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

[JEMC]

Friday gaming news, the sequel:

Bethesda is 'actively investigating' the Fallout 4 problems that Bethesda caused with its latest Fallout 4 update
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/bethesda-is-actively-investigating-the-fallout-4-problems-that-bethesda-caused-with-its-latest-fallout-4-update/
Fallout 4's overall rating on Steam is "very positive" but its recent rating is "mixed," with user reviews languishing well under 50% positive. If you're wondering why, you can thank the recent Fallout 4 Creations Menu update.
Released earlier this month alongside the Creations Bundle (which is struggling under a "mostly negative" rating) to celebrate Fallout 4's 10th anniversary, the intent was to simplify the process of finding and accessing externally-developed content—the Creations in question. Instead, however, it made a rather big mess of things: breaking existing mods, introducing new bugs, and causing crashes and performance issues.
With Fallout fans decidedly unhappy about the whole thing, Bethesda now says it is "actively investigating" issues with the troublesome Fallout 4 update and Anniversary Edition, and that players "should now see faster load times of the Creations menu, game menu, and redemption of Creation Club items."

Deep Rock Galactic's roguelite spin-off is delayed, but in the meantime it's getting another season of new stuff including a 'tomb-like' biome
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/deep-rock-galactics-roguelite-spin-off-is-delayed-but-in-the-meantime-its-getting-another-season-of-new-stuff-including-a-tomb-like-biome/
"Let's just get the bad out of the way: we have to postpone the launch of [Deep Rock Galactic:] Rogue Core to early Q2 2026," said Ghost Ship Games director Mikkel Martin Pedersen in a briefing earlier this week. It was a rip-the-band-aid-off opening for a presentation that quickly moved on to what Ghost Ship's doing in the meantime: launching a new season for Deep Rock Galactic, its first since 2024, while it continues work on the roguelite spin-off for next year.
>> And he has also acknowledged that competition is fierce (link).

FPS ship battler Wildgate has struggled to find players on Steam since launch, but its next update could give it a second chance
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/fps-ship-battler-wildgate-has-struggled-to-find-players-on-steam-since-launch-but-its-next-update-could-give-it-a-second-chance/
It's been rough watching the muted response to Wildgate over the last few months. While people on the subreddit study the Steam player numbers and offer armchair designer-style solutions, the actual developers have continued to work on improving the most abrasive parts of the game.
None of those updates, nor any price discounts, have been able to spark interest in players who either stopped playing or missed it entirely on the busy store pages of Steam. The Steam concurrents have dropped into the double digits and haven't had a noticeable uptick in several weeks.
Over the last few months, however, Moonshot Games has been preparing a major update that could give it a second chance. On November 19, the Emergence update will finally give new players a mode that helps onboard them to the intricacies of joining a crew and flying a space ship. It will also include a mode that cuts out all the looting and focuses on large-scale ship battles. And a new alien prospector will join the roster with the ability to revive teammates.

The Turnip Boy devs just announced a sudden left turn into horny territory: A dungeon crawler where you 'rizz up' monster girls
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-turnip-boy-devs-just-announced-a-sudden-left-turn-into-horny-territory-a-dungeon-crawler-where-you-rizz-up-monster-girls/
Romance is a perennial hot topic of RPGs. It was back when Mass Effect's steamy fade-to-black romances made the headlines on conservative news outlets, and it still is now that we've seen hair and hide of straight-up animal sex in Baldur's Gate 3, for better or worse. If you're looking for more virtual action in a decidedly high fantasy-themed package, you might have an unlikely savior on the way: Snoozy Kazoo, the team behind the Turnip Boy games.
Enter Rizz Dungeon: Skeleton Key to My Heart, a first-person dungeon crawler announced today. While it is not, to my eye, a sex game, and Turnip Boy was always irreverent at its heart, Rizz Dungeon is still a sheer enough left turn into hornyville to give this writer whiplash.

Uh oh: Ubisoft postpones its quarterly financial report at the last minute and halts stock trading
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/uh-oh-ubisoft-postpones-its-quarterly-financial-report-at-the-last-minute-and-halts-stock-trading/
Well, this is a strange one. Just minutes before it was set to deliver its financial results for the first half of its 2025-26 fiscal year, Ubisoft mashed the brakes on the whole thing, postponing the release of its results to an unspecified future date. The company also requested that European exchange Euronext halt trading of the company's shares and bonds from November 14 until the publication of its results.

One of our favorite 4X games is holding an extra-long free weekend starting today
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/one-of-our-favorite-4x-games-is-holding-an-extra-long-free-weekend-starting-today/
I like strategy games, but they start to lose me as they grow increasingly complex to the point of near-impenetrability. That's largely kept me away from grand strategy and 4X games, which tend to offer the richest sandboxes to the most committed players, occasionally at the cost of accessibility to newcomers. The only series in the style that's truly won my heart is Age of Wonders, the fourth of which you can try for free this weekend until Monday, Nov. 17.
>> It will also be 50% off until the 26th.

World of Warcraft director 'doesn't expect blind faith' in its plans to unshackle the MMO from popular combat mods: 'We take none of this lightly'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/world-of-warcraft-director-doesnt-expect-blind-faith-in-its-plans-to-unshackle-the-mmo-from-popular-combat-mods-we-take-none-of-this-lightly/
As World of Warcraft's next expansion nears release, players are preparing for the first time in the MMO's history where combat mods, or addons, won't offer much help. The most popular ones simply won't work when Midnight arrives as part of Blizzard's plan to level the playing field for all players.
(...)
In a lengthy post about this new era of addon support, game director Ion Hazzikostas explains why any of this is happening now, what exactly is changing, and how things will move forward as the Midnight beta continues.

Rockstar is now under pressure from UK Parliament as protests grow and 220 employees demand fired workers be reinstated
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rockstar-is-now-under-pressure-from-uk-parliament-as-protests-grow-and-220-employees-demand-fired-workers-be-reinstated/
Rockstar employees may be "scared, hurt, and feel uncertain" following the sudden dismissal of more than 30 people last week, but they're not so frightened that they're unwilling to speak out. The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain says more than 200 workers at the company have signed a letter to senior management demanding the reinstatement of their fired colleagues.

For the third time this year, Crystal Dynamics is making layoffs: Nearly 30 people are being put out of work 'to optimize the continued development of our flagship Tomb Raider game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/for-the-third-time-this-year-crystal-dynamics-is-making-layoffs-nearly-30-people-are-being-put-out-of-work-to-optimize-the-continued-development-of-our-flagship-tomb-raider-game/
For the third time this year, Tomb Raider studio Crystal Dynamics has laid off employees: The company announced today that it's making a "difficult but necessary" reorganization of its studios and team, and that as a result nearly 30 people will be put out of work.

'Do people even go to the main menu anymore in their games?' The Outer Worlds 2's player-roasting main menu was almost sunk by console gamer habits
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/do-people-even-go-to-the-main-menu-anymore-in-their-games-the-outer-worlds-2s-player-roasting-main-menu-was-almost-sunk-by-console-gamer-habits/
The Outer Worlds 2's main menu is the epitome of "Oh hey, that's neat!" All of your options are structured as a dialogue with an animatronic Moon Man, the in-game corporate mascot who serves as the series' own Vault Boy in real life.
Things get really interesting, though, when both he and the environment around him change based on where you're at in the game, as well as the choices you've made⁠—I was delighted when I booted up the game and he roasted me for being a tryhard playing on the Very Hard difficulty setting.