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

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Monday gaming news, the long part two:

Dead By Daylight devs reckon the game has 'at least' another 10 years in it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/dead-by-daylight-devs-reckon-the-game-has-at-least-another-10-years-in-it/
In June this year, Behaviour Interactive's Dead By Daylight will celebrate ten years of release: quite the feat for an asymmetrical multiplayer game that was designed with no thoughts of live service or roadmaps. (...)
PC Gamer's Chris Livingston had the chance to sit down at GDC with Behaviour's Dave Richard, senior creative director, and Mathieu Cote, head of partnerships, and when he opened by remarking on those ten years, Cote immediately shot back, "It's crazy."

Marathon's murderous audio change was an 'overcorrection,' Bungie admits, promises to pull it back in an upcoming update
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/marathons-murderous-audio-change-was-an-overcorrection-bungie-admits-promises-to-pull-it-back-in-an-upcoming-update/
PC Gamer's Morgan Park had a rough night in Marathon a couple days ago. He initially attributed it to a run of bad luck—everyone has an off night now and then, after all—but noticed a lot of other people having similar struggles, many of whom pointed the finger at something else: noise.
(...)
In a message posted earlier today on Bluesky, Bungie acknowledged that it went a little too far with the audio adjustment.
>> And one dev has (virtually) fought back some haters and won (link)

Marvel Rivals made Blizzard ask 'what if we could just drop 30 new heroes into Overwatch?' and inspired its biggest update ever
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/marvel-rivals-is-part-of-the-reason-overwatch-dropped-5-new-heroes-at-once/
"Marvel Rivals definitely had an impact on us in a lot of different ways," Overwatch 2 director Aaron Keller said during a panel at the 2026 Game Developers Conference on Friday. While Keller didn't mention the popular Overwatch 2 competitor while talking about Blizzard's efforts to revitalize its multiplayer shooter, a fan brought it up in the Q&A at the end of the panel. And he gamely tackled the question.

Throwback XCOM successor Xenonauts 2 leaves early access in April, though the developer says the milestone 'doesn't mean our work is done'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/throwback-xcom-successor-xenonauts-2-leaves-early-access-in-april-though-the-developer-says-the-milestone-doesnt-mean-our-work-is-done/
XCOM 3 may still be nothing more than a glint in Firaxis' compound eye, but Steam's digital walk-in freezer is bursting with alternative tactical lifeforms to dissect. These range from Julian Gollop's own attempt to modernise XCOM in Phoenix Point, to The Long War creators' absurdly complex Terra Invicta, which blows out X-COM's alien invasion concept to grand strategy scale.
Then there's the Xenonauts series, arguably the truest attempt by a modern dev to replicate the look and feel of Gollop's X-COM: UFO Defense. The original Xenonauts was released back in 2014, celebrated for its rigorous adaptation of Gollop's fundamentals. Since then, developer Goldhawk Interactive has been beavering away on a sequel, which launched into Steam early access in July 2023.
Now, Goldhawk has almost finished expanding its base and writing up its research notes as it prepares for the final assault on the alien mothership. Xenonauts 2 will officially leave early access next month.

The creator of Stephen's Sausage Roll has released a new puzzle-platformer where you play as an egg, in the latest example of a developer fallen to the sunny side
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/puzzle/the-creator-of-stephens-sausage-roll-has-released-a-new-puzzle-platformer-where-you-play-as-an-egg-in-the-latest-example-of-a-developer-fallen-to-the-sunny-side/
Late last year, I wrote about a bizarre moment when game developers suddenly became obsessed with eggs for some reason. Then everybody pointed out all the games about eggs that I didn't mention in the article, as if the goal was to create an exhaustive list of egg-based games and not observe a general trend.
No, I'm not still thinking about that, thank you very much. And I'll let you know that I definitely haven't been obsessively watching Steam for further egg-based games to drop ever since. Anyway, in totally unrelated news, another egg-based game has launched on Steam. This one's from the creator of 2016's weirdest puzzle game, Stephen's Sausage Roll, and for some inexplicable reason is not called Stephen's Egg Roll.
Oeuf is a 3D platformer where you and up to three other pals assume the role of eggs all trying to make their way back home. Between you and safety are a host of platforming challenges which you must use your rolling and jumping skills to overcome. Fall too far from a platform, and you'll shatter your shell, exposing your delicious, gooey innards for any passing ovivore to inhale.

