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

[JEMC]

The very long second part of the Monday gaming news:

Skate is locking a map area behind a paywall after promising no map areas would be locked behind paywalls: 'We will need to make changes as we go sometimes'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/skate-is-locking-a-map-area-behind-a-paywall-after-promising-no-map-areas-would-be-locked-behind-paywalls-we-will-need-to-make-changes-as-we-go-sometimes/
Skate's free-to-play resurrection hasn't had a smooth ride in early access. While it attracted millions of players at launch, it slumped to an early "Mixed" rating on Steam, and the following months of trudging through microtransaction muck and technical troubles haven't done much to improve player sentiment.
This week, EA seems determined to test how much more room to fall its player reception still has, revealing plans for Skate's Season 3 content rollout that includes a new map area that requires payment for unrestricted access—something that, before launch, Skate's developers explicitly said they wouldn't pursue.

Embark's plans to rework Arc Raiders' account-wiping Expeditions: 'We didn't have time to shift the system to what we intend to do next'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/embarks-plans-to-rework-arc-raiders-account-wiping-expeditions-we-didnt-have-time-to-shift-the-system-to-what-we-intend-to-do-next/
One of Arc Raiders' most contentious systems is the Expedition. This is an opt-in seasonal wipe that enables players to effectively delete their accounts and restart the game every two months or so. In return, you get a few semi-permanent boosts, such as extra stash space and perk points, plus unique cosmetics to show off the fact that you nuked all your own stuff.
(...)
Speaking with Virgil Watkins, design director on Arc Raiders, Embark acknowledges these issues remain unresolved and is looking into how it can improve the system. First off, "it is a bit of an experiment," Watkins explains, "because we didn't want to force resets on everyone, then now we're on this road of 'how do we make it interesting enough for the largest amount of people to participate in this?"

Nothing beats putting all my little stuff on my many little shelves in a super cozy shop sim like Thrifty Business
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/nothing-beats-putting-all-my-little-stuff-on-my-many-little-shelves-in-a-super-cozy-shop-sim-like-thrifty-business/
Man I just love a game where I move all my little stuff around on my little shelves. I adored the tactile fiddling about in Potion Craft and sorting my store shelves in Tiny Bookshop—though I did skip Unpacking for some reason—and upcoming funky shop sim Thrifty Business is right at the pinnacle of that compulsive fussing-with-stuff fascination. You don't have to wait for next week's Steam Next Fest because the demo is already live for you to try right now.

Imagine if politics were full of monsters! Haha, no, I mean fun monsters like vampires, orcs, and goblins who use cards to hurl insults and smears at each other
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/imagine-if-politics-were-full-of-monsters-haha-no-i-mean-fun-monsters-like-vampires-orcs-and-goblins-who-use-cards-to-hurl-insults-and-smears-at-each-other/
The supremely ugly situation of politics these days has put me off most forms of political pop culture. I don't want to watch movies about fictional presidents, I don't want to watch TV shows about the government, and I sure as heck don't want to play games about political wheeling and dealing.
At least until today, when I tried the demo for Prime Monster, a 'card-based political roguelike' (so the dealing is literal) where the government is made up entirely of monsters. No, not the horrible, terrifying kind of monsters we get in real life. Fun fantasy monsters like vampires, orcs, ghouls, goblins, and witches. Isn't that way more appealing than reality?

DICE agrees that some Battlefield 6 vehicles are 'death traps' and is planning a Labs test dedicated to 'vehicle improvements'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/dice-agrees-that-some-battlefield-6-vehicles-are-death-traps-and-is-planning-a-labs-test-dedicated-to-vehicle-improvements/
Battlefield 6 is pretty awesome, unless you happen to be in a jeep. The LGT (light ground transport), Battlefield 6's most plentiful vehicle, is a failure on every level.
(...)
"I'm going to take the light vehicle feedback with me to the team from you today," DICE hardware producer Kit Eklöf told PC Gamer. "But I also want to promote that there's a Battlefield Labs test coming up where we're going to test some vehicle improvements around this issue, specifically because we've heard the feedback that vehicles are death traps. We are going to try a package of vehicle improvements on Labs very soon, so keep an eye out for that."

