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

[JEMC]

The long, very long second part of the gaming news:

Every announcement from Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026
https://www.pcgamer.com/news/live/gamescom-opening-night-live-2026-live-coverage/
Gamescom Opening Night Live is here! The showcase heralds the changing of gaming seasons with one last deluge of WORLD PREMIEREs before autumn blows in the bracing winds of Game of the Year debates.
The show has ended but you can watch it back right here or just take a stroll through all the trailers down below. You'll find a lot of deeper coverage on the biggest announcements from my fellow PCG writers all throughout Gamescom 2026!
>> It’s a similar article to the DsoG one with all the videos.

Here's how to watch the Future Games Show at Gamescom 2026
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/heres-how-to-watch-the-future-games-show-at-gamescom-2026/
Resident Evil fans rejoice; we're going to get even more screentime with Leon Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft's actors thanks to the Future Games Show at Gamescom 2026 which airs tomorrow, Wednesday August 26 at 10 am PDT/1 pm EDT/6 pm BST.

Total War: Warhammer shows off its spicy new endgames, including a 'rat counter' that tells you how many Skaven still need killing in The Vermintide
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/total-war-warhammer-shows-off-its-spicy-new-endgames-including-a-rat-counter-that-tells-you-how-many-skaven-still-need-killing-in-the-vermintide/
Since the full reveal of Total War: Warhammer's new Lords of the End Times expansion, the content is coming in thick and fast. Last week, Creative Assembly showed off Neferata, the incoming Free-LC lord, alongside the extremely fun-looking rework for the Vampire Counts. This week we're getting more information about the new end game crises.

Ubisoft is making the first singleplayer Rainbow Six in 19 years, and it's a tactics game in the style of XCOM
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/ubisoft-is-making-the-first-singleplayer-rainbow-six-in-19-years-and-its-a-tactics-game-in-the-style-of-xcom/
Ubisoft has identified the peanut butter and jelly in its pantry, and believes they would make a mean sandwich.
Announced at today's Gamescom Opening Night Live show, Rainbow Six Tactics is an XCOM-style tactics game led by the folks behind another turn-based tactical adaptation, the Mario + Rabbids series. It's the first singleplayer Rainbow Six in 19 years and features characters from both Rainbow Six Siege and the Vegas series.

The next game from Hoyoverse sure looks like someone put Elden Ring's clothes on Monster Hunter
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-next-game-from-hoyoverse-sure-looks-like-someone-put-elden-rings-clothes-on-monster-hunter/
As the opening reveal of this year's Gamescom Opening Night Live, HoYoverse brought its first official look at Nodusfall—a change of pace for the gacha game behemoth that looks a little bit Elden Ring, a lot bit Monster Hunter, and a whole pile of proper nouns added for good measure.

Exodus is out early next year, and I think I'm finally on board with the general Mass Effect vibes of it all
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/exodus-is-out-early-next-year-and-i-think-im-finally-on-board-with-the-general-mass-effect-vibes-of-it-all/
Exodus is not beating the "boy, that sure looks like Mass Effect" charges, but the more I see of it, the more I mean that as a term of endearment. Archetype Entertainment shared another peek at its sci-fi RPG during this year's Opening Night Live showcase, along with its April 7, 2027 release date.

Battle royale goes grunge: there's a new PUBG game and it's set in the '90s
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/battle-royale-goes-grunge-theres-a-new-pubg-game-and-its-set-in-the-90s/
No one is safe from '90s nostalgia, not even battle royale. A new PUBG game was announced today at Gamescom, and it's gone grunge, according to publisher Krafton.
Maybe more interestingly, PUBG: Ded.net is also a roguelite, with progression across runs. Take a peek at the announcement trailer below, set to Ministry's "Jesus Built My Hotrod" (though that's industrial, not grunge) and then come back for some more details.

Next big D&D game fully revealed with lengthy gameplay trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/the-next-big-d-and-d-game-has-been-revealed/
Baldur's Gate 3 is a tough act to follow. Larian has moved on from the D&D license to return to its own Divinity world, and it remains to be seen what kind of CPRG follow-up Wizards of the Coast can muster.
In the meantime, the next big D&D game doesn't try for the BG3 throne: Developer Invoke is instead, to my eyes, channeling the 2000s boom of immersive sim-ish action games like The Darkness, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, and Infamous.
We got our first look at Warlock gameplay at Gamescom's Opening Night Live showcase today. Check it out above.

