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

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The second part of the Monday gaming news:

OpenTTD asks people to please stop being mad at Atari for forcing the game off Steam: 'OpenTTD as a project retains its full independence,' and you can still get it for free
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/openttd-asks-people-to-please-stop-being-mad-at-atari-for-forcing-the-game-off-steam-openttd-as-a-project-retains-its-full-independence-and-you-can-still-get-it-for-free/
We warned you last week that the window was closing on OpenTTD, the open source remake of Transport Tycoon Deluxe that was, until quite recently—we warned you, bro—available for free on Steam and GOG. The reason, the OpenTTD team explained, was the imminent return of the real Transport Tycoon Deluxe, the 1995 business sim developed by Chris Sawyer, which Atari was bringing back as a commercial product.
Sure enough, all happened as it was foretold: Transport Tycoon Deluxe launched, OpenTTD was pulled, and everyone took it about as well as you'd expect, which is to say not well at all. Transport Tycoon Deluxe is currently weighed down with a "mostly negative" user rating on Steam, and reviews helpfully suggesting, for instance, that Atari—and I quote—"can, and should, eat my entire ass."
That negativity isn't likely to have too much of an impact on Atari's future financial planning—there are only 26 user reviews on Steam and the peak concurrent player count is just 23, so it doesn't appear as though Transport Tycoon Deluxe is flying off the shelves here—but even so, it's causing quite a stir among the small but committed OpenTTD fan base. And now the OpenTTD development team is asking everyone to knock it off, because they say Atari has been very cool about the whole thing, and you can still get the game for free anyway.

Death Stranding 2 devs thought 'Brutal' mode was hard enough, but pushed the game to 'the upper limit' with its new difficulty option on PC
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/death-stranding-2-devs-thought-brutal-mode-was-hard-enough-but-pushed-the-game-to-the-upper-limit-with-its-new-difficulty-option-on-pc/
Death Stranding 2's PC launch on Thursday may have been overshadowed just a bit by Crimson Desert, but as I wrote in my review, it's a great game, whether you're in it for the Hideo Kojima story or the delivery sim sandbox. Folks who especially love the latter, though, like PC Gamer's Morgan Park, almost universally have the same complaint: it's too easy. Though Death Stranding 2 lets you challenge yourself by making deliveries on foot, the vehicles, upgrades, and shared infrastructure from other players can trivialize making flawless deliveries.
For the PC release Kojima Productions added a new difficult option called "To the Wilder," which was created specifically to address player feedback, the studio said in an interview with PC Gamer this week.

Blight: Survival offers a fresh slice of its medieval zombie-slaying, after its developer took a break to 'rebuild our core systems from the ground up'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/blight-survival-offers-a-fresh-slice-of-its-medieval-zombie-slaying-after-its-developer-took-a-break-to-rebuild-our-core-systems-from-the-ground-up/
Blight: Survival, the third person hack 'n' slash where you carve up zombies in brutal medieval combat, is one of the most anticipated games on Steam. In fact, it recently surpassed 1.5 million wishlists, with only Subnautica 2, Deadlock, Light no Fire and Forza Horizon 6 having more.
Yet with such anticipation comes a lot of expectation, and players have been expecting Blight: Survival for a long time. The game was announced way back in 2022, and it's been almost two years since its developer, Haenir Studio, partnered with Dead by Daylight creator Behaviour Interactive as Blight's publisher.
But in a recently published trailer thanking fans for helping Blight reach its wishlist milestone, creative director Ulrik Langvandsbråten took a moment to explain what's taking so long.

The Last Caretaker's latest update embraces its inner Dr Evil by adding sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/the-last-caretakers-latest-update-embraces-its-inner-dr-evil-by-adding-sharks-with-frickin-laser-beams-attached-to-their-heads/
I've been intrigued by oceanic survival sim The Last Caretaker since it was announced, but I have also been a little confused by its tone. Is it a melancholy adventure about being the last sentient being on an abandoned Earth, an optimistic sci-fi story about ensuring the long-term survival of the human race by growing people in vats and launching them into space, or a knockabout crafting-explore-o-thon where you build a big daft base on your boat?
I was hoping the latest update would help answer this question. But if anything, it has only confounded me further. Curiosity Wakes strays fully into Austin Powers territory by adding sharks with laser beams on their heads.