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition gets yet another massive update adding a new line of warships and 'significant changes' to naval mechanics
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/age-of-empires-2-definitive-edition-gets-yet-another-massive-update-adding-a-new-line-of-warships-and-significant-changes-to-naval-mechanics/
There's something in the water in PC gaming right now. Specifically, ships. Lots of ships. Earlier this month, Facepunch Studios weighed anchor on Rust's massive naval update, adding player-made boats and a vast offshore region for survivors to explore. Now, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is getting in on the seafaring action, with its latest update careening Microsoft's refurbished vessel to scrape the barnacles off the hull of its naval mechanics.

Turn water into goo and yourself into a cloud in this fantasy adventure with 102 million spell combinations: 'The core ethos when it comes to solving puzzles is to do it your way'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/turn-water-into-goo-and-yourself-into-a-cloud-in-this-fantasy-adventure-with-102-million-spell-combinations-the-core-ethos-when-it-comes-to-solving-puzzles-is-to-do-it-your-way/
If you could have one magical power, what would it be? For me, it would be the ability to instantly fix anything. Washing machine broken? Zap! Not anymore. Boiler on the blink? Let's Fantasia that shit. PC giving you some random error you've been struggling to solve all morning? Just point your finger at it and get it running again, maybe with a new graphics card installed for good measure.
I doubt magical maintenance will appear in Rhell: Warped Worlds & Troubled Times, but with developer SlugGlove (what a name) promising over 102 million spell combinations in its fantastical puzzler, I certainly can't rule it out.

Heart of the Machine, the strategy game that lets you be the fun kind of evil AI, leaves early access in March with two possible endings: 'One is focussed on committing ALL the war crimes'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/heart-of-the-machine-the-strategy-game-that-lets-you-be-the-fun-kind-of-evil-ai-leaves-early-access-in-march-with-two-possible-endings-one-is-focussed-on-committing-all-the-war-crimes/
One of the many things that annoys me about modern AI technology is if it did somehow destroy the world as its early boosters often (and bizarrely) claimed it might, it's far more likely to do so by accident than design.
(...)
If, like me, you prefer your AIs to be a fictional bogeyman rather than a hallucinating, water chugging, hardware-market destroying reality, then you might find some catharsis in Heart of the Machine. Arcen Games' ludicrously ambitious 4X lets you take control of a newly sentient AI as you strive to achieve synthetic supremacy, and the game will morph into its final form next month.
>> If you want spooky AI news, here’s one for you (link)

Interdimensional railway sim Voidtrain gets a patch that expands your inventory, a 50% discount and new DLC that's free until Monday
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/interdimensional-railway-sim-voidtrain-gets-a-patch-that-expands-your-inventory-a-50-percent-discount-and-new-dlc-thats-free-until-monday/
Train survival games are all the rage in PC gaming right now, with Chris Livingston spying six railway-related survival sims arriving at platform PC in 2026. But these life-sustaining locomotives were all pulled onto the tracks by Voidtrain, a survival sim in which you drive an interdimensional train through a vast, eerie cosmos.
While it only launched in 2025, Voidtrain is the de-facto grandaddy of train-based survival sims, having chugged away merrily in Steam early access for four years before formally releasing. Developer HypeTrain Digital is still shovelling coal into the engine, too, with this week bringing a small patch, a big discount, and a sprinkling of DLC you can grab for free if you're quick.
>> If you’re lucky, you may still be able to grab the free DLC.

High flying FPS Ultrakill will finally reach the 8th layer of Hell next week: 'Skip school. Call out sick from work. It's finally happening. And we're not lying'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/high-flying-fps-ultrakill-will-finally-reach-the-8th-layer-of-hell-next-week-skip-school-call-out-sick-from-work-its-finally-happening-and-were-not-lying/
New Blood has revealed that Ultrakill's next major addition, Hell's eighth layer of Fraud, will be added to the early access FPS next week. Fraud was initially set to release at the end of 2025, but suffered a minor last minute delay.
We don't know the exact day the update will drop, but New Blood advises fans to "Skip school. Call out sick from work," because "It's finally happening. And we're not lying."
>> Next week is, of course, this week.

