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

[JEMC]

It’s Thursday and these are the gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

It gives me great nerdly joy that the Next Fest demo on Steam's 100 most-played games list is a shopkeeping sim
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/it-gives-me-great-nerdly-joy-that-the-next-fest-demo-on-steams-100-most-played-games-list-is-a-shopkeeping-sim/
As the sicko cartoon goes: "YES… HA HA HA… YES!" That's how I feel while peering at Steam's 100 most-played games list and spotting the Next Fest demo for shopkeeping sim Probably Stolen.
A singleplayer game about sitting behind a desk and managing inventory doing that well among the other 8,000+ demos that have arrived for Next Fest? So well it's actually charting with 34,230 concurrent players?

The Epic Store is running its Halloween Sale and gives away two games:

• Home - A Unique Horror Adventure: https://store.epicgames.com/p/home-19212a
• Sker Ritual: https://store.epicgames.com/p/sker-ritual-aac702

Next week, only one hame has been revealed, at least for now: Sorry We’re Closed.

GOG has new Weekly Deals, with up to 90% discounts during 6 days: https://www.gog.com/es/promo/20261020_weekly_deals_3_october

Steam shows me two new deals and several sales/events:

• The Chef's Shift, that has a demo, features a 40% discount until October 26: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2390230/The_Chefs_Shift/
• Automobilista 2 also has a demo, and will be 70% off until the 28th of October: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1066890/Automobilista_2/
• And these are the sales/events:
  • IGDX 2026 features Indonesian games, both upcoming and already available, with some featuring up to 40% discounts. Each deal has its own duration: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1238990/Fractured_Core/
  • ZNT Horixon 2026 has games from South America and South Asia. You’ll finc upcoming releases, demos and games up to 50% off. The length of the deals varies: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/46147175/sale/ZNTHorizon2026
  • LATAM Games Festival has upcoming games, demos and up to 60% discounts. Again, the length of the deals varies greatly: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/LatamGamesFestival2026
  • Publisher 101XP puts its games up to 75% off until the 1st of November: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/37268497/sale/2026
  • Game France Pavilion has upcoming titles, demos and two games on sale, 20 and 30% off respectively. The deals will end on November 4th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/46203750/sale/GameFrance_PGW2026
  • And Publisher/Develope Nugem Studio puts its games on sale with up to 40% discounts until the 4th of November: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45816853/sale/NugemPublisherSale2026

Humble Bundle has the new Sci-Fi Exposure Bundle, featuring up to 8 games to get during the next 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/15th-anniversary-scifi-exposure

And Fanatical has the BYO Legendary Bundle (Fall 2026), with 13 titles to choose from for your 2+, 3+ or 4+ game bundles. It will last 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-legendary-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

GOG taken offline for maintenance in wake of PHP security emergency
https://www.pcgamer.com/software/security/gog-taken-offline-for-maintenance-in-wake-of-php-security-emergency/
The reveal of critical vulnerabilities affecting the PHP scripting language used in web development have led a number of major websites and services to go offline today as a precaution while they apply security fixes.
DRM-free game store GOG announced at 8 am Pacific that its site and launcher, GOG Galaxy, would be offline for "a couple of hours" for maintenance. The company did not say the cause, but it is not hard to speculate.
Recent updates
Roughly four hours after it was taken offline, GOG is back. In fine GOG fashion, it used the PHP emergency to promote its no-DRM ways, telling users, "Your DRM-free library is right where you left it."

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Bayonetta 2 Unofficial PC Port Available for Download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/bayonetta-2-unofficial-pc-port-available-for-download/
Here comes another unofficial PC port of another Nintendo Switch game. This time, we’ve gotten an unofficial PC port of the second Bayonetta game, Bayonetta 2.
This unofficial PC port of Bayonetta 2 adds many features that make the Nintendo Switch game feel at home on PC. It offers native performance, modern graphics options, flexible controls, and support for many community mods.
The game runs as a native Windows app instead of using a Switch emulator. It rebuilds the game from your own legally dumped copy and uses Vulkan for graphics. This helps it avoid the extra overhead of CPU emulation while keeping the game close to its original design.
     ***Five more paragraphs***
You can go ahead and download this PC port from here (Github). As always, it does not contain any in-game assets. To run it, you’ll have to provide your own legally dumped copy of the game.
>> The article has a 10 minutes video.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Unofficial PC Port Released
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-unofficial-pc-port-released/
And the time has come. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom are the two Zelda games that most PC fans want to play. This was already possible thanks to the Nintendo Switch emulators. But now, PC gamers can play and enjoy Breath of the Wild natively on PC, without the need to use an emulator.
This fan project brings new PC features, better frame rates, and more ways to change how the game looks and feels. It is still in early testing, though. According to its creator, you can now play through the Great Plateau.
     ***Six more paragraphs***
You can download the PC port from this link (Github). As always, it does not contain any in-game assets. To play it, you’ll need your own copy of the Switch game, updated to version 1.8.2.
>> The article has a seven minutes video.

Super Mario Kart Is Getting a PC Remaster With Ray Tracing, Parallax Maps, and True Scaling Sprites
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/super-mario-kart-is-getting-a-pc-remaster-with-ray-tracing-parallax-maps-and-true-scaling-sprites/
YouTube’s ‘Ahmed Hakeem’ is working on a PC remaster of the SNES classic Super Mario Kart. This PC fan remaster will add parallax maps, sprites that scale in size, and lava effects. It will even feature ray-traced lighting. And now, you can get your first look at this fan project in all its retro glory.
Super Mario Kart never looked this good. And, in a way, I prefer it over the Nintendo 64 Mario Kart game. This is my nostalgia speaking. But there is something really cool about watching this 2D sprite game with modern lighting effects. Perhaps this is the reason I enjoyed the Path Tracing Mods for Doom 1, Doom 2, Duke Nukem 3D, and Doom 64.
***filler***
But anyway, there is currently no ETA for when the PC remaster of Super Mario Kart will come out. Naturally, though, I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
>> There’s a 30 seconds video.

GAMING NEWS

Croteam Has Announced Serious Sam: The Third Encounter
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/croteam-has-announced-serious-sam-the-third-encounter/
Croteam has just announced the next part in the Serious Sam series, Serious Sam: The Third Encounter. Alongside the first details, the team has shared its first screenshots and a teaser trailer. So, let’s dive in.

BioWare Shuts Down After 30 Years, and Mass Effect 4 Canceled
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/bioware-shuts-down-after-30-years-and-mass-effect-4-canceled/
EA has just announced its plans to close BioWare. Yup, you read that right. BioWare is no more. Not only that, but the next Mass Effect game, Mass Effect 4, has been canceled. Instead of letting another studio develop it, EA has decided to pull the plug and cancel it.
>> shikamaru317 has made a thread about it, and this is the PCGamer article, in case you also want to read it (link).

Cyberpunk 2077 Patch 2.5 Release Notes Revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/cyberpunk-2077-patch-2-5-release-notes-revealed/
CD Projekt RED has announced that Title Update 2.5 for Cyberpunk 2077 will be released tomorrow and has shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this new update brings to the table.

The Blood of Dawnwalker Update 1.1 Released – Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-blood-of-dawnwalker-update-1-1-released-full-patch-notes/
Rebel Wolves has just released Title Update 1.1 for The Blood of Dawnwalker and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this new update brings to the table.