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

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Monday gaming news, part number two:

Path of Exile 2's first event league goes 'oops, all bosses' and reworks its worst mode so sane people can finally enjoy it
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/path-of-exile-2s-first-event-league-goes-oops-all-bosses-and-reworks-its-worst-mode-so-sane-people-can-finally-enjoy-it/
After the tremendous Return of the Ancients update to Path of Exile 2, it wouldn't take much to convince me to play more of it. The action RPG is the best it's ever been and finally feels ready to come out later this year. So when developer Grinding Gear Games says it's dropping a new mini-league next week to fill some time before release, you can bet I'll be there.
On September 4, the first PoE 2 event league, Forbidden Rites, will begin. It's not like the other major updates we've seen with tons of balance changes and a whole new league mechanic. Instead, developer Grinding Gear Games is keeping this one pretty simple with a small twist to the campaign and a big rework to one of the most divisive endgame activities.
>> That next week is this week.

Hello Neighbor's multiplayer spinoff has been 'temporarily shut down' after a hacker wiped player progression and demanded the game's 'removal from sale across all platforms'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/hello-neighbors-multiplayer-spinoff-has-been-temporarily-shut-down-after-a-hacker-wiped-player-progression-and-demanded-the-games-removal-from-sale-across-all-platforms/
Secret Neighbor, the multiplayer spinoff for the 2017 horror game Hello Neighbor, has been temporarily taken offline following a security breach by a hacker who accessed the game's backend systems and deleted player data.

The Long Dark will get new DLC again as studio shifts devs away from the sequel to survive an 'uncertain' industry: 'We have to adapt to this'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/the-long-dark-will-get-new-dlc-again-as-studio-shifts-devs-away-from-the-sequel-to-survive-an-uncertain-industry-we-have-to-adapt-to-this/
Survival game The Long Dark was supposed to be over when its final story episode was released earlier this year. Developer Hinterland announced its sequel, Blackfrost, two years ago and planned to go the early access route with it just like the first game.
According to a new update from the studio, however, those plans have changed a little bit. While it continues to work on Blackfrost in the background, a small team of developers have been moved back onto The Long Dark to make new DLC for its survival mode. Hinterland hopes going back to the 9-year-old game will help it endure an "uncertain" industry.

This newly announced FPS will let you blast through the worlds of Medieval Europe's weirdest artist, and I really hope it includes the 500-year-old butt song from hell
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/this-newly-announced-fps-will-let-you-blast-through-the-worlds-of-medieval-europes-weirdest-artist-and-i-really-hope-it-includes-the-500-year-old-butt-song-from-hell/
One of video gaming's great strengths is letting players step into worlds that previously only existed in words or on canvas or celluloid. Lush fantasy kingdoms, sprawling sci-fi universes, and of course surrealist dreamscapes where people have music printed on their butts.
Admittedly, that last one is a relatively recent addition to gaming's ever-expanding map of the human imagination. It comes courtesy of Hieronymus, an in-development FPS based on the works of late-medieval Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch.

'Sidequests are almost my reason for doing videogames in the first place:' The dev behind one of the coolest upcoming RPGs says its word count is ballooning because they just love side stories so much
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/sidequests-are-almost-my-reason-for-doing-videogames-in-the-first-place-the-dev-behind-one-of-the-coolest-upcoming-rpgs-says-its-word-count-is-ballooning-because-they-just-love-side-stories-so-much/
The early access RPG Entropy would be cool enough in a vacuum: Experimental, JRPG-style combat in a bizarre, fallen world. But it's also a second outing from the devs of one of my favorite RPGs in recent memory, Dread Delusion.
Dread Delusion was a first-person homage to the Elder Scrolls that, true to its inspirations, had some absolutely killer sidequests, like an ethical dilemma surrounding vegetarian zombies or a seemingly Blade Runner 2049-inspired investigation into a person erased from history (and their loved ones' memories). With Entropy's subgenre shift, I wondered if developer Lovely Hellplace would keep up this side stuff streak.

1666: Amsterdam's developer says it 'won't be using AI anymore', and the tech was only used 'in conception and pre-production'—arguably the most creative phase of the entire process
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/1666-amsterdams-developer-says-it-wont-be-using-ai-anymore-and-the-tech-was-only-used-in-conception-and-pre-production-arguably-the-most-creative-phase-of-the-entire-process/
There was surprise and delight when Summer Game Fest brought the reveal of 1666: Amsterdam, the long awaited dream project from Assassin's Creed co-creator Patrice Désilets. But the mood quickly changed when eager players began exploring a playable prologue for the witchy action-adventure that was released alongside the announcement and began spotting in-game assets that had the distinct whiff of generative AI.
Désilets' studio Panache Digital Games copped to using AI in the production of certain assets, then apologised and promised to remove those elements in time for the early access launch. With that launch happening last week, Désilets now says that Panache has decoupled AI from its pipeline entirely and it won't be using AI in future.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Désilets stressed that Panache was done with generative AI, and claimed that most of the AI used occurred in the early stages of the project. "Yes, we use some AI in the process, mostly at the beginning," Désilets explained. "In conception and pre-production. It's been totally removed and we won't be using it anymore."

A 38-year-old NES platformer is getting a Steam remake by its original husband-and-wife team, as the pair's 'final major game product'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/a-38-year-old-nes-platformer-is-getting-a-steam-remake-by-its-original-husband-and-wife-team-as-the-pairs-final-major-game-product/
Games get remade for all sorts of reasons, but I think you'd struggle to find one with as heartwarming a basis as this. The Battle of Olympus—a side-scrolling platformer originally released on the NES in 1988, is getting a remake early next year created by its original husband-and-wife team.
(...)
As for the remake, the Steam page describes it as a "handcrafted Steam remake", with Yukio and Reiko Horimoto's reformed Infinity Co "personally recreated in the code, redrawing the pixel art, and refining the game for modern PC players while preserving the spirit, atmosphere and challenge of the original."