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

[JEMC]

The second part of the Monday gaming news:

Team Reptile announces Hyperfunk, a Bomb Rush Cyberfunk follow-up that's '2 seconds per second of evolved funkstyle'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/team-reptile-announces-hyperfunk-a-bomb-rush-cyberfunk-follow-up-thats-2-seconds-per-second-of-evolved-funkstyle/
If you're a gamer of a certain vintage, there's a good chance that your idea of cool looks like cel-shaded graffiti artists doing roller blading tricks in a futuristic cityscape where nothing isn't neon. Sanctified by Jet Set Radio, that visual lineage continues in the work of creators like Bomb Rush Cyberfunk developer Team Reptile, which just revealed its next entry in stunt-centric Y2K futurism.

The adaptation you've been waiting for since 1996 is finally here: Bop It! is now a videogame
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rhythm/the-adaptation-youve-been-waiting-for-since-1996-is-finally-here-bop-it-is-now-a-videogame/
Videogames are great but don't you wish they had more bopping? And not just more bopping, but also more twisting and pulling, perhaps of… I don't know, some sort of nebulous… it? And most importantly, a loud voice telling you exactly when you should bop it, twist it, and/or pull it?
Your oddly specific prayers have finally been answered, because nearly 30 years after the discovery of the cursed Pandora's Box-like artifact known as Bop It!—which demanded its user perform ritualistic bopping, twisting, and pulling of its button, knob, and handle in the precise pattern needed to finally release the prophesied Loud One, known as Bophomet, upon the world to reign for all time—is now a videogame.

9 months after its 1.0 launch flopped, an indie dev just learned that Steam never emailed the 130,000 people who wishlisted its game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/9-months-after-its-1-0-launch-flopped-an-indie-dev-just-learned-that-steam-never-emailed-the-130-000-people-who-wishlisted-its-game/
Planet Centauri, a 2D sandbox game blending survival, creature collection, and automation elements, didn't have the 1.0 launch it expected. Despite making over 100,000 sales and earning spots on more than 130,000 Steam users' wishlists in over 10 years of early access, indie developer Permadeath watched as Planet Centauri's full release day came—and the world barely noticed (via Polygon).
"We sold… 581 units in 5 days," Permadeath developer Laurent Lechat wrote in a Reddit post last week. "The game didn't even appear on page 2; we were invisible; we were a total flop. And we never understood why until today."
After nine months of confusion and frustration, Permadeath finally received an explanation from Valve itself: When Planet Centauri finally launched, nobody who'd wishlisted it knew—because Steam never told them.
>> That’s a big, impactful mistake from Steam.

'You wouldn't believe how much stupid s**t is in this giant world': The Baby Steps devs want you to know as little as possible before you play their walking sim
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/you-wouldnt-believe-how-much-stupid-s-t-is-in-this-giant-world-the-baby-steps-devs-want-you-to-know-as-little-as-possible-before-you-play-their-walking-sim/
Baby Steps developer Gabe Cuzzillo prefaced today's "very unprofessional" developer overview by saying "you shouldn't know very much about this game when you play it, because it's full of surprises and they're fun." After watching it, I'm not sure I know any more about the comedic walking simulator, but I'm certainly intrigued by the vibe here.

The studio behind award-winning Umurangi Generation is reimagining Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness from the perspective of a penguin, and it's brought the voice of Disco Elysium onboard to do it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/the-studio-behind-award-winning-umurangi-generation-is-reimagining-lovecrafts-at-the-mountains-of-madness-from-the-perspective-of-a-penguin-and-its-brought-the-voice-of-disco-elysium-onboard-to-do-it/
In a new trailer at the Six One Indie Showcase, Origame Digital showed off its first trailer for Penguin Colony, a horror game where you play as a little penguin, and the studio revealed that the game will be anchored by a performance from Lenval Brown, the narrator of Disco Elysium: The Final Cut.

