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

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The second part of the gaming news:

Peak dev's next co-op game—Crashout Crew—is like spinning a plate, except the plate has a bunch of dynamite on it, and also somebody put bees in the road
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/peak-devs-next-co-op-game-crashout-crew-is-like-spinning-a-plate-except-the-plate-has-a-bunch-of-dynamite-on-it-and-also-somebody-put-bees-in-the-road/
Aggro Crab, the developer of hit co-op game Peak and arbiter of "friendslop" (although we're still undecided on that phrase here at PC Gamer), have released a demo for its new game for Steam Next Fest—and it's already utter chaos. Though it's of a different flavour.

After 5 years Phasmophobia is closing in on its 1.0 release with immersive updates and more plans to come: 'If players are still there, we'll still be there'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/after-5-years-phasmophobia-is-closing-in-on-its-1-0-release-with-immersive-updates-and-more-plans-to-come-if-players-are-still-there-well-still-be-there/
It's been a big year for Phasmophobia, not only did the ghost-hunting multiplayer horror game celebrate its fifth anniversary last month but the dev team are also gearing up for its highly anticipated 1.0 launch.

One the the best parts of Phasmophobia's success is the new wave of co-op horror games, 'There was nothing, now there's obviously quite a lot'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/one-the-the-best-parts-of-phasmophobias-success-is-the-new-wave-of-co-op-horror-games-there-was-nothing-now-theres-obviously-quite-a-lot/
One of Phasmophobia's greatest successes is its lasting effect on the horror genre. Multiplayer horror has always had a foothold amongst the subgenres' finest, but after Phasmo's release five years ago, the scene has totally exploded with more horror games, both intense single-player experiences and wacky multiplayer romps.

The story for Paradox's original, canned Bloodlines 2 has gone the way of the dodo, and its fired narrative lead says no one's spoken to him about it, but the good news is he's working on 2 games at once right now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-story-for-paradoxs-original-canned-bloodlines-2-has-gone-the-way-of-the-dodo-and-its-fired-narrative-lead-says-no-ones-spoken-to-him-about-it-but-the-good-news-is-hes-working-on-2-games-at-once-right-now/
If there's a recent game-dev story I'm ravenous to hear more about, it's this: what the hell happened with Hardsuit Labs' version of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2? If you can cast your mind back to the heady days of 2019, you might remember the game's initial announcement, when Paradox got Brian Mitsoda—writer on the original Bloodlines and narrative lead on HSL's Bloodlines 2—on stage to announce the series' revival with all manner of hullabaloo. The game was due out the following year.
A year later and the game was not out, but Mitsoda and creative director Ka'ai Cluney were suddenly and shockingly fired. In 2021, Hardsuit lost the project entirely. In 2023, Paradox revealed it had given it over to The Chinese Room, which had dramatically overhauled the game in its own image. Today, we are six days away from that game's release, and hoi polloi like us still don't know any more about what went down with HSL's Bloodlines than we did several years ago.
And it's likely to stay that way for some time. Maybe forever. The wounds still seem too fresh for anyone to go blabbing too much about it, but in a recent post on his blog Mitsoda shined at least a little light on where he's at with his feelings on the game, the varieties of work he did on it, and the contact he's had with the game's new dev and Paradox. That last one is easy: there's been none.

'Death Stranding, but Norman Reedus is a horse in 13th-century Mongolia' is the pitch for this demo with the most detailed steed mechanics I've ever seen
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/death-stranding-but-norman-reedus-is-a-horse-in-13th-century-mongolia-is-the-pitch-for-this-demo-with-the-most-detailed-steed-mechanics-ive-ever-seen/
I was a little late, but I finally got into Death Stranding earlier this year. Reader, it seized me and wouldn't let go. Not because I had any idea what was going on (I didn't), but because I discovered that, deep in the recesses of my heart, I yearn for nothing more than to be a postman.
Well, I can feel the old Yearn To Deliver a-calling again, friends. I've been playing a bit of the Steam Next Fest demo for The Legend of Khiimori, which is a lot like Death Stranding, but with a non-Sony budget and you control a beautiful steed (Mongolian horses, about which the game goes into literally medical detail) instead of a beautiful steed (Norman Reedus).

