The Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Sludge Life is free on Steam because Sludge Life 2 is coming later this year
https://www.pcgamer.com/sludge-life-is-free-on-steam-because-sludge-life-2-is-coming-later-this-year/
Sludge Life is a "vandalism and photography sim" that launched on the Epic Games Store in 2020 and then came to Steam a year later. It's a weird but oddly compelling first-person open world game about the drudgeries of existence, filled with lowbrow humor (a cat with two buttholes, "press F to fart," that sort of thing) and also a surprising amount to see and do given the relatively small size of its setting.
Developers Terri Vellman and Doseone, whose past collaborations include the also-weird-but-good shooters Heavy Bullets and High Hell, recently announced that a sequel is on the way, and while there's no obvious direct connection to that bit of news, it's probably not a coincidence that the first game is now free, for a limited time, on Steam.
>> It will be free until March 30.

CS:GO smashes player records as Counter-Strike 2 hype mounts
https://www.pcgamer.com/csgo-smashes-player-records-as-counter-strike-2-hype-mounts/
The prospect of Counter-Strike 2 has a lot of people playing CS:GO, with a new all-time peak player record of 1,519,457 being set today. That's a number reported by both SteamDB and Steamcharts, and it's wildly higher than CS:GO's prior high water marks. CS:GO's previous high point was in April 2020, when pandemic lockdowns across the world saw many games—and Steam itself—report record player numbers.

GOG's Spring Sale is still going on, and today brings 9 new Deals of the Day, that will end in 46 hours:

• A Space for the Unbound is 20% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/a_space_for_the_unbound
• The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos - Ultimate Edition gets a 41% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_dungeon_of_naheulbeuk_the_amulet_of_chaos_ultimate_edition
• Alaloth: Champions of The Four Kingdoms, still in development, is 50% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/alaloth_champions_of_the_four_kingdoms
• Duskers will also be half its price: https://www.gog.com/en/game/duskers
• Cloudpunk gets a 65% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/cloudpunk
• The GOG-Opera GX Platformer Bundle bundle (learn more here), is 69% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/gogopera_gx_platformer_bundle
• King's Bounty: Crossworlds GOTY features a 75% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/kings_bounty_crossworlds_goty
• Luftrausers is also 75% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/luftrausers
• And Children of the Nile Complete gets a 77% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/children_of_the_nile_complete

Steam has two new deals:

• Digimon Survive will be 30% off until April 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/871980/Digimon_Survive/
• And INDUSTRIA gets a 50% discount until the same April 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172650/INDUSTRIA/

There are a few new deals at Humble:

• At Humble Bundle we find the Scary Games to Play in the Dark Bundle, with up to 7 games to get during the next 18 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/scary-games-to-play-in-dark
• At the Humble Store we find the following:
  • The Rockstar Publisher Sale features up to 70% discounts during 4 more days. There are keys for Steam, EGS and Rockstar's thing: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/rockstar-publisher-sale/
  • Private Division puts its games up to 75% off during 4 days. There are keys for Steam and EGS: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/private-division-publisher-sale/
  • The Best of Bandai Namco Sale comes with up to 90% discounts during 4 days. All the keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/best-of-bandai-sale/
  • The Multiplayer Madness Sale brings up to 90% discounts during 4 days. There are keys for Steam and GOG (3): https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/multiplayer-madness-sale/
  • And lastly, there's 2K, that puts its games up to 95% off during another 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/2k-publisher-sale/

And now comes Fanatical has three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, 44% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/marvel-s-spider-man-miles-morales
• Devolver Digital puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts during 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/devolver-digital
• And the Diamond Collection BYOB - Spring 2023 comes with 14 titles to choose for your 3, 4 or 5 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/diamond-collection-build-your-own-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Gomps is a free tool that adds “multiplayer” features to any single-player Unity game
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/gomps-is-a-free-tool-that-adds-multiplayer-features-to-any-single-player-unity-game/
Our reader ‘elliotttate’ has informed us about a cool free tool, called Gomps, that adds basic “multiplayer” features to any single-player Unity game.
By using Gomps, you get to see other players’ ghosts around you in real-time, and leave notes throughout the game worlds for other players to read. However, other players can’t see or affect what happens in your game. So yeah, don’t expect proper multiplayer functionalities.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

