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

[JEMC]

Yesterday was a mirage. Here is the third part of the gaming news:

The Battlefield 6 free trial is live, and if you're new to the scene EA has a detailed guide to get you started
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-battlefield-6-free-trial-is-live-and-if-youre-new-to-the-scene-ea-has-a-detailed-guide-to-get-you-started/
Electronic Arts announced last week that a free trial for Battlefield 6, "the best selling shooter of 2025" (a bold claim given that it's still ongoing), would get underway on November 25. Well, today is November 25, and yeah, you can probably see where I'm going with this. The Battlefield 6 free trial is live!
One thing interesting (and, I think, new) about the Battlefield 6 free trial is that you don't access it through Battlefield 6, as you might expect; if you hop around to the BF6 Steam page, you'll see there's no sort of "try me free!" option available.
Instead, you get to it through Battlefield Redsec, the battle royale mode, which is always free to play. But during the trial period, you'll also have access to three playlists, including a "casual multiplayer experience," across three maps: Siege of Cairo, Eastwood, and Blackwell Fields."

Valve responds as indie horror studio accuses Steam of 'censorship' for banning its game about nude human 'Horses' (Update)
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/horror-game-maker-accuses-valve-of-censorship-after-its-game-about-nude-human-horses-is-rejected-by-steam-lawful-works-should-not-be-made-unreachable-by-a-monopolistic-storefronts-opaque-decisions/
On December 2, Italian game dev studio Santa Ragione will release Horses, a first-person horror adventure telling a story of "the burden of familial trauma and puritan values, the dynamics of totalitarian power, and the ethics of personal responsibility," using what the studio calls "grotesque, subversive imagery" of a ranch where nude human beings in horse masks are treated as animal livestock.
Prerelease demos of Horses have been honored at IndieCade, Day of the Devs, SXSW Sydney showcases, and SFMOMA exhibitions. But while it'll be available for $5 on Epic Games Store, GOG, Itch.io, and the Humble Store for $5, Santa Ragione says the launch of Horses will leave the studio at risk of closing—because in June 2023, after submitting the game for listing on Steam, Santa Ragione received an email from Valve saying Horses was banned from Steam for featuring "content that appears, in our judgment, to depict sexual conduct involving a minor."
Update: Reached for comment, Valve replied that its content review team "extensively" discussed in 2023 whether to reconsider its refusal to list Horses for sale on Steam, but ultimately held its decision. Valve's full statement reads: (...)
>> When you play hard, sometimes you lose.

Embracer Group sells publisher Arc Games and Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studios, but once again clings on to the publishing rights for Remnant 2
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/embracer-group-sells-publisher-arc-games-and-star-trek-online-developer-cryptic-studios-but-once-again-clings-on-to-the-publishing-rights-for-remnant-2/
The games industry's biggest fire sale continues, as Embracer Group has sold Star Trek Online developer Cryptic Studio and publisher Arc Games, which also handled publishing duties for games like Remnant 2, Torchlight, and the recently released old-school MMO Fellowship.
The buyer is Project Golden Arc, which is owned and led by members of Arc Games' management. The deal—which is worth $30 million, has been financed by XD Inc, perhaps best known as the developer and publisher of the free-to-play Torchlight Infinite.

Call of Duty has been the biggest-selling shooter in the US since 2006, but that could soon change according to industry analyst: 'This part of the market hasn't been this competitive in 20 years'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-has-been-the-biggest-selling-shooter-in-the-us-since-2006-but-that-could-soon-change-according-to-industry-analyst-this-part-of-the-market-hasnt-been-this-competitive-in-20-years/
Activision's camo-clad cash cow Call of Duty has ruled the shooter roost for almost 20 years in the US, consistently topping the charts for games involving guns since 2006. But according to games industry analyst Mat Piscatella, that might just change in 2025.
(...)
This year, however, things might turn out differently. While Piscatella says we "still have some big weeks of potential sales to come," he observes that "this part of the market hasn't been this competitive in 20 years."

22 years since launch, a classic Dungeons & Dragons adventure from the developer of Bloodlines is finally coming to Steam
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/22-years-since-launch-a-classic-dungeons-and-dragons-adventure-from-the-developer-of-bloodlines-is-finally-coming-to-steam/
Long defunct game developer Troika is best known today for the dark roleplaying masterpiece/dropped bag of spanners Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. But the year before Bloodlines simultaneously spelled doom and immortality for the studio, Troika released The Temple of Elemental Evil, a similarly ambitious and similarly buggy adaptation of the Dungeon & Dragons scenario written by D&D's cocreators Gary Gygax and Frank Mentzer.
The Temple of Elemental Evil is fondly remembered by D&D fans for its meticulous adaptation of the scenario into the then newly released 3.5 edition. "It may not be the best D&D game, but it is the most D&D game," PC Gamer's Jody Macgregor wrote back in 2017. "Being alone at a computer isn't the same as sitting round a table shouting every time someone rolls a 20 or putting on a silly voice and making everyone laugh, but The Temple of Elemental Evil gets surprisingly close to recreating that atmosphere."
The RPG has been quietly kept alive by modders for years. But now, more than two decades after it launched, The Temple of Elemental Evil is getting a proper Steam release.

After 17 years, Ubisoft is hiring up for Beyond Good and Evil 2, a definitely real videogame that exists
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/after-17-years-ubisoft-is-hiring-up-for-beyond-good-and-evil-2-a-definitely-real-videogame-that-exists/
Just one more heave, and I reckon Sisyphus will finally get that rock to the top of the mountain. Beyond Good and Evil 2—a videogame that I first got excited for when I was 14 years old (I am now 32)—inexplicably continues development. Not only that, but its team is hiring (via Eurogamer).