If you simply cannot wait for the new Heroes of Might and Magic, this sci-fi take on HoMM just launched from Steam early access
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/if-you-simply-cannot-wait-for-the-new-heroes-of-might-and-magic-this-sci-fi-take-on-homm-just-launched-from-steam-early-access/
I was a little surprised to discover that Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is one of Steam's most wishlisted gamed. Naturally, I'd assumed there must be a fanbase for this prequel from developer Unfrozen and publisher Hooded Horse, otherwise they wouldn't make it.
(...)
The bad news is you can't play Olden Era yet. It was supposed to release at the end of last year, but Hooded Horse spurred it into 2026 to give the game "the care it deserves." Luckily, you can play a brand new, HoMM-style game right now, provided you don't mind swapping out steel-clad knights for star-pocked nights.
Heroes of Science and Fiction is, as you may have gleaned from the title, a genre-swapped Heroes of Might and Magic. Assuming the role of one of five factions vying for control of a remote star system, you're charged with exploring the planets orbiting that celestial fusion reactor, securing resources, building cities and raising armies to defeat your enemies.

Toby Fox says 'most of the development team has moved on' from Deltarune's fifth chapter, as focus moves to bug fixes and translation
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/toby-fox-says-most-of-the-development-team-has-moved-on-from-deltarunes-fifth-chapter-as-focus-moves-to-bug-fixes-and-translation/
It's been a long road for enjoyers of Deltarune, the follow-up to EarthBoundy RPG masterclass Undertale. Four of the game's chapters have been released since 2018, and the fifth is closer than ever; Toby Fox took to Bluesky last week to share some details on where it's at.

Minecraft's Diablo-inspired spinoff is getting a surprise sequel this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/minecrafts-diablo-inspired-spinoff-is-getting-a-surprise-sequel-this-year/
The Minecraft umbrella holds a whole host of games and a movie starring Jack Black at this point, but few of Mojang's experiments in other genres were quite as good as Minecraft Dungeons. It might have been 'baby's first Diablo,' but it seemed to garner more fans than its so-so action-RTS cousin—and if you're among those fans, it's a good day for you: A sequel is coming very soon.
>> Mojang has also revealed that the second Minecraft drop of 2026 will feature a new underground biome (link).

The Wheel of Time is getting an animated show and a PC/mobile game, which is different from the open-world action RPG already in development
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-wheel-of-time-is-getting-an-animated-show-and-a-pc-mobile-game-which-is-different-from-the-open-world-action-rpg-already-in-development/
If you were bummed about Amazon cancelling its The Wheel of Time TV series, fret not, because license owner iwot Studios has so much The Wheel of Time coming your way. There's enough The Wheel of Time to affix to The Carriage of Time, maybe even The Articulated Lorry of Time.
A report by Variety states that iwot studios, which owns The Wheel of Time license, is working with Initiate Entertainment and Arcane producer Thomas Vu to develop and produce a new PC/Mobile game based on Robert Jordan's fantasy novels, as well as a new animated feature film and an animated series.

Nearly 2 years after hitting 1.0, goblin pachinko roguelike Peglin adds a fourth act and a final boss: 'It's been a long time coming'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/nearly-2-years-after-hitting-1-0-goblin-pachinko-roguelike-peglin-adds-a-fourth-act-and-a-final-boss-its-been-a-long-time-coming/
The Peggle series may have long been lost to the free-to-play maelstrom that is mobile gaming, but PC gamers jonesing for a fantastical pachinko fix can at least console themselves with Peglin. The game takes the ball-bouncing, peg-busting fundamentals of Peggle, then smashes it together with a fantasy roguelike where a cute wee goblin batters enemies based on your pachinko performance.
Peglin released into Steam early access in 2022, hitting 1.0 two years later. It seemed like a neat and tidy project, garnering 'Very Positive' Steam reviews and seemingly shifting a fair old number of copies. But it turns out that developer Red Nexus Games wasn't done with Peglin. 18 months on from Peglin's launch, Red Nexus Games just fired an unexpectedly meaty update into the pachinko roguelike's peg hole.

