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

[JEMC]

Wednesday gaming news, part two:

Borderlands 4 player finds bugged interaction that can cause 'Total Existence Failure' damage to endgame bosses without a proper build—and no legendary items or crit knives to be seen
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/borderlands-4-player-finds-bugged-interaction-that-can-cause-total-existence-failure-damage-to-endgame-bosses-without-a-proper-build-and-no-legendary-items-or-crit-knives-to-be-seen/
Borderlands 4's fresh out the gun factory—which means busted interactions abound. Like, for example, the dreaded Crit Knife, which has been the terror of endgame bosses the world over. And while Gearbox isn't planning on nerfing these right now, it uh, might want to take just a tinsey winsey look at this one.
As discovered by YouTuber NickTew (thanks, IGN), it turns out you can obliterate most bosses in BL4 with a measly 25 out of the 49 skill points specced into gun damage. And even then, that's not strictly necessary.
>> So, not only does it run like sh*t, but the game is also full of holes.

Disney Dreamlight Valley's newest free update is coming next week, and will take us back to one of my favourite realms
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/disney-dreamlight-valleys-newest-free-update-is-coming-next-week-and-will-take-us-back-to-one-of-my-favourite-realms/
Disney Dreamlight Valley has announced that its next free update, Return to Beast's Castle, will be dropping on October 1. As the title suggests, it will whisk us back to the Beauty and the Beast realm, and plans to add a few fan favourite characters for us to invite to the valley.

2XKO is coming out of closed beta much sooner than expected, opening the floodgate for PC players next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/2xko-is-coming-out-of-closed-beta-much-sooner-than-expected-opening-the-floodgate-for-pc-players-next-month/
It's been almost six years and one name change, but 2XKO (formerly Project L) finally opened its doors as part of a closed beta earlier this month. If you've been one of the unlucky folk begging all your mates for an invite code to no avail, don't fret: the tag fighter is throwing open the gate to all players much sooner than I expected.

Fortnite's latest proximity chat-based mode saw thousands banned last weekend over slurs and toxic behaviour
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/fortnites-latest-proximity-chat-based-mode-saw-thousands-banned-last-weekend-over-slurs-and-toxic-behaviour/
Maybe I'm just a big old baby, but nothing sounds more nightmarish to me than dropping into a Fortnite lobby full of teenagers and being forced to engage with them via proximity chat. Epic seemed to think it was a good idea, though, launching its Delulu mode over the weekend.
And hell, Epic was right: over 126,000 concurrent players flocked to it during its weekend stint, according to IGN, making it one of the most popular game modes on offer during that time. I suppose a lot of that's down to the hunger for something new—Blitz Royale found similar success when it first landed a couple weeks ago—though, for some, the reasons for playing are perhaps more sinister.

X-COM's creator wants to make a sequel to his spiritual successor, despite it being a 'very difficult project'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/x-coms-creator-wants-to-make-a-sequel-to-his-spiritual-successor-despite-it-being-a-very-difficult-project/
Phoenix Point is one of the X-COM tree's most interesting branches. Where Firaxis created a modern, flashy, accessible variation of the original X-COM, the series creator, Julian Gollop, took a different approach. Phoenix Point maintained the original's complexity, elevated the strategic side of things dramatically and gave us tactical battles built on a detailed physics simulation.
Unfortunately, it was rife with bugs at launch, and probably didn't get the fair shake it deserved thanks to its status as an Epic exclusive. It would take another year for it to come to Steam. Gollop remembers it as a "very difficult project".
(...)
But that doesn't mean Gollop is entirely done with Phoenix Point, and a sequel could be on the table. "Yes, I do," he says, when asked if he wants to return to Phoenix Point. "I cannot confirm either way whether that's going to be possible yet, but I certainly do"

Painkiller is coming in October with a new co-op roguelike mode that does not look very Painkiller-ish to me
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/painkiller-is-coming-in-october-with-a-new-co-op-roguelike-mode-that-does-not-look-very-painkiller-ish-to-me/
A new Painkiller was announced back in March, teasing just enough to make me think that after years of bad sequels, well, maybe this time they'd get it right. Today, Anshar Studios and 3D Realms dropped a new trailer revealing the "Rogue Angel" game mode, and it teases just enough to make me think, well, maybe not, too.

Baldur's Gate 3 now runs natively on Steam Deck thanks to a single Larian engineer who started the project after hours because he 'really wanted a smoother version of the game on Steam Deck'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/baldurs-gate-3-now-runs-natively-on-steam-deck-thanks-to-a-single-larian-engineer-who-started-the-project-after-hours-because-he-really-wanted-a-smoother-version-of-the-game-on-steam-deck/
A new Baldur's Gate 3 hotfix is live today, and it's good news for Steam Deck fans: The update features a new native Steam Deck build, which Larian says will deliver "more stable framerate, lower loading times, and smoother gameplay" on Valve's portable platform.

A week after saying it was going quiet for the rest of the year, Palworld announces a crossover with the brilliant and bloodstained shooter Ultrakill
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/a-week-after-saying-it-was-going-quiet-for-the-rest-of-the-year-palworld-announces-a-crossover-with-the-brilliant-and-bloodstained-shooter-ultrakill/
Only last week, Palworld developer Pocketpair announced that the hit survival game, which remains in early access, would be going quiet as it prepared for a full launch in 2026. Well well well… it looks like someone had a surprise up their sleeve, because today brought the announcement of an unexpected crossover, albeit with scant detail.
Palworld is collaborating with Ultrakill, a brilliant indie shooter by Arsi 'Hakita' Patala that's still in early access itself, and continuing to blow minds (the game sits at "overwhelmingly positive" on Steam with roughly 120K user reviews). Ultrakill is fast-paced, bloody, and constructed around five weapons and the intricate way their various fire modes can be comboed together. It also boasts the brilliant tagline: "Mankind is dead. Blood is fuel. Hell is full."

EU tax officials confront the most pressing legal question of our time: If you sell RuneScape gold to someone and they use it to buy a magic sword, do you still have to pay taxes?
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/eu-tax-officials-confront-the-most-pressing-legal-question-of-our-time-if-you-sell-runescape-gold-to-someone-and-they-use-it-to-buy-a-magic-sword-do-you-still-have-to-pay-taxes/
On September 11, advocate general at the Court of Justice of the European Union Juliane Kokott issued an opinion requesting a preliminary ruling from the Tax Disputes Commission under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania on a case concerning that most fundamental financial quandary with which all states, federations, and empires in their might and majesty must—in time—contend: Should you have to pay taxes if you sell RuneScape gold to somebody for real money?

I wish I'd known this one stupidly simple trick when I started Baby Steps—it makes some of the harder early climbs much easier
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/i-wish-id-known-this-one-stupidly-simple-trick-when-i-started-baby-steps-it-makes-some-of-the-harder-early-climbs-much-easier/
I've only played about five hours of Baby Steps, but if there's one thing I've learned during that time, it's that you always need to have complete visibility over where Nate is putting his feet. Since this is a "walking simulator" and this logic applies to real life too, it may seem overly obvious. And it might be. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I know I'm not alone in that.
Baby Steps is played from a third-person perspective and it lets you change whether the camera is oriented to the left or right of Nate. But during the trickier traversal scenarios, such as when you're navigating a very narrow bridge or even something as thin as a tightrope, I found that it was basically essential to train that camera on Nate's feet via a top -down perspective. Just seeing Nate's legs is not enough!