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:

Directive 8020 is using an episodic structure straight out of a limited TV series 'to be mindful of people's time'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/directive-8020-is-using-an-episodic-structure-straight-out-of-a-limited-tv-series-to-be-mindful-of-peoples-time/
One thing you get from Supermassive Games that you just can't get from other horror games is a cinematic experience. I like to joke that the premise of these games is simply: 'What would you do if you were in a horror movie', and Directive 8020 stays along those lines as it dumps players in what is essentially John Carpenter's The Thing, but in space.
Aboard the Cassiopeia you follow a group of scientists and explorers, plus one billionaire on their maiden voyage towards a new possible home for humanity. But your travel is rudely interrupted by some strange extraterrestrial lifeform that steals people's identities and then tries to kill off the crew.
The story is made even more suspenseful by its episodic structure, as each episode usually ends on some disastrous cliffhanger or 'oh shit' moment. The end of episode four was the latter for me, as I failed a quick time event during an altercation with one of the monsters, and the character I was playing ended up with one less eye. Whoops.

The Valve-approved Half-Life remake is joining the Garry's Mod family 'by popular demand'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/the-valve-approved-half-life-remake-is-joining-the-garrys-mod-family-by-popular-demand/
Sandbox fun times simulator Garry's Mod has gobbled up pretty much every official Valve Source game into its toybox at this point, but there is land yet to conquer. Facepunch announced this week that the 20-year-old game's next patch, planned for April 29, will finally bring Black Mesa into the fold.
"By popular demand and with approval from its developers, this update will be adding mounting support for Black Mesa in Garry's Mod," the blog post reads.

PowerWash Simulator 2 is getting Star Wars DLC, and it's about time somebody's focusing on the most important part of the galaxy far, far away
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/powerwash-simulator-2s-is-getting-star-wars-dlc-and-its-about-time-somebodys-focusing-on-the-most-important-part-of-the-galaxy-far-far-away/
PowerWash Simulator 2 developer FuturLab has announced a Star Wars DLC pack for its much-loved spray-cleaning sequel, publishing a preview teaser that promises players a chance to introduce the joys of pressurized purgation to the deserts of Tatooine, the frigid expanse of Hoth, and wherever the Rebel Alliance might have decided to park its X-wings.

Diablo 4: Lord of Hatred will launch with a bare bones new season to keep its new campaign and revolutionized loot chase in the spotlight
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/diablo-4-lord-of-hatred-will-launch-with-a-bare-bones-new-season-to-keep-its-new-campaign-and-revolutionized-loot-chase-in-the-spotlight/
As someone who has already experienced the mountain of changes coming in Diablo 4's new Lord of Hatred expansion, I already wasn't expecting much from the new season that will begin shortly after it launches.
There are so many changes in Lord of Hatred that it already fulfills the purpose of a season that would typically introduce temporary powers or a limited story—with the significant caveat that it's a $40 add-on. Instead of placing a hat on top of a hat, Blizzard has decided to keep the focus on the new campaign and all the new system changes that come into play after the credits roll.
The Season of Reckoning will be a Diablo 4 season in name only: You can still create new seasonal characters and climb through the levels until you're a demon-slaying god, but nothing you experience will be exclusive to the next three months.
>> The expansion has a song from Korn (link).

This photorealistic FPS runs in browser thanks to 'Gaussian Splatting', which is now my new favorite thing
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/this-photorealistic-fps-runs-in-browser-thanks-to-gaussian-splatting-which-is-now-my-new-favorite-thing/
Believe it or not, but you can play a photorealistic FPS in your browser right now, even if you don't have a massive GPU. This simple FPS project doesn't exactly offer pulse pounding gameplay, but is instead head-turning for how it conjures a photorealistic environment without hogging your rig's resources. The project was made by Iakov Sumygin, a software engineer at Snap Inc (the creators of SnapChat), and built using the company's browser-based game engine PlayCanvas. To create this itty bitty shooter's realistic environments, Sumygin used 'Gaussian Splatting', which combines multiple images of a real-world environment with camera position data, thereby creating a patchwork, virtual rendering of a space that can then be viewed from new angles (via Tom's Hardware).

As if Final Fantasy 14's free trial wasn't already generous enough, it now includes the best expansion in the entire game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/final-fantasy/as-if-final-fantasy-14s-free-trial-wasnt-already-generous-enough-it-now-includes-the-best-expansion-in-the-entire-game/
And so, the Final Fantasy 14 free trial copypasta gets longer once more. The MMO has been show-ponied around by the community for its rather generous free trial for ages now. First it was up to level 60 including Heavensward, and then in 2023 was extended to include Stormblood. And as of today's Patch 7.5, the free trial includes the best damn expansion of them all: Shadowbringers.