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

[JEMC]

Ladies and gentlemen, the gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

'We have made back our development budget after 3 hours': Mewgenics explodes to number one Steam seller 14 years after its announcement
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/we-have-made-back-our-development-budget-after-3-hours-mewgenics-explodes-to-number-one-steam-seller-14-years-after-its-announcement/
Mewgenics is a hit. The cat breeding tactics game from Edmund McMillen, creator of Super Meat Boy and Binding of Isaac, and Tyler Glaiel released on Steam today and instantly shot up the charts. It's the number one global top seller on Steam, beating out Counter-Strike 2, PUGB, Helldivers 2, and Arc Raiders.
Or put another way: "We have made back our development budget after 3 hours. Thank you all :)" Glaiel wrote on Bluesky today.
Not bad for a $30 indie game that looks like it could've fallen out of Newgrounds' couch cushions. Our own Robin Valentine loved it, calling it a "sprawling, ridiculous, and endlessly surprising roguelike that will drag your body and soul into its chaotic world" in his 92% Mewgenics review.

Overwatch just hit its all-time player count peak on Steam, clocking in over 165,000 players, more than two years after it first released on the platform
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/overwatch-just-hit-its-all-time-player-count-peak-on-steam-clocking-in-over-165-000-players-more-than-two-years-after-it-first-released-on-the-platform/
Overwatch just had its huge reset last night, dropping the '2', adding five new characters, and revamping the UI, to name just a few changes. It was also the first time I'd seen a queue to get into the servers for quite some time.
We unfortunately don't have any numbers for player count on Battle.net, Overwatch's primary launcher, but Steamdb has come in clutch to give us a better idea of just how many people tuned in last night to see what all the hubbub was about. The Reign of Talon season 1 brought in an impressive 165,651 peak concurrent players on Steam last night, a personal best for Overwatch on said platform.

If you love hundreds of games for $10 and hate ICE, then boy does Itch.io have just the bundle for you
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/if-you-love-hundreds-of-games-for-usd10-and-hate-ice-then-boy-does-itch-io-have-just-the-bundle-for-you/
Indie developers on Itch.io have put what is, quite frankly, an absurd number of games into a delightfully cheap $10 bundle—and it's all in the name of helping push back against the Trump administration and ICE's current presence in Minnesota.
The aptly titled "No ICE in Minnesota" bundle is raising funds towards Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota which Itch.io says "provides free immigration legal representation to low-income immigrants and refugees in Minnesota and North Dakota. They also work to educate the community about immigration matters and advocates for public policies which respect the universal human rights of immigrants."
As for which games are included, there are some absolute bangers in here. The biggest is probably Baba is You, which goes for $15 full price on its own, let alone alongside 200 other videogames. Philippa Warr awarded it a pretty stellar score of 90 in her 2019 review.
(...)
The bundle is aiming to raise $100,000 and as of writing it's already 80% of the way there, which is pretty huge. It's still running for an entire month too, so there's plenty of time to pick it up and donate money to the ILCM.

GOG welcomes three more Total War games launching on the store and, to celebrate it, bot hgames will be 75% off until February 25th. Learn more here: https://www.gog.com/en/news/more_total_war_games_join_our_catalog

Steam has three new deals and a sale:

• Dale & Dawson Stationery Supplies will have a 40% discount until the 17th of February : https://store.steampowered.com/app/2920570/Dale__Dawson_Stationery_Supplies/
• ASTLIBRA Revision , that has a demo, is gong to be 30% off until the 24th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1718570/ASTLIBRA_Revision/
• Layers of Fear (2016) features a 90% discount until the same 24th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/391720/Layers_of_Fear_2016/
• The new sale is the Games with Heart Event, with games up to 66% off. One of the deals will end on the 18th, but the others will last until the 24th. Also, it’s a charity sale, with a percentage of each sale going to the American Heart Association: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45901892/sale/GamesWithHeart

Humble Store sees the launch of the (grab some air) Playstation Humble Lunar New Year Winter Mega Sale, featuring up to 75% discounts during 12 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/playstation-humble-lunar-new-year-winter-mega-sale/

And Fanatical’s new Star Deal is Ghost of Tsushima DIRECTOR'S CUT, 48% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/ghost-of-tsushima-directors-cut

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Grand Theft Auto 4 RTX Remix Mod Got a New Major Update
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/grand-theft-auto-4-rtx-remix-mod-got-a-new-major-update/
Modder ‘xoxor4d’ has just released a new major update for his amazing RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for Grand Theft Auto 4. This update is a must for everyone who is currently planning to play this classic GTA game with Path Tracing. So, let’s see what it brings to the table.
Update 1.2.1 completely fixes the phone’s backgrounds. Right now, you can use whatever background you want, and there won’t be any smearing. This is a huge deal as the game can now be fully enjoyed.
Moreover, Update 1.2.1 offers correct calculations and softness for the spotlight cones. This means the spotlight cones now properly match the original.
Not only that, but this new update fixes the moonlight that was missing in a specific part of the map. The global light intensity has been increased to better match the original game’s lighting. The modder also added logic that lowers sunlight and boosts skylight during bad weather (rain, lightning, cloudy conditions). This gives the world a more realistic, overcast look.
And there is more. The modder has published a new version of AutoPBR. AutoPBR V2 has a bunch of new materials from various cutscenes and DLCs. To be more precise, it brings around 16k replacements, and it has 24k texture files.
>> The article has several screenshots and a video.

