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

[JEMC]

The second part of the Thursday gaming news:

This year's Overwatch April Fool's event is a two week Underwatch mode which throws 'common sense off the nearest ledge'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/this-years-overwatch-april-fools-event-is-a-two-week-underwatch-mode-which-throws-common-sense-off-the-nearest-ledge/
It's almost time for April Fools 2026, and this year Overwatch has some big plans with a new mode called Underwatch. This is something of a yearly tradition now, so it's always fun to see what new bizarre mess the devs cook up: "We're immediately throwing 'common sense' off the nearest ledge, as is the annual Overwatch tradition."

More than 15 years after it was revealed to the world, the game once envisioned as Crytek's big move into the online military shooter scene is finally closing
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/more-than-15-years-after-it-was-revealed-to-the-world-the-game-once-envisioned-as-cryteks-big-move-into-the-online-military-shooter-scene-is-finally-closing/
More than 15 years after it was first announced to the world, the PvP military shooter Warface: Clutch is going away. Publisher My.Games announced in February that it has "made the difficult decision to begin the sunset process" for the game, which will shut down for PC players on May 27.

Pragmata's demo reaches 2 million downloads alongside its 2 million wishlists: 'I can't believe millions of people are excited for our game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/pragmatas-demo-reaches-2-million-downloads-alongside-its-2-million-wishlists-i-cant-believe-millions-of-people-are-excited-for-our-game/
It's almost Pragmata time. Soon players will be able to check out Capcom's newest action game, set on a moonbase controlled by an—you've guessed it—evil AI. As human astronaut Hugh, you'll have an AI buddy of your own, as well, in the form of Diana, an android who looks like a little girl.
A whopping two million of you liked the sound of this enough to download the demo, a number that Capcom is keen to tout.

Overhauling Minecraft's world generation was like 'trying to build a skyscraper with hand tools' which basically scared Mojang off of continuing massive yearly updates
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/overhauling-minecrafts-world-generation-was-like-trying-to-build-a-skyscraper-with-hand-tools-which-basically-scared-mojang-off-of-continuing-massive-yearly-updates/
Back in my day there were only three channels on TV and one Minecraft update per year. For years, Mojang's schedule revolved around the annual title update crammed with new mobs, new biomes, blocks, and enemies. That mindset changed in 2021, its general manager says, when the Caves & Cliffs update grew so ambitious that it had to be split into two releases and Mojang backed off mega sized yearly updates thereafter.
Speaking at the Game Developer's Conference this week, Minecraft general manager Ryan Cooper shared a panel with King's head of live operations on Candy Crush, Eva Ryott, to talk about the secret sauce of working on two games that have stood the test of time for 15 years each. Among those secrets were listening to player feedback to drive new game updates, a commitment that Cooper says really pushed Mojang's processes to the limit a few years back.

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred's new crafting system will bring back season 11's sanctification and gives bad loot the potential to be legendary
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4-lord-of-hatreds-new-crafting-system-will-bring-back-season-11s-sanctification-and-gives-bad-loot-the-potential-to-be-legendary/
Real item crafting is finally coming to Diablo 4. I say "real" because the way you can modify items right now is so simplistic compared to what's on the way in the Lord of Hatred expansion next month. The two developers I spoke to while visiting Blizzard HQ in January convinced me we won't be looking at loot the same way ever again.

The Blood Bowl update, using the tabletop game's latest rules, will be a separate game called Warhammer Blood Bowl 'free for all players who already own Blood Bowl 3'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sports/the-blood-bowl-update-using-the-tabletop-games-latest-rules-will-be-a-separate-game-called-warhammer-blood-bowl-free-for-all-players-who-already-own-blood-bowl-3/
Last year Games Workshop announced there would be a new edition of Blood Bowl, the tabletop game of frenzied fantasy football ferocity. Cyanide Studio's digital adaptation, Blood Bowl 3, is getting updated too. Only instead of a patch, it's a whole new ball game.
"This new adaptation will be free for all players who already own Blood Bowl 3," Cyanide says, "who will keep their accounts along with all the content they have purchased or unlocked in-game."

Dawn of War 4 playtesters want the combat to take longer because of how much they enjoy watching it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rts/dawn-of-war-4-playtesters-want-the-combat-to-take-longer-because-of-how-much-they-enjoy-watching-it/
Earlier this year, Dawn of War 4 developer King Art Games showed off its combat director, which synchronizes melee animations to go a step beyond the already impressive sync-kills that were a trademark of the original Dawn of War. As senior game designer Elliott Verbiest explained on the latest episode of Deep Strike, an interview series on Warhammer TV, they're worth slowing down the game to watch.
"We had a few closed alpha playtests," Verbiest said, "and one of the key points of feedback that we got and that really showed that we have something special here was, 'Hey, could you maybe balance the combat to take a little bit longer? Because we really want to see all these sync-kills and all the sync-melee combat that you guys have got going on.' People found it so spectacular that they wanted to keep seeing more of it."

Mewgenics will have 'at least two' DLCs, and the 'small' one is almost a third as big as the base game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/mewgenics-will-have-at-least-two-dlcs-and-the-small-one-is-almost-a-third-as-big-as-the-base-game/
I had a pleasant surprise recently when I noticed that my purchase of the hit song Eatin Rats! came bundled with a massive tactical roguelike named Mewgenics. It's pretty good! A tiny bit like XCOM but instead of an alien mothership you're defending against the sentient contents of Edmund McMillen's litterbox. It's also massive.
According to the wiki, there are over 1000 abilities for your mutant mogs to try out. Even just the few dozen I've seen so far are all joyously grotty or absurd, and each is carefully crafted to play off against a bunch of the others for some neat synergies. That's apparently not nearly enough however. Creators McMillen and Tyler Glaiel are adding 300 more of them, plus four new classes. Also, this is the "small" DLC. The big one's coming later (via PCGN).

This horror game where you're a conscious nuclear missile boasts 'one handed mouse only controls', leaving me with assumptions that proved incorrect when I had to saw my own limbs off
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/this-horror-game-where-youre-a-conscious-nuclear-missile-boasts-one-handed-mouse-only-controls-leaving-me-with-assumptions-that-proved-incorrect-when-i-had-to-saw-my-own-limbs-off/
"It's the year 1963 in a world that replaced computers with human brains," is how horror game Brainshell describes its setup. "The nuclear arms race has led to a point of no return. Your government uses propaganda, brainwashing and body modifications to create the ultimate weapon: a conscious nuclear missile." I checked BBC News, looked outside at the gloom, and decided that, sure, I could do with a nice break today. Brainshell's demo it is.
The game's development is simply credited to Brainshell Team, which says it's "4 Finnish game devs making weird and experimental games." I usually try to describe games with better words than 'weird', since it makes deliberate choices sound like a bunch of visionary drunkards threw paint at the wall until it started resembling an aesthetic and decided, yep, we're definitely geniuses. But sure, Brainshell Team. It is weird.