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

[JEMC]

Let’s take a look at the Thursday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Pirate survival Windrose sees 500,000 mateys buy the game as Steam reviews are 'Mostly Positive'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/pirate-survival-windrose-sees-500-000-mateys-buy-the-game-as-steam-reviews-are-mostly-positive/
There are just about a gazillion games about ninjas, but shockingly far fewer about pirates. Swashbucklers deserve more attention if you ask me, and thankfully they seem to be getting it when it comes to the new survival game Windrose.
It's managed to shift half a million copies in the first two days, according to publisher Pocketpair (via GamesRadar), and the initial Steam reviews ain't lookin' half bad, either. It's sitting at an 87% Mostly Positive rating right now, and managing to snag just shy of 100,000 concurrent players within the first 24 hours. That's a number that has a good chance of going even higher over the weekend. And even if it doesn't, that's a mighty respectable number to come swinging out of the gate with.
>> The game only has one problem, that has its own article.

The Epic Store gives away The Stone of Madness: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/the-stone-of-madness-7b22f3.
Next week, the free game will be DOOMBLADE .

GOG has two new promos/sales:

• Immersive Sims Promo has games up to 90% off during the next 6 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20260415_immersive_sims_promo
• Publisher Goblinz Publishing celebrates its 10th anniversary `puttings its games on sale with up to 80% discounts during 14 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20260416_goblinz_publisher_sale

Steam brings three new deals and four new sales:

• Laundering Simulator - Clean Cash and Laundry has a demo and will be 30% off until the 22nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3432750/Laundering_Simulator__Clean_Cash_and_Laundry/
• Angeline Era also has a demo, but gets a 25% discount that will last until the 29th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2393920/Angeline_Era/
• Martha Is Dead is going to be 75% off until April 29: https://store.steampowered.com/app/515960/Martha_Is_Dead/
• And these are the new sales/events:
  • Developer/Publisher Drinkbox Studios celebrates its 18th anniversary putting its games up to 75% off until the 22nd of April: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6863330/sale/drinkboxanniversarysale2026
  • Mango Party Publisher Sale, with NSFW games, shows its upcoming titles and has its current ones on sale until the 29th. The two deals I can see are 25 and 50% off, but the banner lists up to 70% dicounts: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41075428/sale/SpringPublisherSale2026
  • Publisher Idea Factory International, IFI puts its games on sale with up to 80% discounts until April 29: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32763017/sale/IFIPublisherSale2026
  • And Publisher G-MODE celebrates its 6th anniversary porting japanese mobile games of years past to keep them alive. The games will be up to 60% off, with the deals ending between the 29th and 30th of April. Sadly, the games are only in Japanese, which may be a problem: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38318087/sale/gmodearchives6thanniversary

Humble Bundle presents the Sharp Shooters Bundle, with up to 7 games to get during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/sharp-shooters-bundle

Fanatical has the BYO Exodus Bundle (Spring 2026), with 19 games to choose from for your bundles of 2+, 3+ or 4+ games. It will last the usual 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-exodus-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 596.21 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-596-21

HIGHLIGHTS
Game Ready for PRAGMATA
This new Game Ready Driver provides the best gaming experience for the latest new games supporting DLSS 4.5 technology including PRAGMATA and NTE (Neverness to Everness) as well as Windrose which supports DLSS 4 features.

FIXED ISSUES
Fixed Gaming Bugs

• Arknights: Endfield: stutter may be observed in some gameplay [5950402]

Valve could be prepping to roll out 30-day Steam price tracking in the US, making it harder for publishers to mess with discounts
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/valve-could-be-prepping-to-roll-out-30-day-steam-price-tracking-in-the-us-making-it-harder-for-publishers-to-mess-with-discounts/
If you've ever seen a Steam game reduced by 90% and wondered if that's the real discount, Valve may have you covered. Recent files in the Steam database imply it might be working on the wider rollout of a tracking system that bases the discount percentage on the lowest price in 30 days.
Found by user @SigaTbh, and posted by LambdaGeneration, a recent analysis of code found on SteamDB shows tags like "30-Day low" and 'this game was previously on discount for x% within the past y days." (via Tom's Hardware)
These are potential templates that could display over games to inform the user of its price history in the last month. Up until now, in the US, if you have spotted a game on sale, it can be quite hard to tell if the deal is actually a deal. Publishers and developers can theoretically put their prices up just before a sales event, then bring them back down again, suggesting the sale is a bigger discount than it actually is.
The downside here is that, with a 30-day price tracking window, one can still use Steam's pricing system to make games seem more discounted than they are; they just need to avoid doing it for a few weeks before major sales events.
Naturally, just because Valve appears to have added this functionality doesn't mean it will make it into the live build of Steam. It could simply be something Valve has been toying with in the back-end.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

First Public Beta Version for Doom Deluxe Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/first-public-beta-version-for-doom-deluxe-released/
After two years of development, modder ‘Dox778’ has released the first public beta version of Doom Deluxe. To celebrate this release, the modder has also shared a new trailer that you can find below.
Doom Deluxe is a UZDoom mod intent on collecting years of Doom history into a single package. It has familiar concepts and common tropes that are bundled together under a universal style guideline. This includes the entire Skulltag arsenal, commonly used realm667 inventory items, weapons, and fire modes from other FPS games, vanilla-inspired graphical overhauls, and a newly improved enemy roster.
In short, this is a cool new mod that will allow you to re-experience Doom. It’s meant for those who have already finished the vanilla versions. So, if you are a die-hard Doom fan, you should definitely check it out.

GAMING NEWS

Crackers have bypassed Pragmata’s Denuvo before release
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/crackers-have-bypassed-pragmatas-denuvo-before-release/
In the past couple of months, we’ve seen bypasses for a lot of games that use the Denuvo anti-tamper tech. However, it appears that an unreleased game has been bypassed and can already be played. That game is Pragmata, which officially comes out tomorrow.