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

[JEMC]

The Tuesday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

GOG has the new Simulation Promo, with games up to 95% off during 6 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250818_simulation_promo.

Steam has all these deals:

• Foundation has a 30% discount until the 21st of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/690830/Foundation
• Nordhold will be 30% off until the 31st of August: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3028310/Nordhold
• The Early Access title Sephiria has a demo and a 15% discount until the 1st of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2436940/Sephiria
• The Painscreek Killings is going to be 75% off until September 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/624270/The_Painscreek_Killings
• These are the Sales/Events:
  • The Age of Empires franchise is on sale with up to 75% discounts until the 25th of August: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/AgeOfEmpiresFranchiseSale2025
  • The IGN Gamescom 2025 Event will have daily coverages, with many upcoming titles and one game on sale, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will be 30% off until the 28th of August : https://store.steampowered.com/sale/IGNgamescom2025
  • Gamescom 2025 – MADE IN JAPAN Collection has upcoming games, demos and up to 80% deals. The length of the deals vary, between August 21th and September 1st: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44279446/sale/gamescom2025MADEINJAPANCOLLECTION
  • There is also the Playmeow Mid-Year Festival that… I can’t tell anything because it’s a NSFW games studio and Im not on my PC: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/35300011/sale/PlaymeowMid-YearMidsummerFestival
• And last, but not least, there are new weeklong deals.

At Fanatical, this is what we have:

• These are the two 24h Flash Deals:
  • Metaphor: ReFantazio features a 48% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/metaphor-refantazio
  • Frog Detective 3: Corruption at Cowboy County is 60% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/frog-detective-3-corruption-at-cowboy-county
• BYO Summer Superstars Collection (Summer 2025) has 22 titles to choose for your 2+, 3+ or 5+ game bundles during 41 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-summer-superstars-collection

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 581.08 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-581-08

HIGHLIGHTS
Gaming Technology

• Support for Global DLSS Overrides
• NVIDIA Smooth Motion support for GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs
• Streamlined NVIDIA Surround setup screen has been added to NVIDIA App
• Top requested 3D settings have been brought over from the NVIDIA Control Panel
• Project G-Assist is now available for all GeForce RTX GPUs with 6 GB or more of VRAM, including laptops.

FIXED ISSUES
Fixed Gaming Bugs

• Cyberpunk 2077: Crash when using Photo Mode to take a screenshot with path tracing enabled [5076545]
• Marvel Rivals: Negative performance impact when using 580.88 driver [5444816]
• Forza Motorsport: Game crashes if using Smooth Motion while bringing up NVIDIA App overlay statistics [5412757]
• Gray Zone Warfare: Game stability issues [5371781]
• ARK: Survival Ascended: Game stability issues [5441616]

Fixed General Bugs

• Potential memory leak when using NVENC hardware encoding [5442678]
• Power cycling monitor can result in monitor flickering when NVIDIA App is installed [5434811]
• NVIDIA App game filter issues after driver update [5429651]

Steam launches 'language-specific' review scores, because 'customers in different regions of the world may have vastly different experiences from each other for the same game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/steam-launches-language-specific-review-scores-because-customers-in-different-regions-of-the-world-may-have-vastly-different-experiences-from-each-other-for-the-same-game/
In its never-ending quest to achieve algorithmic nirvana, Valve has updated Steam's user review scoring system "for some games" to be calculated based on the language in which they were written.
"When there are enough reviews written in a particular language, Steam will calculate a review score for that language," Valve explained. "The Review Score displayed to users will be based on their primary language. What this means is that some languages may show more positive review scores, while others may show more negative ones, for the same game."
The language-specific review breakdown will be provided for any game with more than 2,000 public user reviews, at least 200 of which are written in at least one language. Valve said the thresholds are higher than the 10 reviews required to calculate an overall review score "because we wanted to be pretty confident in the language-specific score before showing it to users."

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Metro 2033 Redux Just Got an HD Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/metro-2033-redux-just-got-an-hd-texture-pack
Metro 2033 fans, here is something cool for you today. Modder ‘quad98’ has released a new 4K Texture Pack for the Redux version which upscales and overhauls all of its textures. This mod is a must for everyone who wants to replay this first Metro game. At least in my opinion.
Going into more details, the modder used AI tools to upscale the original textures. As such, the new textures retain the art style of the original ones. In other words, they won’t ruin the game’s art direction. At the same time, they can provide a crisper and sharper image.
The mod upscales all the 512×512 and 1024×1024 textures to 2048×2048. It also upscales the 2048×2048 textures to either 4096×4096 or 2048×2048 with better sharpness. Thus, there are two versions you can use. There is a 4K version and a 2K version.
>> Sadly, the article has no media to see the results.

GAMING NEWS

Resident Evil Requiem will have Full Ray Tracing/Path Tracing on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/resident-evil-requiem-will-have-full-ray-tracing-path-tracing-on-pc
NVIDIA has revealed that Resident Evil Requiem will have Full Ray Tracing/Path Tracing on PC. This is the first game using the RE Engine that will be path-traced on PC. Moreover, it will support DLSS 4 from the get-go.
>> Alex_The_Hedgehog has made a thread about this announcement.

Take a look at Phantom Blade Zero with Ray Tracing & DLSS 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/take-a-look-at-phantom-blade-zero-with-ray-tracing-dlss-4
NVIDIA has released a new video, showcasing Phantom Blade Zero running on PC. In this video, the green team showcases the new Ray Tracing effects that the game will support on PC. So, let’s take a closer look at them.

Here’s your first look at Cronos: The New Dawn with Ray Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/heres-your-first-look-at-cronos-the-new-dawn-with-ray-tracing
NVIDIA has shared a video, giving us our first look at Bloober Team’s Cronos: The New Dawn with Ray Tracing and DLSS 4. Cronos: The New Dawn will support DLSS 4 with Multi-Frame Gen at launch. However, we don’t yet know exactly how Ray Tracing will be used in the game, since the devs haven’t shared any additional details about it.

New Ray Tracing and DLSS 4 Video Released for Black State
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-ray-tracing-and-dlss-4-video-released-for-black-state
NVIDIA has shared a new video for Black State. This video was captured on an NVIDIA GPU with DLSS 4 Multi-Frame Gen. We also get to see more of its ray-traced reflections.

Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 4 will bring CPU & GPU performance optimizations
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/monster-hunter-wilds-title-update-4-will-bring-cpu-gpu-performance-optimizations
Capcom has announced that Title Update 4 for Monster Hunter Wilds will pack major CPU and GPU performance optimizations. This patch will go live this Winter, though we don’t have an exact ETA on when that will happen.

NCSoft’s MMO tactical shooter, Cinder City, will support Ray Tracing & DLSS 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/ncsofts-mmo-tactical-shooter-cinder-city-will-support-ray-tracing-dlss-4
NVIDIA has revealed that NCSoft’s upcoming MMO tactical shooter, Cinder City, will support Ray Tracing and DLSS 4 on PC. To celebrate this announcement, the green team has shared a new trailer that you can find below.

NINJA GAIDEN 4 Gamescom 2025 trailer has been leaked
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/ninja-gaiden-4-gamescom-2025-trailer-has-been-leaked
It appears that the Gamescom 2025 trailer for NINJA GAIDEN 4 has been leaked online. This trailer focuses on the game’s story. Thus, it might contain some spoilers. So, consider this your spoiler warning.