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

[JEMC]

The second Friday gaming news post:

League of Legends might be adding public voice chat—and as someone with a combined 2,655 hours in Dota 2 and Deadlock, I can safely say: Oh no
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/league-of-legends-might-be-adding-public-voice-chat-and-as-someone-with-a-combined-2-655-hours-in-dota-2-and-deadlock-i-can-safely-say-oh-no/
MOBAs are interesting videogames—imagine, if you will, a slot machine. Then imagine that slot machine takes forty minutes to do one pull of the arm, and also it's yelling colourful and exciting swearwords at you in a language you don't understand the entire time. That's sort of what playing a MOBA with public voice chat is like.
League of Legends might be joining those hallowed halls of flaming, as suggested by files found on the public build environment (PBE) by SkinSpotlights on X. The files in question include reports for "VOICE COMMS ABUSE", as well as entries for a comms panel that include voice options for party or team.

WoW lead says they 'lost something along the way' by building dungeons for sweaty Mythic+ timers instead of 20-boss mazes like the good old days, but Labyrinths could be the solution
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/wow-lead-says-they-lost-something-along-the-way-by-building-dungeons-for-sweaty-mythic-timers-instead-of-20-boss-mazes-like-the-good-old-days-but-labyrinths-could-be-the-solution/
Remember back in the good old days, when MMO dungeons used to be big, sprawling mazes you could spend hours just getting lost in? Now most of them follow a similar formula: Narrow-ish corridors with three to five bosses. Sure, the set dressing varies, but the mechanical template is always bite-sized.
World of Warcraft is an old enough game to have had both, and it might one day have them both again. I recently spoke to associate game director Paul Kubit and lead encounter designer Dylan Barker about Labyrinths, an upcoming feature in World of Warcraft: Midnight. It's still a large work in progress—not releasing on launch, but instead a few patches down the line—but it seems like a huge evolution of The War Within's Delves system.
>> There’s also an article about the Prey system, and how the devs were surprised by players liking it (link)

Highguard website woes are just an administrative thing, developer says, and the studio is in no rush to fix it because 'reputational damage' is already done
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/highguard-website-woes-are-just-an-administrative-thing-developer-says-and-the-studio-is-in-no-rush-to-fix-it-because-reputational-damage-is-already-done/
It sure sounded like nails being driven into a coffin when the Highguard website took a dive late last week. It's still up, but rather than the flashy splash screen and exhortation to 'play now!' it simply says, "Site unavailable," along with an email link—not to Highguard developer Wildlight, but to website builder and host Code32, which I thought was interesting, and yeah, maybe a little alarming.
Anyway, it was surely not a good sign for a struggling game, but it may not be the final horn, either. In a message posted on the Highguard Discord, a developer going by WL_Coronach said it's not a big deal: The problem is mostly a paperwork-type of issue, and Wildlight isn't rushing to do anything about it because it's got bigger things to worry about.

Ubisoft lays off 40 people at its Toronto studio, reassures everyone who remembers the Splinter Cell remake that the Splinter Cell remake is still in happening
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/ubisoft-lays-off-40-people-at-its-toronto-studio-reassures-everyone-who-remembers-the-splinter-cell-remake-that-the-splinter-cell-remake-is-still-in-happening/
The cuts at Ubisoft continued today with the layoffs of 40 people from the company's Toronto studio. First reported by MobileSyrup, the layoffs are part of the ongoing restructuring of Ubisoft into "creative houses," announced in January, a process that's also included multiple game cancellations, studio closures, and other layoffs.

XCOM designer Jake Solomon announces surprise closure of his studio alongside a first look at its canceled life sim, 'the game we poured our hearts into'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/xcom-designer-jake-solomon-announces-surprise-closure-of-his-studio-alongside-a-first-look-at-its-canceled-life-sim-the-game-we-poured-our-hearts-into/
Midsummer Studios founder and former Firaxis creative director, Jake Solomon, has announced the abrupt closure of Midsummer through a post on X. Solomon also shared a two-minute gameplay video of its life sim, "Burbank," the first public showcase of the planned Sims competitor. We have reached out to Solomon for comment, and will update this story when we hear back.

Surprise: Slay the Spire 2 is bringing 4-player co-op when it hits early access on March 6
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/surprise-slay-the-spire-2-is-bringing-4-player-co-op-when-it-hits-early-access-on-march-6/
Did you feel that? The echoing reverberation of thousands of collective hours of roguelike deckbuilding thudding into place ahead of us on the timestream? That's because Slay the Spire 2 just locked in its early access release on March 5, and—surprise—it's bringing four player co-op on launch day.

