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

[JEMC]

Friday gaming news, part two:

Indie shooter devs pull a reverse-Concord: No one played their game, but they 'make it free to play and keep the servers online indefinitely' anyway
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/indie-shooter-devs-pull-a-reverse-concord-no-one-played-their-game-but-they-make-it-free-to-play-and-keep-the-servers-online-indefinitely-anyway/
After around a year and a half in early access, Blindfire—a multiplayer FPS whose main thing is that its arenas are all incredibly dark, forcing you to rely on your other senses (and tech, naturally) to catch enemies—got its full release.
Which was something of a bittersweet event for its devs at Double Eleven, who wrote in a message to players that "We failed on our terms, and we're proud of that."
Blindfire had, quite simply, failed to set the world on fire. Despite mostly positive reviews, it never caught on, meaning its release was more of a Viking funeral than anything else. But—in a time where online games suddenly becoming unplayable is more of a hot-button issue than ever—the devs said that they were going to make the game free rather than shutter it, and committed to keeping the servers up for years to come.

This bloody vampire FPS with Splatoon movement tech is the best $5 I've spent on Steam this week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/this-bloody-vampire-fps-with-splatoon-movement-tech-is-the-best-usd5-ive-spent-on-steam-this-week/
Blood Vial, a self-described "retro-inspired micro-FPS" that hit Steam earlier this week, is a lot like Splatoon—except instead of starring charming squid teens swimming through the ink spread by their paintguns, you play as a leaky, gun-toting vampire diving through the freshly-spilled gore of murderous pseudo-Catholics on a blood-soaked quest for revenge.

Path of Exile 2's 'biggest expansion ever' reworks its entire post-campaign grind for new and returning players alike
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2s-biggest-expansion-ever-reworks-its-entire-post-campaign-grind-for-new-and-returning-players-alike/
Path of Exile 2 has one of the best action RPG campaigns out there, and it's not even finished yet. It wastes no time pushing you through each act as you gear up and watch the world of Wraeclast unravel. But when it's over, you're handed a gigantic world map filled with dozens of locations and no advice on where to start your endgame grind.
That wasn't good enough for developer Grinding Gear Games, which is why it spent the last several months tearing everything out and rebuilding it so that PoE 2's endgame won't be as obtuse. All of it will be reworked in its "biggest expansion ever", Return of the Ancients, on May 29.
>> It will also be the last big one before it leaves early access (link).

Even seven-year-old GPUs will be able to run Subnautica 2, according to its latest system requirements
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/even-seven-year-old-gpus-will-be-able-to-run-subnautica-2-according-to-its-latest-system-requirements/
It's finally almost here. After years of drama, legal cases, and hype, Subnautica 2 launches into early access on May 14, next week. Being the most wishlisted game on Steam right now, there's a lot of excitement for the release, and the developer's latest dev log gives some updated specs and info on whether you can run it.
The video in question, titled "Subnautica 2 Dev Vlog - Welcome Aboard, Captains", is the team's last dev log ahead of launch. The team say that you will be able to play on a ROG Xbox Ally or Steam Deck with no problem.

All Genshin Impact 6.6 livestream codes
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/genshin-impact-codes-6-6-livestream/
The Genshin Impact 6.6 livestream codes have arrived, or should I say, the Luna 7 codes, since we've hit the 7th version since we first entered Nod-Krai—time flies, huh? As was revealed in the recent Snezhnaya livestream, which previewed some of 7.0, the next major version is arriving on August 12. This means there are still a few more versions between now and then that will tie together and conclude Nod-Krai's story.