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

[JEMC]

These are the Thursday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Playing 007 First Light? Send us gameplay videos galore and you could win a $500 Amazon gift card
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/playing-007-first-light-send-us-gameplay-videos-galore-and-you-could-win-a-usd500-amazon-gift-card/
007 First Light is finally here, and we know there are lots of James Bond fans stepping into the exquisitely tailored suit of the world's most famous spy* this week.
While you're practicing your spycraft in IOI's new action adventure by arming yourself with gadgets, driving cool cars, sneaking through hotels, and blowing up airplanes, I've got a mission for you, Mr. Bond: press the record button. We want to see your best gameplay videos of 007 First Light, and to sweeten the pot, there might just be a prize in it for you.
Over on our PC Gamer Clips page we've started collecting the best PC gaming videos the internet has to offer, and each month we award our favorite clip a $500 Amazon gift card. So while you're saving the world as James Bond—or playing any PC game you enjoy, old or new—record yourself! If something exciting, funny, or bizarre happens, snip that clip and send it our way.

The free games on the Epic Store are:

• Calico: https://store.epicgames.com/p/calico
• LONESTAR : https://store.epicgames.com/p/lonestar-83f143

Next week, the free games are, once again, a mystery.

Steam has four new deals that I can see and six sales/events:

• Another Farm Roguelike: Rebirth is going to be 40% off until the 10th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2760790/Another_Farm_Roguelike_Rebirth/
• Leaf Blower Co. will have a 50% discount until June 10: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3571710/Leaf_Blower_Co/
• The Karters 2: Turbo Charged is still in Early Access and will be 55% off until the 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2269950/The_Karters_2_Turbo_Charged/
• Diplomacy is Not an Option gets a 60% discount that will also last until the 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1272320/Diplomacy_is_Not_an_Option/
• And the sales/events. Sorry but I don’t have time today to list them as usual, but they are the French Direct, Reus Franchise Sale, Backrooms Banquet, a Harry Potter sale for its 25th anniversary, Raw Fury’s June Sale and the developer AQUAPLUS Super Sale. You can check them all here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/collection/sales/

Humble Bundle has two new collections for us:

• Awesome Automation Bundle features 6 games and will last 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/awesome-automation
• Devil May Cry Devil Trigger Reloaded Collection 2026 has up to four games (one of them is the collection with the firs three ones, bringing the total to 6) and will last 27 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/devil-may-cry-devil-trigger-reloaded-collection-2026

Fanatical has new Flash Deals and a bundle:

• These are the three 24h Flash Deals:
  • Persona 3 Reload is 65% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/persona-3-reload
  • Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition sports a 71% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/age-of-empires-ii-definitive-edition
  • Dokapon Kingdom: Connect is 80% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dokapon-kingdom-connect
• And the BYO Ultimate Collection has 13 games to get in bundles of 2+, 3+ or 4+ and will last 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-ultimate-collection

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Steam Workshop now looks like it was designed in this decade
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/steam-workshop-now-looks-like-it-was-made-in-this-decade/
Exciting news: Steam Workshop is pretty now. Or, at the very least, it's prettier. Detailed in a Steam news post, Valve has released a Workshop update for all users, bringing an overhauled browsing UI and updated filtering options for finding whatever mod might wildly improve or severely blight your gameplay.
"The next time you visit the Steam Workshop for your favorite game, you'll see an updated interface for browsing, searching, and filtering, making it easier and faster to explore and find great user-created mods to enhance your gaming experience," Valve said.
It's nice that there's some pleasant Steam news today, because the Steam Deck price hike extremely isn't.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess PC Update 1.3.1 Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-legend-of-zelda-twilight-princess-pc-update-1-3-1-released/
The team behind Dusklight, the unofficial PC port of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, has released a new update for it. Update 1.3.1 comes with some cool new changes and improvements. So, let’s take a closer look at it.
Since our last coverage, Dusklight got two new updates. So, let’s start with Update 1.3.0, which was the major one.
Update 1.3.0 added a new modernized Depth of Field implementation. It added an option to “Hide Owl Statue Markers” after completion, and it also added some new Achievements. There is now better Steam Controller support on Linux, and we got new “Invert Air/Swim Axis” options.
Moreover, this update fixed some instances where Wolf Link couldn’t howl. It also fixed THP (demo video) playback stuttering issues. Furthermore, the game should be more stable now on your PC as the devs have fixed a number of crashes.
It’s also worth noting that Dusklight can now ignore software renderers when choosing the graphics backend. This works around an issue where D3D12 falling back to “Microsoft Basic Renderer” could crash before the Vulkan or D3D11 backends have a chance to initialize.
Update 1.3.1 is basically a hotfix for version 1.3.0. To be more precise, it fixes several issues with configuration saving and loading. It also fixes the missing chains in Arbiter’s Grounds, Hyrule Castle. Plus, it fixes an issue that could prevent players from clearing text inputs with the Enter key.
All in all, this is a must-have update for everyone who wants to play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on PC. You can go ahead and download it from this link. At the end of the article, you can also find its full patch notes.
>> The article has an over 10 minutes video of the 1,3,0 update.

Grand Theft Auto 4 RTX Remix Update 1.3.0 Released & Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/grand-theft-auto-4-rtx-remix-update-1-3-0-released-detailed/
It’s been three months since the last update for the RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for Grand Theft Auto 4. And, earlier this week, modder ‘xoxor4d’ has finally released a new version of it. So, let’s see what this new version brings to the table.
Update 1.3.0 comes with a fix for the invisible head issue that could occur with the mod, and it updates the remix runtime assets. It also enables SSS and beam TV glass texture. Furthermore, it brings better compatibility for Fusion Fix. As such, players can use both of these mods to get the best remastered experience. Update 1.3.0 also fixes some general light modifications and taxi bugs.
Moreover, it increases the maximum draw distance for API light visualization to 3000 units and adds more disable backface culling hashes. It also adds an option to force vertex color usage on vehicles.
It’s also worth noting that the material types GTA_EMISSIVESTRONG and GTA_EMISSIVESTRONG_ALPHA have been added to be rendered with global UV animations. GTA_HAIR_SORTED_ALPHA has also been added to work with the NPC hair alpha testing option. On the other hand, Dirt was added to the GTA_VEHICLE_MESH shaders. Plus, this update fixes the UVs of the Dirt layer generated when a vehicle uses liveries.
All in all, this update seems to fix some issues that were present in the mod. At the same time, I wouldn’t call it a major update. Nevertheless, it’s best to use this latest version.
You can go ahead and download it from this link. At the end of the article, you can also find its complete changelog. There are also two WIP HD Texture Packs for it. So, make sure to try them. You can download them from here and here.
>> Sadly, the article doesn’t have any media.

GAMING NEWS

Tides of Annihilation Gets Official Technical Behind-the-Scenes Overview
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/tides-of-annihilation-gets-official-technical-behind-the-scenes-overview/
Eclipse Glow Games has released a new technical behind-the-scenes video for Tides of Annihilation. In this video, we get to hear from the development team behind the game’s deep technical partnership between Unreal Engine and NVIDIA.

DRAGON QUEST XII: The Flames of Fate has been renamed to DRAGON QUEST XII: Beyond Dreams
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/dragon-quest-xii-the-flames-of-fate-has-been-renamed-to-dragon-quest-xii-beyond-dreams/
Square Enix has announced that DRAGON QUEST XII: The Flames of Fate has been renamed to DRAGON QUEST XII: Beyond Dreams. Moreover, the team shared a new video, featuring some in-game footage from the new version of the game. So, if you are a fan of the series, I suggest watching it.