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

[JEMC]

Wednesday gaming news, part two:

Hello Kitty Island Adventure has announced its second DLC, adding one of Sanrio's most colourful characters, a customisable cafe, and over 90 quests
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/hello-kitty-island-adventure-has-announced-its-second-dlc-adding-one-of-sanrios-most-colourful-characters-a-customisable-cafe-and-over-90-quests/
Hello Kitty Island Adventure is set to receive its second DLC next month, and with an all new trailer we've had a little look at what exactly is in store. Called City Town, the DLC will whisk us away from Friendship Island to a bright, new location where we get to build a town from the ground up.

Epic is ending 3 Fortnite game modes following its latest round of layoffs: 'We failed to build something awesome enough to attract and retain a large player base'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/epic-is-ending-3-fortnite-game-modes-following-its-latest-round-of-layoffs-we-failed-to-build-something-awesome-enough-to-attract-and-retain-a-large-player-base/
Alongside the layoff of more than 1,000 employees announced earlier today, Epic is also ending a trio of Fortnite modes—Rocket Racing, Ballistic, and Festival Battle Stage—and removing the racing games Horizon Chase and Horizon Chase Turbo from sale.
The Fortnite modes are being removed because, Epic said, "we've built a lot of Fortnite modes, and in some cases we failed to build something awesome enough to attract and retain a large player base."
>> And Sweeney went to Twitter to comment about the layoffs, and he posted that “In the coming days, employers will see a stream of resumes of once-in-a-lifetime quality folks." (link).

Fortnite's new Peak skin costs almost 3 times as much as the indie game it's based on: 'That's actually a slap in the face to the Peak developers'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/fortnites-new-peak-skin-costs-almost-3-times-as-much-as-the-indie-game-its-based-on-thats-actually-a-slap-in-the-face-to-the-peak-developers/
Friendslop's officially made its way to Fortnite, as physics-based climbing 'sim' Peak now has a set of skins in Epic's battle royale. That should be music to my ears, as Peak's cheery scouts are impossible to hate—just look at their little faces! While they're slightly less cute in Fortnite's style, in large part down to them being taller now, it's not the design players are having problems with.
Crunch the numbers as one Twitter user did, and Fortnite's customisable Peak skin costs almost three-times as much as the original game. A Scout skin will set you back 2,000 V-Bucks, which is equivalent to $22.40 (or just $22.99 with the 2,400 V-Buck pack). That's worth 2.8 copies of Peak. In other words, you could buy the game for yourself and a friend and a half, and have a merry old time climbing a mountain together. And yes, that's just the cost of a single skin, not including the backpack, pickaxe, or wrap.
>> Absolutely disgusting.

Even after ZA/UM's messy breakup, the writing team still has a cadre of sad communists—but you won't have to play Zero Parades as one if you don't want to
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/even-after-za-ums-messy-breakup-the-writing-team-still-has-a-cadre-of-sad-communists-but-you-wont-have-to-play-zero-parades-as-one-if-you-dont-want-to/
Disco Elysium is, and you know I mean this as a compliment, perhaps the most commie goddamn game I've ever played. The melancholy Marxism comes off it in waves, and no wonder: so many of its now-departed writers were some flavour of radical, with lead writer Robert Kurvitz describing aspects of the game's story as "essentially Soviet".
But Kurvitz, along with a lot of Disco Elysium's other foundational creatives, exited ZA/UM spectacularly in 2022, so you gotta wonder: will the studio's next game, Zero Parades—which also talks a lot about communism—have the same ideological bones? Are there still mournful commies at ZA/UM? When our Wes Fenlon asked at this year's GDC, writer Honey Watson's answer was immediate and emphatic: "Yes!"

There's a new Payday game coming later this year, and it's VR
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/vr/theres-a-new-payday-game-coming-later-this-year-and-its-vr/
Starbreeze has something new cooking on the Payday front and, well, it's a VR game—Payday: Aces High, a co-op heist game like the others in the series, but "built specifically for virtual reality, bringing the planning, teamwork and signature chaos of a Payday heist to a fully immersive format."

After feedback that Death Stranding was 'too slow,' Kojima wanted more players to see Death Stranding 2 all the way through to the end
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/after-feedback-that-death-stranding-was-too-slow-kojima-wanted-more-players-to-see-death-stranding-2-all-the-way-through-to-the-end/
When Kojima Productions set out to develop Death Stranding 2, writer and director Hideo Kojima gave his team a clear goal: Keep people playing all the way through this time.
"Kojima wanted more people to enjoy the game all the way to the end. This was an order he provided," said lead level designer Hiroaki Yoshiike, in a recent interview with PC Gamer.
>> Bonus article: the wife of one of the developers had a strong reaction to the first big plot twist (link).

The Forza Horizon 6 system requirements are in and it's good news for older PCs and handhelds
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/racing/the-forza-horizon-6-system-requirements-are-in-and-its-good-news-for-older-pcs-and-handhelds/
Forza isn't known for being particularly difficult to run on PC, but you never know these days. So it's a relief to find that the Forza Horizon 6 system requirements are pretty light for a reportedly stable 60 fps.
>> Nvidia has also gone and said that the game will support DLSS 4,5, among other things (link).

Tekken 8 devs promise better after latest patch, but fans are in full doom mode
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/tekken-8-devs-promise-better-after-latest-patch-but-fans-are-in-full-doom-mode/
Tekken 8 didn't have a very good year in 2025, and it's with a heavy heart that I must report that it certainly doesn't look like matters have improved any. Back in February, our resident fighting game expert Mollie Taylor wrote: "I'm genuinely excited to see what direction Tekken 8 is going to take with its third season, while also desperately hoping that we're not staring down the barrel of another Season 2 misstep."
Unfortunately, it now looks like we were in fact staring down the barrel of another Season 2 misstep. Just taking a look at responses to the Season 3 balance patch notes on the game's subreddit reveals an avalanche of complaints from players who feel like Bandai Namco hasn't done diddly squat to smooth things out.