You can now play Dark Souls 3 in first-person mode
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/you-can-now-play-dark-souls-3-in-first-person-mode/
Dark Souls 3 fans, here is something special for you today. Modder ‘Dasaav’ has released a mod that allows you to play the third part in the Dark Souls series, Dark Souls 3, in first-person mode.
As its description reads, “First Person Souls for Dark Souls 3” offers a unique opportunity to replay the game from a new perspective.
One of the key features of this first-person mod is its Haid Tracking support. In Dark Souls 3, select animations have full head tracking. As such, the camera moves and rotates together with the head. The mod fully supports Head Tracking and greatly enhances overall immersion. Additionally, Head Tracking for rolls and heavy hits is optional, and you can turn it off.
Furthermore, in first-person, it is now possible to smoothly zoom in with aimed weapons. Not only that, but the mod includes custom configuration options in Dark Souls 3’s own settings menu.
>> There's an over 3 minutes trailer of the mod.

Cyberpunk 2077 gets a new Deus Ex/Dishonored-inspired Stealth Mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/cyberpunk-2077-gets-a-new-deus-ex-dishonored-inspired-stealth-mod/
Modder ‘RMK’ has released a pretty cool new mod for Cyberpunk 2077 that most Deus Ex and Dishonored fans will appreciate, called Stealthrunner.
As the modder noted, the core of this mod is a system that adds stealth-related objectives to every applicable main quest, side/minor quest, gig, and NCPD scanner hustle. The aim is to motivate and reward stealthy gameplay, enhancing the vanilla experience by tracking these objectives as rewarding challenges to complete.
By completing those objectives you get XP, Street Cred, Ninjutsu XP, money, and recipes (depending on the objective). Completing enough of each type also unlocks rewards including perk points. Yes, this mod adds a new all-new stealth-focused perk tree with new abilities.
>> There's a less than 2 minutes long video of the mod.

18 minutes of gameplay from Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s fan remake in Unreal Engine 5.2
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/18-minutes-of-gameplay-from-zelda-ocarina-of-times-fan-remake-in-unreal-engine-5-2/
CryZENx has shared a new video, showcasing 18 minutes of gameplay footage from his Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake in Unreal Engine 5.2.
Going into more details, CryZENx has recreated Bottom Of The Well. Additionally, the modder has showcased a reworked model for the sub-boss Dead Hand.

GAMING NEWS

Battlefield 2042 Update 4.1.0 releases next week and here are all its changes, tweaks & fixes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/battlefield-2042-update-4-1-0-releases-next-week-and-here-are-all-its-changes-tweaks-fixes/
DICE announced that Update 4.1.0 for Battlefield 2042 will release next week, and revealed its complete changelog. This new update will bring three new vault weapons (AEK 971, RPK-74M and MP443), IBA Armor Plate Overhaul, and a number of improvements.

Satisfactory will be now using Unreal Engine 5.1, key features detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/satisfactory-will-be-now-using-unreal-engine-5-1-key-features-detailed/
Coffee Stain Studios has just announced that it will upgrade Satisfactory to Unreal Engine 5 coming in Update 8. Satisfactory is a first-person factory building sim that came out in Early Access in 2020.

Here is another short PC trailer for The Last of Us Part I Remake
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-is-another-short-pc-trailer-for-the-last-of-us-part-i-remake/
Sony and Naughty Dog have released yet another short PC gameplay trailer for The Last of Us Part I Remake. This trailer lasts 22 whole seconds, and highlights some of the features that will be present in the PC version.

