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

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This is the second part of the gaming news:

Inkle co-founder says WW2 puzzler TR-49 is 'our best launch, ever, in 14 years,' and they made it in just 9 months
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/inkle-co-founder-says-ww2-puzzler-tr-49-is-our-best-launch-ever-in-14-years-and-they-made-it-in-just-9-months/
I'm only 30, and I often think I'm past my prime. But indie developer Inkle's co-founder Jon Ingold has given me hope. 14 years after the studio's first game Frankenstein hit iOS devices, its latest offering, the WW2-era puzzle game TR-49, is the team's best launch ever. No, literally.
"TR-49 is our best launch, ever, in 14 years," Ingold writes on Bluesky. "I admit I'm surprised! Made in nine months, mostly as an experiment to learn Godot, and an excuse to play with some actors. (And for me to do some acting.)"

New gacha game takes gambling to a whole new level by accidentally charging purchases to random people's PayPal accounts
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/new-gacha-game-takes-gambling-to-a-whole-new-level-by-accidentally-charging-purchases-to-random-peoples-paypal-accounts/
What's better than spending your money gambling for waifus? Someone else using your PayPal to gamble for their waifus.
Okay, wait, actually no. That's worse. Erm.
But surely that would never happen, right? Well, for a few unlucky players diving into the launch of new gacha game Arknights: Endfield, it's exactly what happened. Endfield users have found their PayPal accounts getting charged for other players' purchases, leading developer Hypergryph to temporarily halt PayPal transactions. Meanwhile, I'm over here trying to figure out how something like this is even possible in the first place.

Social sandbox MMO Pax Dei is free to play this weekend, which is perfect for solo survival game enjoyers like me who are curious about all the community features
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/social-sandbox-mmo-pax-dei-is-free-to-play-this-weekend-which-is-perfect-for-solo-survival-game-enjoyers-like-me-who-are-curious-about-all-the-community-features/
I like survival games because they let me live out my fantasy of leaving the computer behind forever and building a log cabin out in the woods all by my lonesome. No internet, no noisy eaters, just peace. Because isolation is so core to my dream, I rarely partake in MMOs, but Pax Dei's free weekend has piqued my interest.
Pax Dei isn't a new diversity programme, it's a "social sandbox MMO" where you can build your own home, make your own clothes, and generally just live out a medieval life. The idea behind it is that everything is player-led. You can set up a market stall full of goods you've made yourself, from armour to flowers, and trade with other players.

Create beautiful pots and use them to smash your friends to pieces in Double Fine's new 'online multiplayer pottery party brawler'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/create-beautiful-pots-and-use-them-to-smash-your-friends-to-pieces-in-double-fines-new-online-multiplayer-pottery-party-brawler/
According to Tim Schafer, every so often Double Fine Productions will hit the pause button on its current project and spend two weeks developing something new based on a pitch from members of its team.
Forgetting about its main game and focusing on something different for a bit is called "Amnesia Fortnight" and this process has resulted in games like Costume Quest in 2011 and Stacking in 2012—and now, in 2026, a new game called Kiln.

'Lasting consequences where every action could leave a trail back to you' is just what I want to hear from a medieval thievery simulator, so this first person sneaker is now one of my most anticipated games
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/lasting-consequences-where-every-action-could-leave-a-trail-back-to-you-is-just-what-i-want-to-hear-from-a-medieval-thievery-simulator-so-this-first-person-sneaker-is-now-one-of-my-most-anticipated-games/
I love rogues, bows, backstabs, silent takedowns, sneaking, and skulduggery in my games⁠—if you do too, you should pay attention to the upcoming first person stealth game Project Shadowglass, which recently began showing off its first gameplay and development details.
The first thing that caught my attention with Shadowglass is its visual style, which developer Starhelm describes as "revolutionary 3D pixel art graphics." It looks crunchy, warm, vibrant, and nostalgic⁠—the hero shot of the player cresting a hill to see a castle town looming over a placid bay feels like someone took a Hiroshi Nagai painting, made it fantasy, then got it all software render pixelated like Cultic, one of the best-looking PC games of the 2020s in my book.