Embark CEO says 'a real professional actor is better than AI' after the studio re-records some Arc Raiders dialog with real humans
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/embark-ceo-says-a-real-professional-actor-is-better-than-ai-after-the-studio-re-records-some-arc-raiders-dialog-with-real-humans/
Arc Raiders has proven to be a big hit and showed that the extraction shooter had legs for a more casual crowd, but like The Finals before it, it's drawn negative attention for its use of AI voices.
In a new interview, Embark CEO and Nexon executive chairman Patrick Söderlund told GamesIndustry.biz that the studio has begun to phase out "a lot" of the AI-generated voice work in Arc Raiders.
"We re-recorded some of the lines post-launch and made them with real voices … There is a quality difference," Söderlund said. "A real professional actor is better than AI; that's just how it is."

I desperately want the Just Cause creator's new open-city game to be great, but I'm not convinced by its latest trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/i-desperately-want-the-just-cause-creators-new-open-city-game-to-be-great-but-im-not-convinced-by-its-latest-trailer/
For the last couple years, I've been desperately craving a good open-city game, the kind that arrived with such regularity in the Xbox 360 era that we foolishly took them for granted. (…) My eyes then turned to Samson, an open-city game developed by Liquid Swords, founded by Just Cause creator Cristofer Sundberg. It puts you in the role of the titular Samson, who returns to his home city of Tyndalston with a large debt hanging over his head, one he intends to settle by hook or by crook (mostly crook).

Darktide is getting a new extraction-esque mode where you go outside and try not to die from radiation poisoning: 'If time runs out and you die, you get nothing'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/darktide-is-getting-a-new-extraction-esque-mode-where-you-go-outside-and-try-not-to-die-from-radiation-poisoning-if-time-runs-out-and-you-die-you-get-nothing/
Darktide sure is a dark game. That's both because it's set in the dreariest of dreary sci-fi settings, the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and because missions mostly take place in shadowy, industrial environments familiar to anyone well-versed in the tabletop game's lore or numerous videogame adaptations. If it's a bit too shadowy and claustrophobic for you, rejoice, as it's about to lighten up—though it's no less grimdark.
A blog post and teaser trailer from earlier this week showed off a new mode from the Beyond the Hive update where players can expect to leave the confines of Hive Tertium and journey into the sunny dunes of Atoma Prime. Called "expeditions," these new missions involve traveling to explorable scavenge zones and trying to safely get out with precious Tech-Remnants in tow. It's sort of like an extraction shooter without the PvP.

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is getting an expansion that introduces the series' first ever new class, and it’s a dwarf driving a weaponised bulldozer that flattens terrain and enemies alike
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/deep-rock-galactic-survivor-is-getting-an-expansion-that-introduces-the-series-first-ever-new-class-and-its-a-dwarf-driving-a-weaponised-bulldozer-that-flattens-terrain-and-enemies-alike/
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is comfortably the best autoshooter to emerge off the back of Vampire Survivors' success. Far from being a cynical cash grab, it deftly blends DRG's mining mechanic with the almighty power curve of Poncle's action roguelike.
Indeed, aspiring space dwarf Robin Valentine gave it a score of 90 in our Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor review. "To me, DRG:S is the survivors-like genre at its most engaging and tactical," he wrote in September last year. "I find myself just imagining yet more things developer Funday Games could add in new updates to come."
It turns out Funday has likewise been pondering what to do with Survivor now the main game is out in the wild. The answer it has come up with is "add a heckin' big bulldozer". Funday revealed its first expansion for Survivor late last week, and it adds a new class so over the top it quite literally chews up the scenery.

Fantasy heist sim Project Shadowglass is even more inspired by Thief than I had realised, as a new trailer shows off water arrows, blackjack knockouts, and authentically sloppy swordfighting
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/fantasy-heist-sim-project-shadowglass-is-even-more-inspired-by-thief-than-i-had-realised-as-a-new-trailer-shows-off-water-arrows-blackjack-knockouts-and-authentically-sloppy-swordfighting/
I was already aware that Project Shadowglass was at least partly inspired by Looking Glass' stealth masterpiece Thief: The Dark Project. Fellow sneaky bastard Ted Litchfield picked some promising nuggets out of Shadowglass' purse in January, such as open-ended levels featuring guards and traps and simulated 3D audio inspired by Thief's pioneering propagation tech.
But I had severely underestimated just how much of Garrett's DNA is in Starhelm Studios' dark fantasy sneak 'em up. A new trailer for Project Shadowglass debuted at the Future Games Show late last week, and Starhelm's game is so deeply Thief coded you can almost hear it muttering 'Taffer' under its breath.