Counter-Strike – Source vs Source 2 vs Unreal Engine 5 Graphics Comparison
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/counter-strike-source-vs-source-2-vs-unreal-engine-5-graphics-comparison/
YouTube’s ‘CS:GO MEMES’ shared a new comparison video between the Source, Source 2 and Unreal Engine 5 versions of Counter-Strike. This video will give you an idea of what you can expect from the recently announced Counter-Strike 2.

Here are all the changes of Sons Of The Forest’s Second Major Update
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/here-are-all-the-changes-for-sons-of-the-forests-second-major-update/
A few days ago, Endnight Games released the second major update for Sons Of The Forest. Patch 02 comes with a lot of improvements, tweaks, fixes and new features, so time to take a look at them.

New Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora screenshots have been leaked online
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-screenshots-have-been-leaked-online/
It’s been a while since we last heard of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. However, that’s about to change as two new screenshots from it have been leaked online. Furthermore, it appears that a gameplay video may soon surface online.

WILD HEARTS runs 30-40% faster on AMD’s CPUs, still stutters like crazy
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/wild-hearts-runs-30-40-faster-on-amds-cpus-still-stutters-like-crazy/
Omega Force has released a new patch for the PC version of WILD HEARTS that, among other things, improved CPU performance, particularly for AMD processors. As such, we’ve decided to re-benchmark the game on our AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D.

Monday news, part two:

We haven't heard the last of Lance Reddick in Destiny 2: Bungie says there are 'performances yet to come in the game'
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-havent-heard-the-last-of-lance-reddick-in-destiny-2-bungie-says-there-are-performances-yet-to-come-in-the-game/
It seems that we haven't heard the last of Commander Zavala in Destiny 2: In a tribute to voice actor Lance Reddick, who died unexpectedly last week at age 60, Bungie confirmed there are still "performances yet to come in the game."

Gamers once again repressed by the state as judge throws out lawsuit against Activision acquisition
https://www.pcgamer.com/gamers-once-again-repressed-by-the-state-as-judge-throws-out-lawsuit-against-activision-acquisition/
It's not been a bad week for Microsoft. Not only has the UK Competition and Markets Authority decided that, actually, it doesn't have a problem with the Xbox-maker taking ownership of Call of Duty at all, but now GamesRadar reports that the dread hand of a California judge has thrown out a so-called "Gamers' Lawsuit" against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Last long enough in this sci-fi survival colony builder, and you can buy the whole planet
https://www.pcgamer.com/last-long-enough-in-this-sci-fi-survival-colony-builder-and-you-can-buy-the-whole-planet/
One of the most interesting systems in early access colony survival sim Stranded: Alien Dawn is that you can eventually rescue all of your survivors, who begin the game after crashing their spaceship on a hostile alien planet. Once you unlock the technology to contact passing starships, escape pods come down from orbit and you can start sending your colonists to safety, one by one, which makes for an incredible, tension-filled endgame.

It looks like Counter-Strike 2 will cancel matches immediately if Valve detects a cheater
https://www.pcgamer.com/it-looks-like-counter-strike-2-will-cancel-matches-immediately-if-valve-detects-a-cheater/
If you haven't been playing CS:GO for 11 years, you might've struggled to see what all the fuss was about when Valve announced Counter-Strike 2 this week. Yes, the maps are prettier on Source 2 and apparently the smoke grenades are a lot smokier, but it is essentially the same game with a bunch of nice upgrades. Based on info datamined from the Counter-Strike 2 closed test happening now, one of those upgrades might be a new way to stop cheaters before they can ruin a whole match.

Genshin Impact developer's turn-based RPG will launch next month
https://www.pcgamer.com/genshin-impact-developers-turn-based-rpg-will-launch-next-month/
In Honkai: Star Rail, you explore the galaxy on a flying train blessed by a (possibly) dead god. You collect anime friends and fight anime enemies. It's basically Genshin Impact in space, and you'll be able to play it for free next month.