With Steam reviews at 'Mixed', the developer of Half Sword addresses differences between the early access game and its hugely popular tech demo: 'The final version of the game will differ from what has been shown previously'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/with-steam-reviews-at-mixed-the-developer-of-half-sword-addresses-differences-between-the-early-access-game-and-its-hugely-popular-tech-demo-the-final-version-of-the-game-will-differ-from-what-has-been-shown-previously/
Medieval duelling simulator Half Sword was a whole hit during last October's Steam Next Fest. Its goofy, grisly tech demo was the most popular playable snippet of the entire showcase, with players going haywire for its elastic, haphazard duels where your weapons were as much a threat to yourself as your opponent.
Unfortunately, the demo's popularity has seemingly come back to bite developer Half Sword Games in its early access launch. Although Half Sword attracted a big audience upon its alpha release in January, the response by players has been as divided as a human skull when struck by a Zweihander.
The issues cited by players are numerous. But the main problem is that combat in the early access version feels very different from the tech demo, with some Steam reviews claiming that the system is harder to grapple with, and much easier to send your character into a flailing ragdoll. The developers point out that the tech demo was based upon a much older version of Half Sword, and its system have been built out much more in the interim.

Crimson Desert team apologizes after players find AI art in the game: 'Our intention has always been for any such assets to be replaced'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/crimson-desert-team-apologizes-after-players-find-ai-art-in-the-game-our-intention-has-always-been-for-any-such-assets-to-be-replaced/
AI has been involved in its fair share of oopsies at this point, and Crimson Desert is the latest to take the hit. As reported by IGN, many players have taken to Reddit to point out likely AI-generated assets since the game's release, and today developer Pearl Abyss shared a statement on X responding to the accusations.
>> But worry not, an ex-Blizzard president has come out to say that “gamers need to 'Man up' over AI usage in games” (link). Do I need to say who he is?

Mega Crit responds to the panic over Slay the Spire 2's 1st balance pass, saying these changes are 'the first of many': 'No change is necessarily permanent'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/mega-crit-responds-to-the-panic-over-slay-the-spire-2s-1st-balance-pass-saying-these-changes-are-the-first-of-many-no-change-is-necessarily-permanent/
Slay the Spire 2 has been raking in the dough and enjoying all sorts of positive feedback, but the precarious thing about making something people love is that the minute you change it, you're messing with that thing people love. Developer Mega Crit experienced this last week when its first balance changes incurred the collective wrath of thousands of negative Steam reviews.
(...)
Mega Crit responded to the drama with an X post on March 20. "Since we have a lot of new players that weren’t around for StS1’s Early Access phase and players who are new to Early Access games in general, we wanted to explain our patching methodology a bit," the studio said. "This beta balance pass was the first of many to come over the next 1-2 years … this progress will not be linear, and no change is necessarily permanent."

Pearl Abyss working on bringing Arc GPU support to Crimson Desert, with Intel 'ready to assist'
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/pearl-abyss-working-on-bringing-arc-gpu-support-to-crimson-desert-with-intel-ready-to-assist/
Fantasy RPG fans have been spoilt for choice over the last few years, so much so you'd perhaps be forgiven for not getting to Crimson Desert—affectionately described by some as the 'yes, and' of videogames—any time soon. Well, for those gaming on Intel hardware, that may be just as well.
Last week, we attempted to test Crimson Desert with an Intel Arc graphics card, and were greeted by a pop-up explaining the hardware simply isn't supported. While the game's FAQ page previously encouraged out of luck gamers to "please refer to the refund policy of the platform where the game was purchased," developer Pearl Abyss has since assured it is working to support Intel Arc GPUs in the future.
The game's FAQ has been updated, and now reads, "We are currently working on compatibility and optimization support so that Crimson Desert can also be enjoyed on Intel Arc GPU systems. We are preparing to provide a smooth and stable gameplay experience, and we ask for your patience until the support update becomes available."

Cat Parents amasses over 100,000 wishlists in just 3 days, leaving its indie devs speechless: 'We never imagined that our little dream would spark interest in so many people'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/cat-parents-amasses-over-100-000-wishlists-in-just-3-days-leaving-its-indie-devs-speechless-we-never-imagined-that-our-little-dream-would-spark-interest-in-so-many-people/
During my weekly scour of Steam for new cosy games I came across Cat Parents, an indie game where players collect stray cats and look after them. You clean the cats up, feed them, and even change your home to accommodate your growing clowder of cats.
I saw it and immediately thought: that's a bit of me, and wishlisted it right there and then. And just to prove that I've never had an original thought, it turns out that a bunch of other players did exactly the same thing.