Atari is taking another shot at reviving RollerCoaster Tycoon
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/atari-is-taking-another-shot-at-reviving-rollercoaster-tycoon/
Last we saw RollerCoaster Tycoon it was in pretty rickety shape. More than a decade after RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, the follow-up—RollerCoaster Tycoon World—was released to nearly universally poor reviews. Even worse, in one of the all-time dick moves in gaming industry history, Atari launched it exactly one day before rival sim Planet Coaster was due to release. Wow.
That nakedly desperate move didn't help the situation: people liked Planet Coaster and didn't like RCTW, and the Tycoon series has been silent since 2016.
But here we are another decade later, and Atari is bringing RollerCoaster Tycoon back yet again—though I'm already feeling more hopeful about it.

Path of Exile 2 is finally getting swords in December, and also the rest of the game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2-is-finally-getting-swords-in-december-and-also-the-rest-of-the-game/
It's finally time for the one thing every Path of Exile 2 player has been waiting for: swords. A new class and weapon type is coming to the action RPG later this year—oh, and the full 1.0 release of the game.

Lego is finally fulfilling its destiny by making a city builder
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/lego-is-finally-fulfilling-its-destiny-by-making-a-city-builder/
In retrospect I'm not sure why it's taken Lego so long to get here: it's made Star Wars games, Batman games... heck, it even made a Fortnite game. The first Lego videogame came out way back in 1997! But at least it's finally fulfilling its destiny: The blocks that were made for building are finally being used for a city builder.
Lego Skylines was announced today at Gamescom, and yeah, it looks like the perfect fit. Have a peek at the announcement below.
>> Will this be the game that makes you part Cities: Skylines 2, Zkuq?

The Witcher 3 Remastered announced: another huge free update, and all Witcher 3 owners get the existing expansions free
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/the-witcher-3-remastered-announced-another-huge-free-update-and-its-coming-soon/
The Witcher 3 got a "Next-Gen Update" back in 2022, and CD Projekt Red is doing it again: The developer announced at Gamescom today that The Witcher 3 Remastered is coming September 29 as a free update for all owners of the RPG.
Aside from graphical updates (of which there are many), The Witcher 3 Remastered makes changes to combat, movement, Roach riding, monster behaviors, the skill tree, and the photo mode.
The kicker: Alongside the update, owners of The Witcher 3 will also get its two expansions, Blood and Wine and Hearts of Stone, free if they don't already own them. For newcomers, the expansions will be bundled with The Witcher 3 Remastered.
>> It also brings Path Tracing.

The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past expansion is out next year, here's the trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/the-witcher-3-song-of-the-past-expansion-is-out-next-year-heres-the-trailer/
CD Projekt Red showed up to close out Gamescom Opening Night Live with two big announcements: a first look at The Witcher 3's final expansion, Songs of the Past, and a surprise "Remastered" patch coming to the base game on September 29.
If you're just hearing about this now, yes, The Witcher 3 is getting a big expansion 12 years after its release, though we got no firm release date today. To hold us over, we caught a glimpse of the new region that Geralt will explore, Letten, and a weapon type new to the games: the chain whip.

The hardware crisis has hit a new low: We're now using rats for RAM
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/the-hardware-crisis-has-hit-a-new-low-were-now-using-rats-for-ram/
Good news from the near future: Space travel has apparently advanced enough to allow humanity to establish a hotel on the surface of the moon.
Bad news: The RAMpocalypse apparently continues unabated, forcing novel experimentation with alternate forms of computer memory not rendered wholly unaffordable by AI datacenters. Namely, rat computers.
This believable projection of the current miserable state of consumer hardware comes courtesy of Ontos, the next game from Amnesia developer Frictional Games. In the trailer above, a man strapped to a chair with electrodes stuck in his head is a bit freaky, though less so than another guy who's missing everything from his upper teeth down; perhaps humanity in the future is so desperate for localized processing power that we're resorting to shoving DisplayPort cables into our brains, too.

Paradox's next grand strategy game is taking cues from Fallout and Mad Max
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/paradoxs-next-grand-strategy-game-is-taking-cues-from-fallout-and-mad-max/
Paradox Development Studio is taking a break from conquering history and space, setting its sights instead on post-apocalyptic North America. Afterworld will see you take control of a tribe of survivors as you explore and conquer the ruins of the fallen continent. Which you might already know, after yesterday's leak. But now it's official!