Dark and Darker delisted on Steam following legal action from Nexon
https://www.pcgamer.com/dark-and-darker-delisted-on-steam-following-legal-action-from-nexon/
Up and coming fantasy extraction game Dark and Darker has been taken down from Steam following a cease and desist as well as DMCA claim by publisher Nexon. It's an apparent escalation of Nexon's existing dispute with Dark and Darker developer Ironmace around the game's development assets. Overnight, from March 24th into the 25th, assets and material from Dark and Darker's Steam page were removed, followed by its co-op and PvP servers going dark, and culminating with the removal of the game from steam's Store.

Tractor makers are scrambling to get their gear into Farming Simulator
https://www.pcgamer.com/tractor-makers-are-scrambling-to-get-their-gear-into-farming-simulator/
Where once it had to ask politely to put high-profile farming machine brands in Farming Simulator, Giants Software now has too many requests to be in the wildly popular simulator series, a new profile of the game in The Guardian says.

Here's a game about being the spirit of nature after we've killed all the animals
https://www.pcgamer.com/heres-a-game-about-being-the-spirit-of-nature-after-weve-killed-all-the-animals/
One might conclude that a view of the future where Humanity has taken not just itself down, but every other form of life on earth with it, as "pessimistic" and "depressing," and it probably is. No worries, though, as the artful developers over at Piccolo Studio are making After Us about a surreal post-human world where Gaia, the mother of all life herself, explores to salvage the souls of all animals and return life to Earth.

Fight rat hordes with steam guns in this tactical, squad-based survival RPG
https://www.pcgamer.com/fight-rat-hordes-with-steam-guns-in-this-tactical-squad-based-survival-game/
An upcoming turn-based tactical RPG will put players' choice of survivors against a horde of giant, mutated rats in the struggle to cross the ruins of a fallen city and survive another day. Shardpunk: Verminfall will release on April 13, 2023, and sounds like an interesting blend of the turn-based tactics, RPG, resource management, and survival genres.

Be a swamp devil, cause chaos, steal stuff, in this lo-fi immersive sim
https://www.pcgamer.com/be-a-swamp-devil-cause-chaos-steal-stuff-in-this-lo-fi-immersive-sim/
What has eight eyes, a tail, and stabs people in the dark so it can steal their stuff? You, probably, once you download the demo for Brush Burial, a retro-inspired Thief-ish immersive sim about being a horrible little swamp devil named Fennel with eight eyes and a tail that stabs people in the dark so it can steal their stuff.

Chris Avellone accepts 'seven-figure payment' to settle libel suit with those who accused him of sexual misconduct
https://www.pcgamer.com/chris-avellone-accepts-seven-figure-payment-to-settle-libel-suit-with-those-who-accused-him-of-sexual-misconduct/
In June 2020 games writer Chris Avellone, best known for his work on Planescape Torment and the Fallout series, was accused of sexual misconduct on Twitter by two women. At the time Avellone was silent beyond a few brief replies on Twitter (now deleted), but the accusations led to several studios publicly cutting ties with the writer. Around a year after the claims were first made, Avellone publicly denied them and launched a libel suit in California (later re-filed in Illinois), seeking damages for lost work, emotional distress, punitive damages, the costs of the suit, and an injunction against the accusers.
This suit has now been settled, and in a manner favourable to Avellone. His accusers, Karissa Barrows and Kelly Rae Bristol, have signed a joint statement retracting their claims. Ms. Barrows has requested her previous comments to the media be retracted. "Claims were dismissed with prejudice pursuant to a confidential settlement that provides for a seven-figure payment that includes the return of the attorney fee award entered against Mr. Avellone in California."

Makers of one of Slay The Spire's most beloved mods announce full game
https://www.pcgamer.com/makers-of-one-of-slay-the-spires-most-beloved-mods-announce-full-game/
The creators of the fan-made (and very popular) Downfall expansion for Slay The Spire, which flips the script so you're defending the spire from those pesky heroes, are making a full-fledged game. Table 9 Studio has announced Tales & Tactics, a blend of "the roguelike strategy genre with the squad-based autobattler genre" that's due out later this year, and it looks like the devs are putting the lessons they learned from Downfall to good use.