New Just Cause 3 Mod Adds NVIDIA DLSS and HDR
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-just-cause-3-mod-adds-nvidia-dlss-and-hdr/
Modder ‘Filippo Tarpini’ has released a must-have mod for Just Cause 3 that adds support for NVIDIA DLSS and HDR. Just Cause 3 came out in 2015 and looked amazing on PC. By now, most PC systems should be able to run it without any issues. Still, with DLSS, you can now get better AA and better image quality.
Going into more details, this mod adds HDR tonemapping with improved quality render targets. As such, Just Cause 3 will now have less banding. Moreover, it improves auto exposure, as it often caused flickering.
Even at 4K, Just Cause 3 had very strong shimmer and aliasing. But now, thanks to DLSS, you can improve the whole image. Those with high-end NVIDIA RTX GPUs will also be able to use DLAA to get the best image quality.
It’s also worth noting that the mod fixes an issue that affected the Anisotropic Filter. For some weird reason, 16xAF was not applying to many surfaces. But now, thanks to this mod, 16xAF works the way it was meant to. Plus, the mod fixes Motion Blur shutter speed, which was affected by the game’s framerate.
>> The article has no media.

New RDR2 Mod Restores Hidden Features Rockstar Left Behind
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-rdr2-mod-restores-hidden-features-rockstar-left-behind/
Modders ‘DickHertz’ and ‘Tuffy’ have released a new cool mod for Red Dead Redemption 2 that restores hidden features that Rockstar left behind. This is something that die-hard RDR2 fans will appreciate. So, let’s take a closer look at it.
Called A Dynamic World, this mod restores some unused/mission-specific setups around the map, based on certain in-game conditions. There are a couple created by the modders, but most of them are ones that Rockstar disabled.
For instance, Van Horn now shows small signs of growth over the years, even adding its rickety rope bridge by 1907. Bronte’s Mansion and Braithwaite Manor are now enterable in the open world, whether you sneak in quietly or break in by force. Blackwater also features an active port that receives cargo and horses throughout the week, plus visiting tourists on weekends. Even the Saint Denis art gallery has opened its doors to the public 24/7.
And that’s not all. The Saint Denis Mayor throws his parties most Saturday nights, or on random occasions the rest of the week. The Grand Korrigan can be regularly found docked or floating throughout the week. The Van Horn lighthouse dawns its fog light every night except Sundays. Moreover, Valentine now flexes its banners every weekend.
>> This article also lacks any media.

The creators of a popular Dark Souls 2 lighting mod are experimenting with path tracing and, oh boy, it no longer looks like an Xbox 360 game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dark-souls/the-creators-of-a-popular-dark-souls-2-lighting-mod-are-experimenting-with-path-tracing-and-oh-boy-it-no-longer-looks-like-an-xbox-360-game/
Dark Souls 2 is the second-best Dark Souls game and that's fairly uncontroversial. But it's also famously the most ugly. Chief among the complaints people have about Dark Souls 2, is that the game's original lighting engine—the one FromSoftware went to great lengths to show off back in 2013—was entirely absent in the final game.
In pre-release footage, Dark Souls 2's lighting always looked a tad ambitious for a seventh-gen console game. It was meant to be an important aspect of gameplay, necessitating the use of torches in dark areas, whose fire would cast dynamic shadows and reflections. When the game actually released on consoles it looked flat, murky, and torches were never a necessity. It was kinda similar even when it hit PC with the Scholar of the First Sin edition, so for those looking for something more akin to that pre-release footage, the DS2Lighting Engine Mod has been a go-to.
Now the team responsible for that mod is experimenting with path tracing and the results are pretty phenomenal. Check out this footage from the Shaded Woods:
*** a 3 minutes video ***
The Shaded Woods is probably one of the ugliest areas from the original game (you can check out bits of it in this video), though some would argue Earthen Peak deserves that distinction. I'm not being contrary when I say that there's something kinda charming about Dark Souls 2's utilitarian ugliness, especially in hindsight, but path traced Shaded Woods is so richly atmospheric that it's possible to say it's pretty without kinda lying about it.
The path tracing applies to everything, including spells, and there are some other videos doing the rounds also.
>> There are wnother 2 videos in the article, but keep in mind that this is a test and there’s no link to get your hands on it.

GAMING NEWS

Directive 8020 will be released on May 12th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/directive-8020-will-be-released-on-may-12th/
Supermassive Games has announced that its sci-fi survival horror game, Directive 8020, will be released on May 12th. To celebrate this announcement, the team shared a new trailer that you can find below.