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

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And the third part of the gaming news:

A new ToeJam and Earl is 'in the planning stage' according to its co-creator, but don't expect to see it anytime soon: 'We intend to make it happen'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/a-new-toejam-and-earl-is-in-the-planning-stage-according-to-its-co-creator-but-dont-expect-to-see-it-anytime-soon-we-intend-to-make-it-happen/
It's been six years since ToeJam and Earl: Back in the Groove heralded the return of gaming's funkiest alien duo, and while that's by no means the longest gap between entries (the third game, Mission to Earth, was released in 2002), fans have naturally been curious about what the future has in store for the series—if anything. The good news is, there are indeed plans for a new ToeJam and Earl game. The bad news is, at this stage, they're little more than that.

Strategy roguelike 9 Kings finally has 9 kings, though a new perk lets you revert it to 8 kings if nine kings proves too many
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/strategy-roguelike-9-kings-finally-has-9-kings-though-a-new-perk-lets-you-revert-it-to-8-kings-if-nine-kings-proves-too-many/
Roguelike strategy 9 Kings certainly played its cards right on its early access debut earlier this year. Developer Sad Socket's concept of using cards to place and upgrade units and buildings was so compelling that it even convinced deckbuilding sceptic Fraser Brown of the genre's merits. "Runs are brisk, the mechanics are simple, but there's actually a whole lot to dig into, he wrote back in August. "And honestly, I just love watching my pixel-sized troops going to war."
For all its strengths, however, 9 Kings was missing one small feature...nine kings. Up until this week, 9 Kings only had eight kings available to play as, using their unique decks to construct your base and fend off enemy forces. Talk about an embarrassing oversight! If I were making a game called 9 Kings, I would ensure it had the requisite number of monarchs befitting its title from the start!

Promising RTS Dinolords, which is basically Age of Empires with dinosaurs, is getting a closed alpha playtest that you can join later this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/promising-rts-dinolords-which-is-basically-age-of-empires-with-dinosaurs-is-getting-a-closed-alpha-playtest-that-you-can-join-later-this-month/
Dinolords is one of those ideas that sells itself the second you hear about it, a colourful blend of RTS and ARPG that sees medieval knights and marauding Vikings take to battle on the backs of roaring, stomping, terrible lizards. I've been eager to try it ever since it was announced, and the first real opportunity to do so is rapidly approaching. At the end of this month developer Northplay is running a closed alpha playtest, and you can sign up to test its tyrannosaurs right now.

Abiotic Factor gets new roadmap featuring a mystery crossover, DLC plans, and new difficulty modes alongside dev Q&A: 'We're terrified of our obligations to the community so be nice, we love you'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/abiotic-factor-gets-new-roadmap-featuring-a-mystery-crossover-dlc-plans-and-new-difficulty-modes-alongside-dev-q-and-a-were-terrified-of-our-obligations-to-the-community-so-be-nice-we-love-you/
Abiotic Factor might seem like a goofy sendup of Half-Life with its balding science guys and story centered around an iconic disaster ending in the word "cascade," but behind the silly facade is one of the best, most atmospheric survival games in recent memory.
If you're ready for a whole lot more of it, get ready: the game's living roadmap was just festooned with tantalizing DLC plans, patch details, and more. Obvious highlights include release windows for two DLCs—Temple of Stone before fall is over and a new sector due next summer—with lots more packed into the margins.

After learning his cult '90s RPG influenced Undertale, this Japanese developer finally got 'the courage' to make another RPG decades later thanks to Toby Fox
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/after-learning-his-cult-90s-rpg-influenced-undertale-this-japanese-developer-finally-got-the-courage-to-make-another-rpg-decades-later-thanks-to-toby-fox/
You may not know Japanese developer Yoshiro Kimura by name, but you likely do know of someone who does: Toby Fox, who credited Kimura's 1997 Moon: Remix RPG Adventure as an inspiration for Undertale. For as much obvious Earthbound DNA there is in the massively popular Undertale, there's also a critical bit of Moon in there, too. After working on some RPGs at Squaresoft early in his career, Kimura satirized the genre by having you go around healing monsters with kindness instead of killing them. Fox's love for Moon helped convince Kimura to get it translated and released on Steam and Switch after two decades.
(...)
Stray Children is the first RPG Kimura has designed in more than 20 years, and his biggest project since the underappreciated 2009 Wii RTS Little King's Story. It's releasing on Steam in English at the end of October, and it's hard to play the first few hours without drawing a line straight to Undertale. Stray Children's battles put your young character up against a bizarre array of monstrous "Olders," who you can quickly kill with attacks or much more laboriously heal by whispering the correct sequence of encouraging words into their ear.

Ninja Gaiden 4 directors say a 'sense of fairness' is vital for difficult games: 'If the player gets killed unreasonably, it's hard for them to reflect and think about what they could've done'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/ninja-gaiden-4-directors-say-a-sense-of-fairness-is-vital-for-difficult-games-if-the-player-gets-killed-unreasonably-its-hard-for-them-to-reflect-and-think-about-what-they-couldve-done/
Ninja Gaiden 4 will be arriving this month—and while I'm not as experienced with the series as, say, fellow PCG writer Wes Fenlon, I am downright curious to give it a proper try. The earlier Gaiden games were a smidge before my time, but the older I get, the thirstier I am for a challenge—and I have heard many tales of Ninja Gaiden's brutality that have me thinking I might just arrive fashionably late.
I'm also enticed by the words of directors Yuji Nakao and Masakazu Hirayama in an interview with Automaton. Speaking to the publication, they've repeatedly emphasised that fairness is a key component to making difficult games a good time instead of a high blood pressure simulator.

2005 FPS Serious Sam 2 just got a big update for reasons known only to God
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/2005-fps-serious-sam-2-just-got-a-big-update-for-reasons-known-only-to-god/
Serious Sam 2 just got a meaty patch from the devs at Croteam featuring UI updates, graphical improvements, changes to the multiplayer, and bugfixes. George W Bush is president, and the subprime mortgage market can only go up, up, up, baby!

I've been training my whole life for a battle royale like Final Sentence, it's just a shame the demo is a tad undercooked right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/ive-been-training-my-whole-life-for-a-battle-royale-like-final-sentence-its-just-a-shame-the-demo-is-a-tad-undercooked-right-now/
I've been typing for most of my life—flogging flax so I could afford a dragon longsword in RuneScape, roleplaying in World of Warcraft, and at present, writing multiple articles a day for the good site PC Gamer. I average about 130 words per minute, which isn't competitive or anything, but I'm pretty nippy compared to the average pecker (it's a typing term, stop giggling).
I've long believed I would never be able to translate these skills to gaming. I mean, sure, you've got games like Typing of the Dead, but I don't do anything if it doesn't have bragging rights. I'm told that's 'mean-spirited' and 'narcissistic' and 'unhealthily competitive', but those people were all losers anyway.
Final Sentence, a battle royale typing game, shows me there's a potential royale out there which could fix this hole in my life, but it's not this one, at least not yet.