Diablo 4 rogue almost solos world boss designed for 12 players, and would have if a necromancer didn't nick in and steal the kill at 1% HP
https://www.pcgamer.com/diablo-4-rogue-almost-solos-world-boss-designed-for-12-players-and-would-have-if-a-necromancer-didnt-nick-in-and-steal-the-kill-at-1-hp/
Diablo 4's beta came with a taste of one of the game's new challenges: Ashava the Pestilent, a world boss that can only be defeated once per week and spawns at limited times. It cropped up four times during the open beta, which was of course more than enough for the more dedicated min-maxers out there to have a crack at beating it in the most ludicrous manner possible.

Managed to get a Fractal Node 202 with included SFX PSU for £80. So that's my next builds case sorted. Now it will sit around until either I find an ITX AM4 board at a cheap enough price to use my current components in it or I also upgrade CPU/RAM and get a Zen 4 or 12th gen Intel build. Either way waiting till I can get a good deal, not in much of a rush.

Thats a pretty insane deal. Always wanted to try a SFF, and didn't know Fractal did mini-ITX cases.

With a new build, you may as well look into getting Zen 4 and AM5. You can get a 7600 for under £189 with code on Ebay. Which is pretty crazy as it mostly has the same performance as a 5800X3D at 65W, and you have the option to slot in a Zen 5 CPU down the line.

That's a good mini ITX case, congrats. And the PSU is rated for 450W, right? It will be more enough to power your system.

As for motherboards, I wouldn't go with AM5. As far as I know, there are only 3 mini ITX boards right now and they go from expensive to very expensive. AM4 and s1700 have far more options with a wider range of prices.

I'm 99% sure I'll go with a 7600X because it's almost 100€ less than a 13600K and, while the later is very good, it's not good enough to justify the extra cost.

My only problem is the motherboard. I have decided almost everything else, but I'm stuck in that stage of the planning because I always end eyeing a X670E part, and paying more for the motherboard than for the CPU feels wrong.

Well, I haven't seen many interesting news these past days, but here's a few:

Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, author of 'Moore's Law,' dies at 94
https://www.pcgamer.com/intel-co-founder-gordon-moore-author-of-moores-law-dies-at-94/

First entry-level AMD A620 motherboard has been pictured
https://videocardz.com/newz/first-entry-level-amd-a620-motherboard-has-been-pictured

MSI & Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 graphics cards confirmed to feature 12GB memory
https://videocardz.com/newz/msi-gigabyte-geforce-rtx-4070-graphics-cards-confirmed-to-feature-12gb-memory
>> Well, now it's all but confirmed.

Intel Arc "Battlemage" to Double Shader Count, Pack Larger Caches, Use TSMC 4 nm
https://www.techpowerup.com/306474/intel-arc-battlemage-to-double-shader-count-pack-larger-caches-use-tsmc-4-nm

Hmm true there isn't a lot in the price between SKU's. Also depends on how long you want to keep your system for. As going LGA 1700 is pretty much EOL and AM5 will be updated for several years.

Just had a look at those prices and yeah those X670e prices are insane. If I was buying for a fresh build probably settle for a B650 lol or wait for the X670 prices to drop. Also their incoming entry level A620M line which are going to start from $120, but doesn't support PCIe Gen 5.

Intel managed to significantly decrease the size of their graphics driver stack.

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-halves-arc-gpu-driver-size-from-1-3gb-to-just-0-6gb

The A620 boards are a no go for me, at least if they're anything like that Asrock board. It barely has SATA or USB ports.

The cheap B650 motherboards are deceiving because despite having the hability to, they don't have any PCIe 5.0 capabilities, not even for the storage.

As for my plan with it, the idea is to get it now and once AMD launches AM6, take advantage of the (hopefully by then) lower prices and upgrade the CPU for a Zen5 model or whatever is available by then, as long as the motherboards get BIOS updates to support them, of course.