Activision anti-cheat team goes on another victory lap after 'the strongest beta results in Call of Duty history', brags '99% of matches were cheater-free' and warns that every day they get 'faster'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/activision-anti-cheat-team-goes-on-another-victory-lap-after-the-strongest-beta-results-in-call-of-duty-history-brags-99-percent-of-matches-were-cheater-free-and-warns-that-every-day-they-get-faster/
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat; Black Ops 7 says it's nailing cheaters, and that's that.
Fresh off a humblebrag earlier in the beta, Activision-Blizzard's Team Ricochet has returned to provide some more stats on dirty rotten cheaters that, on the surface at least, make for some impressive reading. "We’ve crunched the numbers for Black Ops 7 Beta, and Ricochet Anti-Cheat achieved the strongest Beta results in Call of Duty history," says a message from Team Ricochet on X. "Each day, our cheat detections got faster and your matches got cleaner."

Road to Vostok finally has a playable demo on Steam and it's the most terrified I've ever been of getting shot at in a videogame
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/road-to-vostok-finally-has-a-playable-demo-on-steam-and-its-the-most-terrified-ive-ever-been-of-getting-shot-at-in-a-videogame/
Perhaps to our collective detriment, guns in games don't feel as threatening as you'd otherwise expect from implements capable of firing hundreds of lethal projectiles per minute. In a medium where regenerating health, respawn mechanics, and multiplayer balance expectations can turn fully automatic fire into a minor inconvenience, a firearm can signal character archetype, combat playstyle, cosmetic preference, customizability—but it's rare for one to feel like an existential threat.
Road to Vostok, however, manages to make the sound of a single gunshot feel like a small apocalypse.

Steam Next Fest's most popular demo is an old Half Sword tech playtest, which just proves the timeless appeal of physics-based swordfights
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/steam-next-fests-most-popular-demo-is-an-old-half-sword-tech-playtest-which-just-proves-the-timeless-appeal-of-physics-based-swordfights/
Steam's Next Fests are a magical time, where we get to delight in the latest bite-sized demo appetizers for upcoming games from developers of every scale—or at least, that's what usually happens. According to Steam's charts, what's getting the most attention in the current Next Fest is an old tech demo for Half Sword.
But really, can you blame anyone? Videogames are nothing if not proof of a near-universal fascination with the idea of people hitting each other with objects, and Half Sword's physics-based simulation of 15th century martial combat takes that grisly spectacle to a bloody, often clumsy extreme.

It's not just you: Hit registration is bugged in Battlefield 6 and DICE is working on it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/its-not-just-you-hit-registration-is-bugged-in-battlefield-6-and-dice-is-working-on-it/
After a handful of days to really dig into Battlefield 6, folks are starting to identify some bugbears. There's the slow progression, the wonky server browser, the high CPU usage, and oh yea—there's something deeply wrong with hit registration.
If your gun isn't always shooting straight, that's partly by design—Battlefield 6 guns have "bloom," an accuracy penalty that increases bullet spread the longer you fire continuously. While some Call of Duty transplants are gobsmacked by the mechanic on principle, DICE is currently investigating instances where bloom is working a little too well.
>> How could they miss that during the playtests is beyond me. At least they know what to do if you’re having problem with land mines (link).

Battlefield boss Vince Zampella: 'The only reason that Call of Duty exists is because EA were dicks'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/battlefield-boss-vince-zampella-the-only-reason-that-call-of-duty-exists-is-because-ea-were-dicks/
Medal of Honor: Allied Assault was a big deal back in 2002. Its cinematic take on World War II, and especially the Omaha Beach landing, earned it our Best Action Game of the Year award, and made it one of 2002's must-play games. The third in the Medal of Honor series, it had been farmed out to a new developer called 2015, Inc. Publisher Electronic Arts decided not to keep 2015 on for the inevitable follow-up, however, bringing the series in-house.
Which left 2015 at a loose end. Having been given a tight deadline to crank out a franchise entry and then absolutely smashing it, the studio assumed it would be allowed a second chance. When EA decided not to keep them around, a chunk of 2015 including Allied Assault's development director Vince Zampella went to EA's rival Activision, started a new studio called Infinity Ward, and invented Call of Duty.
If EA had kept them around, 2015 would presumably have happily kept making Medal of Honor games for them and Call of Duty wouldn't have become a thing. Or, to put it another way, "The only reason that Call of Duty exists is because EA were dicks," as Zampella recently told GQ Magazine.