Beaver-themed city-builder Timberborn has gnawed its way out of early access, and surprise! It has Factorio-style automation now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/city-builder/beaver-themed-city-builder-timberborn-has-gnawed-its-way-out-of-early-access-and-surprise-it-has-factorio-style-automation-now/
I thought Timberborn's early access journey was more or less done and (saw)dusted when I last checked in on it in February. The city-builder that has you oversee a colony of industrious beavers had confirmed its release date for March, and seemingly shared everything that was coming to the launch version. But it turns out Mechanistry had one final feature arriving alongside its new environment objects, maps and so forth, and it's arguably the most significant addition of them all—automation.

This indie dev is making a Mirror's Edge-inspired freerunning game, complete with an in-game PDA that looks a lot like a PlayStation Portable
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/this-indie-dev-is-making-a-mirrors-edge-inspired-freerunning-game-complete-with-an-in-game-pda-that-looks-a-lot-like-a-playstation-portable/
Mirror's Edge is known primarily for two things these days: being extremely cool and not getting any new games. It has that in common with plenty of aging series under the EA banner, but indie developer Viridian Matters has said enough is enough and announced a full-on Mirror's Edge-like of their own.
Called Panline, the game has a Steam store page which shows off brief snippets and screenshots and, yeah, it sure looks the part. Granted, the streaks of color splashed over each environment lack Mirror's Edge's iconic red, instead opting for hues of bright blue, orange, algae green, and more. It still takes place in a gleaming dystopia full of spotless white skyscrapers, so it's hard to mistake for a spiritual successor to anything else.

The remastered collection of the first Tomb Raider games just got a controversial patch with some truly terrible-looking new outfits: 'Lara deserves better than this'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-remastered-collection-of-the-first-tomb-raider-games-just-got-a-controversial-patch-with-some-truly-terrible-looking-new-outfits-lara-deserves-better-than-this/
It's rare that a game as old as the venerable Tomb Raider gets an update, and you'd think it'd be cause for celebration. Not necessarily so with the newest patch that came to Tomb Raider I-III Remastered last Thursday, which came bearing a new challenge mode and 10 new outfits that, well, just have a look for yourself.

Witches and glitches are your targets in retro adventure Witchhunter.exe
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/visual-novel/witches-and-glitches-are-your-targets-in-retro-adventure-witchhunter-exe/
Witchhunter.exe looks like a lost choose-your-own adventure trapped in the interface of a Gold Box D&D game. It casts you as a witch hunter right out of Salem who has to interrogate a group of women to determine which of them is in league with the Devil.

Blizzard struggles to balance its Abundance world event in a way that makes anybody happy, with recent potential nerfs making it even more stressful to optimize
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/blizzard-struggles-to-balance-its-abundance-world-event-in-a-way-that-makes-anybody-happy-with-recent-potential-nerfs-making-it-even-more-stressful-to-optimize/
I'm still chewing on the thick, juicy slab of meat that is World of Warcraft: Midnight for our review—eagerly awaiting the launch of Season 1 later this week. I am also secretly very glad that I'm not into crafting, because profession-savvy WoW players are having a much worse time than I am.
Abundance events are little collect-a-thons that, for most people, see them romping through a cave eight times a week (more on that in a moment) harvesting abundance in a frenzy of nonsense, grabbing stacking buffs with which to gain more under a time limit. They're… fine. I've done a couple, and I cannot say that they gripped me nearly as much as Prey did. Certainly not enough to plug in eight runs in a row.
Players were finding the fun, however, by tackling them in big raid groups—which not only made them the brand of chaotic they seem to be angling for, but also made it far easier to bag Unalloyed Abundance, which is an important currency for crafters. Only problem being, these raid groups were lagging the hell out of zones, so Blizzard has seemingly had to put the kibosh on them.