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

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Thursday gaming news, part two:

Award-winning presenter Frankie Ward is hosting the PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct, showing off over 35 games and a bunch of world premieres
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/events-conferences/award-winning-presenter-frankie-ward-is-hosting-the-pc-gaming-show-tokyo-direct-showing-off-over-35-games-and-a-bunch-of-world-premieres/
The PC Gaming Show Tokyo Direct is back September 20, and PC Gamer is happy to announce the fantastic Frankie Ward will be hosting, making it her second PC Gaming Show of the year.

Total War: Warhammer 40,000's Space Marines will have to keep the Imperium happy and avoid looking too heretical
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/total-war-warhammer-40-000s-space-marines-will-have-to-keep-the-imperium-happy-and-avoid-looking-too-heretical/
One of the significant differences between most historical Total Wars and the Warhammer games is that the factions aren't comparable with nations. In Total War: Warhammer 40,000, the Space Marines and Astra Militarum, for instance, are effectively two branches of the same military.
So when I was playing Total War 40k at Gamescom as the Ultramarines, I noticed that my settlement garrison was full of just ordinary soldiers—members of the Planetary Defense Force. These units only served to defend the settlement, like a normal Total War garrison, but they weren't the same units that I could recruit as a Space Marine faction.
"The way that the Imperium works together is going to be very important," Dave Petry, battle product owner, told me. "And working as a Space Marine with local planetary forces and governors to be able to get the support that you need in order to be able to be that tip of the spear, we want that to be the case."

Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance's new combat gimmick is putting some Devil May Cry stink on hitting dinosaurs with hammers
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/monster-hunter-wilds-ascendances-new-combat-gimmick-is-putting-some-devil-may-cry-stink-on-hitting-dinosaurs-with-hammers/
Back in June, Capcom revealed Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, a "massive," Iceborne-style expansion promising new and returning monsters, new regions to hunt in, and—of course—new combat options. In the announcement trailer, Capcom offered a brief glimpse at the Boost Bracer, an enigmatic new mechanic that seemed to augment hunter fighting styles with additional jolts of combustion-fueled power.
Three months later, we're now getting our first real insight into how the Boost Bracer works and how we can expect it to alter the flow of hunting in Wilds. Earlier today, Capcom uploaded both a video overview of Boost Bracer mechanics and a great sword-focused boost action breakdown, with similar videos expected for each other weapon type.

Double Fine's famous game jam returns with 26 new ideas and a promise to make Brutal Legend 2, if its Kickstarter stretch goal is met
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/double-fines-famous-game-jam-returns-with-26-new-ideas-and-a-promise-to-make-brutal-legend-2-if-its-kickstarter-stretch-goal-is-met/
One happy upside to Double Fine's newly-regained independence is the return of Amnesia Fortnight, the semi-regular in-house game jam in which everyone stops what they're doing and spends two weeks pitching and developing prototypes for new games. The 2026 edition of the event—seemingly the first since Microsoft acquired Double Fine in 2019—launched a Kickstarter campaign on August 31, and its $400,000 goal has already been surpassed.
The Amnesia Fortnight crowdfunding campaign serves two purposes. It raises money for Double Fine, which is good, but it also grants power: Just like in a real democracy, people who are willing to spend money will get to sway the process in voting for which of the 26 game pitches actually get made, and the more you spend the more influence you have. At the $15 tier, for instance, your vote only counts for half, but at $30 you get a full vote—and if you go up to $60, your vote is doubled—a single vote cast counts for two! What a great system.

30,000 people line up 24 hours early to play the final Wardogs closed beta, developer responds: 'YOU PEOPLE ARE CRAZY'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/30-000-people-line-up-24-hours-early-to-play-the-final-wardogs-closed-beta-developer-responds-you-people-are-crazy/
The hottest FPS in town, Wardogs, is holding one last beta before it hits early access from September 3 to 6. Buzz for the 100-player milsim has far eclipsed the expectations of developer Bulkhead, who says Wardogs has surpassed a million wishlists on Steam.

'Can I cry?': Stalker 2 devs say its 2.0 update's engine overhaul was a nightmare—but worth the effort
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/can-i-cry-stalker-2-devs-say-its-2-0-updates-engine-overhaul-was-a-nightmare-but-worth-the-effort/
Earlier this month, Stalker 2 received a massive version 2.0 update to accompany the launch of its Cost of Hope expansion. Our Joshua Wolens says that—for those of us who've been patiently holding off while Stalker 2 finds a steady footing—it's the update that we've been waiting for, thanks in large part to developer GSC Game World's Herculean undertaking of updating its engine from Unreal 5.1 to Unreal 5.5.4.
That effort, it seems, was well spent. But while they're proud of the results, GSC told PC Gamer in an interview at this year's Gamescom that the process of overhauling the game's engine after launch was a bit of a nightmare.

CD Projekt says it never considered charging Witcher 3 owners for the remastered edition: 'It was never a question we asked ourselves'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-witcher/cd-projekt-says-it-never-considered-charging-witcher-3-owners-for-the-remastered-edition-it-was-never-a-question-we-asked-ourselves/
These are big days for The Witcher 3: It's not only getting a full-on story expansion in 2027, a remaster of the base game is also coming later this month. Even better, anyone who owns the original Witcher 3 will get the remaster for free. That's pretty generous as these things go, but in an interview with The Game Business, CD Projekt co-CEO Michał Nowakowski said there was never any thought of doing it differently.
>> There are other news from CD Projekt from its investor’s call: the mystery games they’re working on are still happening (link) and they don’t’ plan to rely on AI to make complete games (link)

New Final Fantasy 14 site update stabs the final pin into my conspiracy board, leaving me 99.9% sure I know what the new physical ranged job is
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/mmo/new-final-fantasy-14-site-update-stabs-the-final-pin-into-my-conspiracy-board-leaving-me-99-9-percent-sure-i-know-what-the-new-physical-ranged-job-is/
Picture this: I am emerging from a pile of paper, red string, and thumbtacks, hair (I have hair in this scenario) dishevelled, breathless, yelling like I've well and truly lost it: I knew it! I knew we were getting a crossbow in Final Fantasy 14! I am then carted away by people in white coats and dispensed in an abandoned warehouse, where Naoki Yoshida emerges with a loaded pistol. I know too much.
Alright, I'm probably not that conspiratorially out of lockstep with the FF14 community about the new job, especially given this latest piece of evidence, but I do feel vindicated. Back during the latest fanfest, some more details emerged about the as-yet-unannounced physical ranged job. Namely, a couple of soundbytes and some trailer snippets.
You can read my full conspiracy board I just linked, which also includes trying to analyse the shape of a catgirl's wand to prove that it was, in fact, a crossbow bolt. And here I am, completely vindicated, because the patch 7.5 site's just been updated with a new image.

Onimusha: Way of the Sword has a hard mode, but it isn't unlocked from the start
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/onimusha-hard-mode-new-game-plus-unlock/
Some players came away from Onimusha's demo worried that the game would be too easy, a concern I've addressed in-depth based on my own time with the game. The good news is that I think the challenge level is well-judged for most people, and Onimusha does have a hard mode.
For those who hoped to jump right into the hardest possible difficulty from the main menu, though, I've got some bad news: you're going to have to beat the game first.