Tarae: The Unbound is an 'Eastern dark fantasy' action RPG, and I for one am here for K-Diablo
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/tarae-the-unbound-is-an-eastern-dark-fantasy-action-rpg-and-i-for-one-am-here-for-k-diablo/
It brings me no joy to admit this, but recently I've begun thinking that I'm finally nearing my fill of ARPGs. I've gotten a lot of great years out of clicking a mouse button and exploding full screens of skeletons, but the prospect doesn't quite spark joy like it used to.
Or at least that's what I thought until roughly 45 minutes ago, when I saw the announcement trailer for Tarae: The Unbound that had been slipped into a Gamescom 2026 Opening Night Live Montage.

Metro 2039 gameplay trailer looks like bad news for your aging graphics card
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/metro-2039-gameplay-trailer-looks-like-bad-news-for-your-aging-graphics-card/
The latest trailer for Metro 2039 tried to get a scare out of me with its radiation-sickened bugs and monsters jumping at the screen, but the spookiest thing about it is how gosh darn good it looks.

Humankind 2 trailer accused of being 'AI slop,' studio says nope: 'real actors, practical sets, and custom-made props'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/humankind-2-trailer-accused-of-being-ai-slop-studio-says-nope-real-actors-practical-sets-and-custom-made-props/
Humankind 2 was announced today at Gamescom's Opening Night Live showcase, and I have to admit that I was among those who raised an eyebrow at the announcement trailer and wondered: Is this AI generated? A number of commenters speculated that it was. (For instance, under this X post.)
Nope, says the studio.
"The Humankind 2 live-action announcement trailer was filmed at Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia using real actors, practical sets, and custom-made props created specifically for the production," developer Amplitude Studios told PC Gamer over email. "We will be sharing behind-the-scenes images from the shoot soon."

Solasta 2 is getting multiplayer and warlocks in its next update
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/solasta-2-is-getting-multiplayer-and-warlocks-in-its-next-update/
While gameplay footage of the upcoming D&D game shows off a solo warlock, if you'd like to play a warlock as a member of a classic party of adventurers then Solasta 2's next update has got your back. Early access update 1 will add the warlock class and two subclasses (the timekeeper and the dreamer), as well as co-op multiplayer.

Ubisoft forgot to make sure the Steam release of Heroes of Might & Magic 3 included the actual game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/ubisoft-forgot-to-make-sure-the-steam-release-of-heroes-of-might-and-magic-3-included-the-actual-game/
The HD rerelease of Heroes of Might & Magic 3 from 2015 used to be the only way to get the strategy classic on Steam, leaving many players frustrated since it lacked the expansions and the random map generator. Ask fans of the series, and they'd tell you to get the original version from GOG instead.
So it should be an easy win for Ubisoft that the series' current owner finally decided to put the original version, complete with its expansions Armageddon's Blade and The Shadow of Death, on Steam at last. Its current user review rating of 80% negative suggests otherwise.
Fork out $10 for it and you'll find an install that's only 23.49 KB big, which gives a "dummy executable" error message when you try to launch it. Because Heroes of Might & Magic 3 on Steam does not come with Heroes of Might & Magic 3. Somebody forgot to include the actual game files with the game.

Apex Legends is getting 'fatal error' crashes with RX 9070 XT GPUs, but there is a workaround
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/apex-legends-is-getting-fatal-error-crashes-with-rx-9070-xt-gpus-but-there-is-a-workaround/
Apex Legends seems to be having trouble working with the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT right now. As relayed by the Apex Legends account ApexCommunityJP on X (machine translated), "We have confirmed an issue causing crashes for players using the AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT GPU, and we are currently investigating the cause."
I can confirm on my end that Apex Legends crashes when I try to launch it using a rig with an RX 9070 XT. I get the following game/engine 'fatal error': "The application's device failed due to badly formed commands sent by the application. This is a design-time issue that should be investigated and fixed."
>> It’s unknown if the problem is caused by the AMD driver or the game.

Plus this is the only short format article:

Hideo Kojima wants to 'continue to focus on making games' at 63, even as 'the time I have decreases'
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/hideo-kojima-wants-to-continue-to-focus-on-making-games-at-63-even-as-the-time-i-have-decreases/