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

[JEMC]

Part two of the Tuesday gaming news:

Fable's story will be '15-20 hours' long, according to its game director, although the game's life systems are 'limitless'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fables-story-will-be-15-20-hours-long-according-to-its-game-director-although-the-games-life-systems-are-limitless/
Throughout all of Fable's showcases and demonstrations this year, one aspect of it has proved difficult to figure out—how big it's going to be. The original Fable games were decently-sized, but not massive, and monster roleplaying games like Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 have dramatically shifted expectations on what an RPG's scope should be.
But it turns out that Fable will stick closely to tradition when it comes to its size, with the caveat that players could potentially hang around in Playground's RPG forever depending on how invested they become in the world they help to forge.
Speaking to Polygon in a Q&A session, associate game director Will Kennedy explained that Fable will have a total of around 40 hours of things to do in the world. "We have around 15-20 hours of mainline quest gameplay, we have around 15-20 of side and open-world exploration content gameplay," Kennedy said.

Haunted Chocolatier's development has been 'very productive' in recent months, Eric Barone says: 'Working on Haunted Chocolatier is what I’m most eager and driven to do'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/haunted-chocolatiers-development-has-been-very-productive-in-recent-months-eric-barone-says-working-on-haunted-chocolatier-is-what-im-most-eager-and-driven-to-do/
We find ourselves at the end of another month, and as ever, the passing phases of the moon leave us asking the same question: What's going on with Haunted Chocolatier?
Knowing all too well how the hungry masses clamor for details about his next game, Stardew Valley developer Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone has posted another of his intermittent check-in blogs to confirm that, yes, he's still hard at work on Haunted Chocolatier. And while he's still not sharing many specifics, Barone sounds like he's satisfied with his recent progress.

Some of WoW's hardest dungeons and raids have gotten just a bit easier—that's on purpose, developers say
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/some-of-wows-hardest-dungeons-and-raids-have-gotten-just-a-bit-easier-thats-on-purpose-developers-say/
World of Warcraft's developers are making some subtle shifts in dungeons and raids to help players with its more-difficult content, in the hopes that a variety of knock-on effects result, including increased participation in the game overall and a better balance of tanks, healers and damage dealers.
>> They’re also doing a “thorough scrub” of illegitimate World of Warcraft Mythic-Plus dungeon rankings (link).

Empulse and Splitgate: Arena Reloaded are officially over as 1047 Games says it's probably done making arena shooters
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/empulse-and-splitgate-arena-reloaded-are-officially-over-as-1047-games-says-its-probably-done-making-arena-shooters/
Just two months after the release of the PvP arena shooter Empulse, 1047 Games is halting work on the game and its predecessor, Splitgate: Arena Reloaded, saying that neither is making enough money to support their operating costs. The studio itself will remain but its "focus is changing," and its next game "may look very different from what people expect."

After the debacle of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt says The Witcher 4 is already running on PC and consoles, promises 'it's going to run' on all target platforms
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/after-the-debacle-of-cyberpunk-2077-cd-projekt-says-the-witcher-4-is-already-running-on-pc-and-consoles-promises-its-going-to-run-on-all-target-platforms/
Cyberpunk 2077 now is one of the best RPGs money can buy. But Cyberpunk 2077 then, which is to say when it was new, was not. It was pretty okay on PC, aside from a horde of bugs, but it was such a performance catastrophe on the PlayStation 4 that Sony literally booted it off the PlayStation Store. Even when it was allowed back in the building six months later, Sony slapped a notice on it warning people that it was still potentially dodgy.
Speaking to Game Developer, CD Projekt Red co-CEO Michał Nowakowski said that failure arose from the studio's ambitions for the game, which led it to develop on PC first. (...)
Of course, Cyberpunk 2077 was most definitely not fine, and with that humiliation firmly burned into its collective consciousness, CD Projekt Red is approaching The Witcher 4 with a little more care and consideration to ensure the new game runs properly on all platforms it's coming to. If development hits a snag on any single platform, for instance, the studio stops to fix it rather than simply pressing ahead and coming back to clean it up later.

One of Elden Ring's top sleuths has already unmasked its new DLC characters
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/one-of-elden-rings-top-sleuths-has-already-unmasked-its-new-dlc-characters/
Longtime FromSoftware dataminer Zullie the Witch has come out with a new video showing off the close-up details of Elden Ring's two new NPC invaders. Knight Leontiel and Noble Broken Mask were both added to the game as part of Elden Ring's Tarnished Edition DLC.

The studio behind Star Wars Zero Company, which is currently a Steam bestseller, has reportedly furloughed the majority of its staff
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/the-studio-behind-star-wars-zero-company-which-is-currently-a-steam-bestseller-has-reportedly-furloughed-the-majority-of-its-staff/
The studio behind Star Wars Zero Company furloughed up to 80 percent of its staff in the lead up to the RPG's launch, a Game File report reveals. That means affected staff are technically still employed by the company, but will receive no wage during the furlough period.
A representative from Bit Reactor confirmed the furloughs to Game File, though didn't indicate how many employees are affected. The rep said uncertainty around the game's launch performance was to blame for the furloughs, and that they were Bit Reactor's decision and not EA or Disney's.

Persona 4 Revival won't finally realize Yosuke's gay romance because Atlus thinks it'd have to let you kiss every other guy, too
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/persona-4-revival-wont-finally-realize-yosukes-gay-romance-because-atlus-thinks-itd-have-to-let-you-kiss-every-other-guy-too/
With Persona 4 Revival giving my favourite game a modern-day makeover, I was hoping Atlus would use it as an opportunity to reintroduce features that didn't make the cut the first time around. You know, like a certain romance between protagonist Yu Narukami and his bestie Yosuke Hanamura.
Both English and Japanese voiced dialogue was found in the original game which heavily implied a planned romance between the two, though it never made an appearance in either Persona 4 or Persona 4 Golden. Revival's announcement had fans buzzing in anticipation of its addition, but unfortunately that isn't happening.