Total Chaos, the survival horror based on one of Doom's best mods, is getting a New Game+ mode featuring an Alien: Isolation-style persistent enemy: 'It does not patrol. It does not follow rules. It adapts'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/total-chaos-the-survival-horror-based-on-one-of-dooms-best-mods-is-getting-a-new-game-mode-featuring-an-alien-isolation-style-persistent-enemy-it-does-not-patrol-it-does-not-follow-rules-it-adapts/
When I played Total Chaos at the end of the last year, my main takeaway was, 'This is scary, but could be scarier'. There are some fear inducing moments in Trigger Happy Interactive's remake of the Doom total conversion of the same name—particularly a bowel-quaking mid-game section involving a library. But compared to the dynamic terrors of Alien: Isolation and Amnesia: The Bunker, it didn't quite reach the same heights.
But Trigger Happy Interactive has taken a leaf from the rulebooks of those two terrifying games. The next update for the survival horror game will introduce a New Game+mode that aims to radically shake up the experience for veteran players.

Cities: Skylines 2's new developer celebrates the occasion with a debut patch all about death, making citizens pop their clogs around the clock and removing immortality in easy mode: 'Previously, about 80% of them never died of old age'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/cities-skylines-2s-new-developer-celebrates-the-occasion-with-a-debut-patch-all-about-death-making-citizens-pop-their-clogs-around-the-clock-and-removing-immortality-in-easy-mode-previously-about-80-percent-of-them-never-died-of-old-age/
Cities: Skylines 2 just received its first update from new developer Iceflake Studios, which replaced Colossal Order at the end of 2025. You might think this would be a prime opportunity to breathe new life into the struggling city-builder. To come out swinging with some big new features. To make the flowers bloom, the birds sing, the babies gurgle in a way that makes you think "Are they happy or about to barf?"
Nope! Instead, Iceflake's debut patch is utterly obsessed with death. Turns out your idiot citizens have been croaking in completely the wrong ways in Cities: Skylines 2, so Iceflake has donned its black robe and sharpened its scythe to sort things out.

Fish wrangling management sim Megaquarium is getting a major free update alongside its upcoming DLC: 'I've learned a lot over the years about what makes a good Megaquarium campaign'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/fish-wrangling-management-sim-megaquarium-is-getting-a-major-free-update-alongside-its-upcoming-dlc-ive-learned-a-lot-over-the-years-about-what-makes-a-good-megaquarium-campaign/
If you're looking for a management sim that's a bit on the lighter side, you could certainly do worse than Megaquarium. Twice Circled's aquarium construction sim is all about building oceanic attractions and filling them with weird and wonderful sea life.
The base game released eight years ago, but Twice Circled has updated it consistently since then. Indeed, its next update is one of the biggest yet, built to splash down alongside a new expansion that's all about underwater invertebrates.

One of my most anticipated indie games finally has a release date, almost 4 years after its initial reveal
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/one-of-my-most-anticipated-indie-games-finally-has-a-release-date-almost-4-years-after-its-initial-reveal/
When Gecko Gods was revealed in 2022, it instantly became one of those games I simply had to play. The very idea of being a little gecko scampering around ancient ruins and using the world as my climbing frame appeals more than I can really express in words, but I didn't realise just how long it would be before I could embark on this epic adventure.
Thankfully, after almost four years of waiting, Gecko Gods has finally revealed a release date rather than a window, and now I only have to wait until April 16 to become my true gecko self.

The Denshattack! demo sees you kickflipping, grinding, and joyriding a Ferris wheel into an active volcano on the world's most tubular commute
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/the-denshattack-demo-sees-you-kickflipping-grinding-and-joyriding-a-ferris-wheel-into-an-active-volcano-on-the-worlds-most-tubular-commute/
Denshattack! is brave enough to ask, 'What if you could do a kickflip as a train?' Now, it's unclear whether anyone was actually asking this question, but it sure is brave enough to ask it. Anyway, we can finally find out the answer to that via its Steam Next Fest demo, which is 'You'd crash about as much as you'd expect but it's sick as hell.'