One of the best puzzle games ever is getting surprise DLC even though its developer kind of closed a while ago
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/one-of-the-best-puzzle-games-ever-is-getting-surprise-dlc-even-though-its-developer-kind-of-closed-a-while-ago/
Opus Magnum, a stellar 2017 puzzle game about building alchemical devices, is getting a surprise new DLC campaign.
Opus Magnum: De Re Metallica will release on March 17, and adds three prequel chapters to the game with a total of 17 new puzzles, new cutscenes and music, and new glyphs (machine components). It's "around half the length" of the original campaign, according to developer Zachtronics.
It's a little weird to be citing Zachtronics, never mind talking about a new DLC release from the studio, because it sort of isn't around anymore. But it also sort of is, clearly.

Arc Raiders' next update adds hurricanes, and players think the teaser is hiding a new Arc enemy too
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-next-update-adds-hurricanes-and-players-think-the-teaser-is-hiding-a-new-arc-enemy-too/
I hope you own some heavy boots, because hurricanes are coming to an Arc Raiders map near you. As part of the Shrouded Sky update coming February 24, the new map condition will send thrashing winds and low cloud cover across existing maps.
>> Also: Embark doesn’t throw away the idea of saving blueprints, but it’s looking at alternatives (link); and the wall-breaking exploits took so long to fix because they were 'intrinsic to the way the game is built' (link)

'Art and science and procreation, that's about all life is good for:' Two former freeware developers are still trying to keep it weird in an era when companies 'sell games to people in 5-second clips'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/art-and-science-and-procreation-thats-about-all-life-is-good-for-two-former-freeware-developers-are-still-trying-to-keep-it-weird-in-an-era-when-companies-sell-games-to-people-in-5-second-clips/
Talha & Jack Co⁠—the indie dev duo Jack King-Spooner and Talha Kaya⁠—are on to something special. The pair is currently working on Abide, their third game in as many years, yet nothing they make has any of that insubstantial, game jam feel you might expect from a quick turnaround⁠.

Life is Strange developer Don't Nod adds a dash of Alien: Isolation anxiety to its usual cinematic formula, and I think it works
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/life-is-strange-developer-dont-nod-adds-a-dash-of-alien-isolation-anxiety-to-its-usual-cinematic-formula-and-i-think-it-works/
Life is Strange developer Don't Nod announced its next third-person cinematic adventure, Aphelion, during last year's Summer Game Fest with an Uncharted-like reveal set in space. And if the sci-fi excursion carries on as planned, Aphelion will launch sometime around or before this summer's next big event.
Aphelion's latest gameplay trailer is a better look at how the studio's new journey takes a few cues from its rock-climbing platformer, Jusant, and marries them with the more story-rich, exposition-heavy games it's known for. In Aphelion, you'll control a pair of European Space Agency (ESA) astronauts on a mission bound for Persephone—a planet at the edge of our solar system—that goes spectacularly wrong.

We're getting even more free lootboxes and a double XP weekend in Overwatch just for playing the game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/were-getting-even-more-free-lootboxes-and-a-double-xp-weekend-in-overwatch-just-for-playing-the-game/
Overwatch's big Season 1 reimagining, dropping the infamous '2' in its name, adding five new heroes, reworking maps, and overhauling its UI, has given it a new lease on life. So much so that it broke its all-time player count on Steam, a trend which no doubt rippled across other platforms, and it's still holding strong. This glow-up has been a long time in the making, but it's great to see Overwatch back on the map.
To celebrate the occasion, Blizzard has announced "a token of appreciation for keeping the matches rolling", that being double match XP and five free lootboxes all weekend—Friday, 20 February, until Monday, 23 February, to be exact, starting and ending at the reset time in your region, such as 11 am PT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm GMT.

The Future Games Show returns this March with the voices of Lae'zel and Batman as hosts
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/the-future-games-show-returns-this-march-with-the-voices-of-laezel-and-batman-as-hosts/
The Future Games Show is shortly to become the right-now games show (metaphorically, various trademark lawyers instruct me to inform you). The event from PC Gamer's publisher, Future, returns on March 12 for its spring showcase of world premieres, trailers, and stealth drops. What's more, it's just revealed its hosts (not me, despite my numerous and vivid emails to our CEO).