulator is going to be 90% off until August 6. You can also join a Beta of the 2024 game, if you’re interested: https://store.steampowered.com/app/468920/Ultimate_Fishing_Simulator

Humble Bundle presents the Sniper Elite: Classics Collection, featuring up to 6 items to get (5 games + 1 Season Pass) during the next 13 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/sniper-elite-classics-collection.

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal and a bundle:

• The new Star Deal is ROBOBEAT, 50% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/robobeat
• The BYO Play on the Go Elite Collection (Summer 2025) features 21 titles to choose from for your bundles of 2+, 3+ or 5+ games during 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-play-on-the-go-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Itch.io latest in platforms pressured by credit card companies, as well as activist group Collective Shout—which has successfully caught an award-winning indie (and more) in the crossfire
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/itch-io-latest-in-platforms-pressured-by-credit-card-companies-as-well-as-activist-group-collective-shout-which-has-successfully-caught-an-award-winning-indie-and-more-in-the-crossfire/
Itch.io, a platform that hosts and sells videogames (particularly popular in the indie dev industry) has been the next in a line of videogame distributors to fall to a recent sweep of puritan policies by credit card companies, designed to limit the sale of NSFW content. For those not in the know, credit card processors such as Visa and Mastercard have pressured Steam into removing NSFW content from its platform.
In the interest of fairness, there are some logical reasons for this—adult content is often used for scams and chargebacks, which costs banks money, and some adult websites have been caught displaying content featuring minors, such as PornHub: Motivating processors to drop the platforms entirely.
The issue, however, comes from any company's complete disinterest in the often difficult (and expensive) work of applying nuance—it's cheaper and less time-consuming to go scorched earth, consequences be damned, as was the case with Valve and, now, Itch.io.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Palworld got a 60GB 4K Texture Pack that overhauls all textures
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/palworld-got-a-60gb-4k-texture-pack-that-overhauls-all-textures
Palworld fans, here is something for you today. Modder Canarious has just released a 60GB 4K Texture Pack that overhauls all of the game’s textures.
The modder used AI tools to improve the original game’s textures. Because of this, the new textures still look like the old ones, just in higher quality. Some players might not like that. However, this kind of HD Texture Pack is a good example of when using AI tools makes sense.
This HD Texture Pack comes in two versions. The first version will overhaul all the textures and normal maps to 4K. The second version upscales the diffusion textures to 8K and the normal maps to 4K.
>> The article has some screenshots to show the improvements of this mod.

GAMING NEWS

Directive 8020 and Terminator 2D: NO FATE have been delayed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/directive-8020-and-terminator-2d-no-fate-have-been-delayed
Supermassive has announced that its sci-fi survival horror game, Directive 8020, has been delayed. It will now come out sometime in the first half of 2026. Also, Reef Entertainment stated that Terminator 2D: NO FATE has been pushed back and will now release on October 31st.
>> Supermassive will also lay off another 36 staff members.

IRONY is a horror action platformer that blends PS2-era visuals with gritty 3D-pixel aesthetics
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/irony-is-a-horror-action-platformer-that-blends-ps2-era-visuals-with-gritty-3d-pixel-aesthetics
SYLOPON has just announced a new horror action platformer that will blend PS2-era visuals with gritty 3D-pixel aesthetics, called IRONY. IRONY will come soon on PC via Steam, and below you can find its debut gameplay trailer.