Fable is coming this fall, will let you kill a giant Richard Ayoade and possibly destroy the local housing market in the process
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fable-is-coming-this-fall-will-let-you-kill-a-giant-richard-ayoade-and-possibly-destroy-the-local-housing-market-in-the-process/
After years of near-silence, Playground Games popped up twice during today's Developer Direct showcase: The first time to show off Forza Horizon 6 and the second (and what we're here to talk about now) to finally give us a good look at Fable, its reboot of the famed RPG series. And it's setting the bar high. "Although our game is a new beginning," said game director Ralph Fulton, "I think what we're making is really faithful to the spirit of the classic Lionhead trilogy that we all love."
>> Despite what it may seem by that paragraph, they aren’t trying to make a Lionhead game (link), which may, or not, be for the better. Also, the game will have 1,000 'handcrafted' NPCs (link) and its morality system will “live in shades of grey” (link).

Three months after laying off a bunch of people, Payday studio Starbreeze lays off a bunch more people
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/three-months-after-laying-off-a-bunch-of-people-payday-studio-starbreeze-lays-off-a-bunch-more-people/
It seems that troubles at Payday 3 developer Starbreeze have not abated, as multiple employees have reported on LinkedIn that the company has imposed another round of layoffs. The cuts come just three months after a previous round of layoffs, and the transfer of Payday 2 to another developer so Starbreeze can focus its efforts on saving Payday 3.

Roguelike fatigue is real, but I can make an exception for this upcoming project that remixes some of my favorite stealth games at 90 mph
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/roguelike-fatigue-is-real-but-i-can-make-an-exception-for-this-upcoming-project-that-remixes-some-of-my-favorite-stealth-games-at-90-mph/
I like it when a game has a beginning, middle, and end⁠—I'm old fashioned like that⁠—so I tend to avoid a roguelike unless it looks really, truly special. Upcoming stealth-immersive-platform-brawler-prank sim DreadBound fits the bill.
From its first trailer, DreadBound looks to be taking a page from the likes of Dark Messiah of Might & Magic or 2025's best immersive sim, Skin Deep, by embracing the slapstick and improvisational side of the genre, rather than cerebral exploration.

Finally, another Armored Core instalment just surprise dropped on Steam, but you'll need to have the patience of a saint to play it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/finally-another-armored-core-instalment-just-surprise-dropped-on-steam-but-youll-need-to-have-the-patience-of-a-saint-to-play-it/
A whopping 16 main Armored Core games have released since 1997, but only 2023's brilliant Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is officially available on PC. Until now, that is: a second Armored Core game just released on Steam courtesy of Japanese publisher G-Mode, and it's going for the bargain price of $11.
Alas, Armored Core: Mobile 3 is not likely an instalment the masses will embrace. It was originally released for flip phones in 2007, and further complicating matters, it was a Japanese exclusive. While that's not exactly the case now—you can easily go and buy Armored Core: Mobile 3 on Steam right now—few will have the patience to play it without English subs. Indeed, no major efforts have been made to modernize this ancient artefact, though it does appear to have controller support.

In less than 1 week, Blizzard's sliced WoW's transmog costs in half after upset to 'bring them more in line with what the prices were prior'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/in-less-than-1-week-blizzards-sliced-wows-transmog-costs-in-half-after-upset-to-bring-them-more-in-line-with-what-the-prices-were-prior/
If there's one thing this World of Warcraft player has learnt from this new, post-Shadowlands Blizzard, it is this: While they are a little (okay, a lot) messier, they do tend to move quickly. So quickly in fact that it's become a bit of a cycle for WoW to have updates where something's borked—rewards systems, item costs, and so on—only for Blizzard to turn the dial down.
(...)
Well, that's changed less than a week since the launch of the new system, per a Blizzard post to the official forums by community manager Linxy: "We’re going to lower the cost of outfit creation prices by 50% to bring them more in line with what the prices were prior to the Transmog update. This price reduction is currently under development and should be available within the next day.

Deadlock just received a huge update, with 6 new heroes, overhauled patrons, and a new game mode—and it was all predicted with Domino's pizza
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/deadlock-just-received-a-huge-update-with-6-new-heroes-overhauled-patrons-and-a-new-game-mode-and-it-was-all-predicted-with-dominos-pizza/
Deadlock fans are eating good right now, as Valve released a huge update for the MOBA named Old Gods, New Blood that's still technically in its secret closed beta. But they are not eating as well as the devs at Valve HQ, who may or may not have contributed to a serious Domino's pizza boom just before the update went live.