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

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Tuesday gaming news, part two:

Bungie is adding an 'experimental' duos mode to Marathon for a few weeks: 'Some things will be a bit jank'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/bungie-is-adding-an-experimental-duos-mode-to-marathon-for-a-few-weeks-some-things-will-be-a-bit-jank/
When it comes to matchmaking, Marathon covers the basics: You can go solo and play against only other solos, or fill in a group of three to face other squads. But the community has been vocal about the desire for a duos mode since the sever slam in February, and now Bungie's ready to give it a shot.
An "experimental" duos queue will go live in Marathon on Wednesday, March 18. It'll run on one map (Perimeter) for around two weeks, but Bungie might yank it out early or keep it around based on player feedback.

'Insanely punishing' survival game Atlas is being distilled 'into a more accessible form' for Ark: Survival Ascended's new DLC
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/insanely-punishing-survival-game-atlas-is-being-distilled-into-a-more-accessible-form-for-ark-survival-ascendeds-new-dlc/
Last week I sat down with Studio Wildcard co-founders Jeremy Stieglitz and Jesse Rapczak, (…)
Remember Atlas? The open world pirate survival game was put to sea in December 2018 but had a rough launch, including performance and stability problems that led to heaps of negative reviews. It's still out there: you can buy it and play it, but unlike Ark: Survival Evolved, Atlas never recovered from its shaky start.
(...)
That's why some parts of Atlas, at least in spirit, are being salvaged for Ark: Survival Ascended's upcoming Tides of Fortune DLC. This summer, Ark players will be able to build huge pirate ships and sail across simulated ocean physics in search of adventure.

Arc Raiders' new update puts the Il Toro in its place (a grave) at long last: 'This is an adjustment many of you requested'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-new-update-puts-the-il-toro-in-its-place-a-grave-at-long-last-this-is-an-adjustment-many-of-you-requested/
The Il Toro is infamous for haunting the halls of Stella Montis in Arc Raiders. It was good anywhere, of course, but Stella Montis' tight corridors made the shotgun an absolute menace in PvP, where you could rush at someone and one-tap them pretty reliably. Embark promised its time in the spotlight would come to an end, and that moment is now.
In the update 1.20.0 patch notes, Embark explains that it has tuned the Il Toro "so it performs more like a weapon of its rarity," in that it's less versatile with no upgrades and more dependent on attachments. It is a green-quality shotgun, after all.

The Free Lanes update will finally demolish Starfield's most annoying loading screens, sort of
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-free-lanes-update-will-finally-demolish-starfields-most-annoying-loading-screens-sort-of/
One of my fondest memories of Wing Commander Privateer is the time I was chased by a kilrathi for what felt like an hour. You can't activate a jump point when under attack in Privateer, so after I was ambushed at one by a kilrathi ship that outclassed me early on I had to flee the old-fashioned way—emptying my afterburner to gain a lead, watching my pursuer catch up as I waited for it to refill, then emptying it again. I flew like that all the way to an inhabited planet where the local Confed ships could save my bacon.
Unfortunately, that kind of thing turned out not to be possible in Starfield, a game where space exploration was mostly a bunch of loading and cutscenes. As this video from Alanah Pearce proved, you could spend seven hours flying to a planet only to find it was a hollow jpg floating in space. It just wasn't a game about freewheeling exploration.
That will potentially change when the Free Lanes update rolls out, adding a Cruise Mode you can activate to travel along lanes between planets. You can alternate between four different speeds in Cruise Mode to fly between planets in a system, with radiant "Space Encounters" popping up along the way.

Pragmata's devs urge players to test out the demo beforehand to figure out whether controller or mouse and keyboard is best for them: 'There are some people who find keyboard and mouse too tricky'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/pragmatas-devs-urge-players-to-test-out-the-demo-beforehand-to-figure-out-whether-controller-or-mouse-and-keyboard-is-best-for-them-there-are-some-people-who-find-keyboard-and-mouse-too-tricky/
When I joined PC Gamer, my life changed significantly. I set fire to my PS5 and took an axe to my Switch, but one thing I couldn't bear to get rid of were all of my controllers. I don't often use them while playing on PC, but they sure do come in handy from time to time.
There are a few games where playing on a controller is a must for me: any FromSoft or Resident Evil game, cosy games like Cult of the Lamb, and even the odd deckbuilder like Bloodletter. I just find it to be more comfortable and intuitive, and now, after playing the preview and the demo, Pragmata has joined those ranks.
"We put work into the control scheme on both types of systems," director Cho Yonghee tells me. "So whether it be the button, the key assignments for the keyboard itself, and the speed and sensitivity of the mouse and how that relates to the hacking controls, we've tried to make sure that it works as effectively as possible."
>> And the director of the game appreciates the comments likening it to an Xbox 360 era kind of game, in the good sense (link).