'There is a chance that they will stay in Roblox': Gen Alpha is into PC gaming, but one industry analyst isn't so sure they're going to age out of their favorite haunt
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/gen-alpha-roblox-newzoo-analysis/
The kids are playing computer games.
According to the latest Global Games Market Report from the analysts at industry intelligence firm Newzoo, Gen Alpha—defined in this case as anyone born in or after 2010—makes up "an increasing share of the player base, especially on PC."
As a lifelong fan of computer games, this is good news to me. The kids are with us! But the kids aren't necessarily playing the kinds of games I grew up on: You may have heard of that excruciatingly popular platform called Roblox where kids are pressured to spend their parents' money in games like "Steal a Brainrot." (Which, to be fair, does sound like something you'd find on Newgrounds circa 2000, so maybe we're not all that different.)
(...)
But what about when the kids graduate from Roblox to the games I understand? Rosier, a parent to Roblox-playing teenagers himself, isn't so sure that's going to happen.

FF14 is getting a baby Seikret minion as part of its Monster Hunter Wilds collab, and I will fistfight Arkveld alone for it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/ff14-is-getting-a-baby-seikret-minion-as-part-of-its-monster-hunter-wilds-collab-and-i-will-fistfight-arkveld-alone-for-it/
I'm not going to try convincing you to play through ~500 hours of Final Fantasy 14 for a Monster Hunter Wilds event. It's easily one of my favorite games, but if you're not into the story as it stands, then the MMORPG isn't worth it. I will, however, show you this freakishly adorable baby Seikret minion revealed with the collab rewards and walk away. Whatever happens after is not my business.

Monastic brewing sim Ale Abbey hops out of early access with eight new beers to quaff and a 35% launch discount
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/monastic-brewing-sim-ale-abbey-hops-out-of-early-access-with-eight-new-beers-to-quaff-and-a-35-percent-launch-discount/
I'm not normally much of a drinker, but I'll be pouring a pint or several (hundred) this weekend, because monastic management sim Ale Abbey has staggered out of early access. The launch version spews a chunky 1.0 update all over the abbey's virtual cloisters, while wannabe brewmasters yet to sample its stout offering can dive in at a sizeable launch discount.

This 'supernatural handyman simulator' is House Flipper for Abiotic Factor sickos, a first-person restoration sim about fixing up a gigantic research facility
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/this-supernatural-handyman-simulator-is-house-flipper-for-abiotic-factor-sickos-a-first-person-restoration-sim-about-fixing-up-a-gigantic-research-facility/
While I understand the appeal of renovation sims like House Flipper, I simply cannot bring myself to play them. The idea of spending hours fixing up a fake house seems downright perverse when I cannot find time to maintain my own real, increasingly dilapidated abode.
You might say the obvious solution is to take some time off and get those many annoying odd jobs done, and you would be wrong. The solution is clearly for someone to make a game like House Flipper, but with a setting sufficiently detached from reality that I can convince myself that I am not wasting my time playing it.
It is with open arms, therefore, that I welcome The Lift, a "supernatural handyman simulator" that takes the core premise of House Flipper but switches out its crumbling bungalows and mouldy condos for a massive, Soviet-core scientific facility. It's basically Abiotic Factor for DIY sickos, and I am already buckling up my neglected toolbelt in anticipation.

2 years later than planned, Arctic Awakening arrives to pull the walking simulator out of its Edith Finch-shaped grave
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/2-years-later-than-planned-arctic-awakening-arrives-to-pull-the-walking-simulator-out-of-its-edith-finch-shaped-grave/
The walking simulator really died on its arse circa 2018, didn't it? It's like What Remains of Edith Finch released and everyone went "Well, we're not going to do better than that!" before hanging up their hiking boots once and for all. Even Giant Sparrow, the creator of What Remains of Edith Finch, hasn't released a game since.
While I can't exactly say I've missed walking sims—there's been no shortage of other games to keep me occupied in the meantime—I certainly wouldn't mind a luscious, whimsical first-person narrative adventure to saunter around for a few hours. Fortunately, after years wandering through the wilderness, the walking sim has decided to pay us a visit. And it's all thanks to Arctic Awakening, a new and exceedingly pretty sci-fi narrative thriller developed by GoldFire Studios.

