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

[JEMC]

Monday gaming news, part two:

Arc Raiders is halting Expeditions until 2027 so it can make 'major improvements' to the system
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/arc-raiders-is-halting-expeditions-until-2027-so-it-can-make-major-improvements-to-the-system/
Arc Raiders' upcoming fifth Expedition will be its last for a good while, as developer Embark Studios is going to "pause" them until early 2027 so it can rework the whole thing.

The newly independent Psychonauts dev now earns all the revenue when you buy games it made under Xbox: 'Buying any of our games helps support the studio'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-newly-independent-psychonauts-dev-now-earns-all-the-revenue-when-you-buy-games-it-made-under-xbox-buying-any-of-our-games-helps-support-the-studio/
Double Fine has fully transitioned into an independent studio after leaving Xbox earlier this year. The studio now has full publishing rights to the games it made under Microsoft and earns all the revenue when you buy them, CEO Tim Schafer confirmed on the Kinda Funny podcast.
>> The same is true for:

Compulsion Games' buyout is complete, so now Microsoft won't get a cut if you buy South of Midnight
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/compulsion-games-buyout-is-complete-so-now-microsoft-wont-get-a-cut-if-you-buy-south-of-midnight/
South of Midnight was one of 2025's seemingly innumerable highlights—in their 83% review, evergreen writer Andrea Shearon called it "a Deep South delight drenched in superstition and pain." If you've been holding off but nonetheless rooting for the award-winning studio behind it, Compulsion Games, now's a great time to dive in: it's independent again after a lengthy stay under the Xbox Game Studios banner.

The latest cooperative craze is a physics-based fishing simulator where you can launch your catch into the air and no-scope it with a sniper rifle
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/the-latest-cooperative-craze-is-a-physics-based-fishing-simulator-where-you-can-launch-your-catch-into-the-air-and-no-scope-it-with-a-sniper-rifle/
As someone who grew up in the '90s and early '00s when cooperative games were scarce, I'm a big fan of this current era of cheap and cheerful experiences designed to play with your pals. I enjoy the knockabout vibe of games like Peak and R.E.P.O, which acknowledge their disposable nature and focus on being daft fun, rather than trying to engage you for weeks and months at a time as more traditional live service games do.
As such, I'm always interested to see what coop nonsense bubbles up to the surface of Steam's algorithm next, and it appears the catch of the day is How to Fish, a 1-4 player, physics- based fishing simulator where you subdue marine life in the most preposterous ways possible.

The dungeoncrawler where you really can roll to seduce the dragon has been delayed until next year
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/the-dungeoncrawler-where-you-really-can-roll-to-seduce-the-dragon-has-been-delayed-until-next-year/
The game whose full name I forget and have to copy-paste every time—here goes, it's called Rizz Dungeon: Skeleton Key to My Heart—was scheduled to release on September 17. It's been delayed until next year because developer Snoozy Kazoo's previous games—hang on, let me warm up Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V again—Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion and Turnip Boy Robs a Bank have sold better than expected. Now Snoozy Kazoo can afford to make Rizz Dungeon the game they really wanted it to be from the start.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's first beta patch adds a new map and mode, as Infinity Ward responds to complaints about footstep noise and weapon lethality
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/call-of-duty/call-of-duty-modern-warfare-4s-first-beta-patch-adds-a-new-map-and-mode-as-infinity-ward-responds-to-complaints-about-footstep-noise-and-weapon-lethality/
The beta for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 kicked off in earnest this weekend, with Infinity Ward commencing public testing of what we all hope is a return to form after the disappointment of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. And changes are already being made, with the developers releasing a new patch that makes a couple of mechanical tweaks while also adding a new map and mode.

This newly announced soulslike has a main character inspired by Dark Souls' most heartbreaking boss fight
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/this-newly-announced-soulslike-has-a-main-character-inspired-by-dark-souls-most-heartbreaking-boss-fight/
Honestly, I'm surprised nobody thought of this sooner. Via Kotaku, Stray Dog: Nobody Cares is a soulslike directly inspired by Dark Souls, which asks: "What if you played as Great Grey Wolf Sif?" It's an idea that seems painfully obvious in hindsight, and I can only credit developer Parry Frames Studio for doing the hard work of making it a reality.

EverQuest Legends dev says 'I'm sure we would' add new classes, races 'in the longer-term vision of the game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/everquest-legends-dev-says-im-sure-we-would-add-new-classes-races-in-the-longer-term-vision-of-the-game/
EverQuest Legends, the EverQuest spinoff that remixes an old-school version of the early MMORPG into a multiclassing, froglok-murdering ARPG minmaxer's paradise, has a lot on the way. In a recent Twitch stream, developers from Daybreak Games and Game Jawn floated some pretty big ideas for the future: perhaps most notably, all-new classes that weren't in the original EverQuest at all.

Nightdive's Thief remaster unearths a 'very very out of date version control repository' with 'the wildest things to say about the code'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/nightdives-thief-remaster-unearths-a-very-very-out-of-date-version-control-repository-with-the-wildest-things-to-say-about-the-code/
It's great that the Nightdive's remasters of various classic games give new players a chance to experience them without having to download a fixpack or remap the controls or whatever, but it's also a wonderful opportunity to learn new things about games we already loved. Each remaster is like an archaeological dig and you never know what it'll uncover.

Paradox commits a classic blunder and accidentally leaks its own post-apocalyptic grand strategy game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/paradox-commits-a-classic-blunder-and-accidentally-leaks-its-own-post-apocalyptic-grand-strategy-game/
As we head into big gaming week™ there are lots of studios with secret projects whirring behind the scenes, waiting to be announced at Gamescom or Opening Night Live. We now know that Paradox is one of said studios, thanks to its own forum filters.
"Paradox Forum website seems to accidentally list the unannounced game's name in the Unreleased Game filters," one eagle-eyed detective pointed out (via DualShockers) on Reddit. In the accompanying screenshot you can see the keyword Afterworld appear beneath Unreleased Games and Prison Architect 2