FromSoftware is showing a sliver of mercy with a new QoL patch for Nightreign's super hard Deep of Night, but it hasn't gotten any easier
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fromsoftware-is-showing-a-sliver-of-mercy-with-a-new-qol-patch-for-nightreigns-super-hard-deep-of-night-but-it-hasnt-gotten-any-easier/
If you've been playing Elden Ring Nightreign's intense new Deep of Night mode, you may have noticed your Depth level ranking sometimes doesn't increase as it should after a victory. That glitch and some much-needed quality-of-life tweaks are getting addressed in an upcoming patch Bandai Namco announced on Friday.

One of my favorite shooters of the 2020s⁠—a sleeper 'Overwhelmingly Positive' on Steam⁠—just got a second episode that more than doubles its length for $10
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/one-of-my-favorite-shooters-of-the-2020s-a-sleeper-overwhelmingly-positive-on-steam-just-got-a-second-episode-that-more-than-doubles-its-length-for-usd10/
After a three-year wait, the phenomenal FPS Cultic is finally done, with creator Jasozz Games and publisher 3D Realms releasing its second episode on Steam for $10⁠—the same price as Episode One.

Developer of NSFW games says Valve won't let them add adult content in updates, now it has to be DLC
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/developer-of-nsfw-games-says-valve-wont-let-them-add-adult-content-in-updates-now-it-has-to-be-dlc/
Since the anti-porn crusaders Collective Shout pressured payment processors to get adult games removed from storefronts, things have been rough in the world of eroge development. (Eroge being short for "erotic game", he wrote, feeling like your dad explaining how babies are made.) Now, a developer at Crimson Delight has claimed they can't add new adult content to their existing adult game on Steam unless it's as DLC. (Via Automaton.)
"From what I know," they wrote on Reddit, "prior to the whole Collective Shout situation, adult games could add NSFW content even post-launch. But during the review process we were informed this was no longer the case. I have to say the reviewer was kind and forthcoming, we didn't feel threatened or bullied in any way, and we got the feeling they were trying to do their best to help devs navigate the process. But the fact of the matter is that Valve has payment processors breathing down their neck, and the rules keep getting stricter as time goes on."

Shadows of Doubt's hilarious new modifiers let you play as a wall-crawling rat detective and evade a killer snail
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/shadows-of-doubts-hilarious-new-modifiers-let-you-play-as-a-wall-crawling-rat-detective-and-evade-a-killer-snail/
I didn't think there were many ways to make Shadows of Doubt a better detective game—aside from giving the whole thing a vigorous polish. ColePowered Games' sleuthing simulator procedurally generates an entire city's worth of crimes to solve, somehow creating genuine deduction puzzles out of a bucketful of random numbers. Granted, it also tends to create a lot of bugs and dead ends in the process. But when Shadows of Doubt works, it's one of the best games ever made.
Yet the latest update somehow makes Shadows of Doubt even more conceptually appealing, by letting you play as a detective who is also a rat. The modifiers update injects a bunch of optional mutations into the sim's algorithmic genes, one of which lets you prowl its rain-slicked alleys as a trenchcoat-wearing rodent.

Mercenary RPG Wartales' latest DLC adds one of its most hotly-requested features, fief management
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/mercenary-rpg-wartales-latest-dlc-adds-one-of-its-most-hotly-requested-features-fief-management/
On balance, it's probably a good thing we have little cause to use the word 'fief' anymore. But I do wish I had a few more excuses to deploy it, if only because it's such an enjoyable word to say. Luckily, I'm able to postpone starting a degree in medieval history just so I can drop 'fief' into conversation more often without coming off as a total weirdo, because feudal estates happen to be the focus of Wartales' newest DLC.