And yeah, here the third part of the news:

Inzoi characters will stop abandoning their hot meals and sleeping for hours on end thanks to the latest patch
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/inzoi-characters-will-stop-abandoning-their-hot-meals-and-sleeping-for-hours-on-end-thanks-to-the-latest-patch/
For how 'meh' I've been on Inzoi, I have to hand it to Krafton for firing on all cylinders during the game's launch week, pumping out some desperately-needed quality-of-life tweaks. Earlier this week saw a hotfix to lengthen a Zoi's lifespan, and now another patch is here, dealing with some of the more glaring hiccups right now.
>> One thing it doesn’t is stopping players from stealing babies.

Capcom warned Monster Hunter Wilds players not to cheat on its ranked leaderboards, so of course people are immediately and flagrantly doing just that
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/capcom-warned-monster-hunter-wilds-players-not-to-cheat-on-its-ranked-leaderboards-so-of-course-people-are-immediately-and-flagrantly-doing-just-that/
Capcom had a stern finger to wag at prospective Monster Hunter Wilds players in preparation for its first title update—posting to X, a lengthy warning read: "Hunters, TU1 brings with it quest types where you can compete for the fastest time for both leaderboard position[s] and cosmetic pendant rewards.
(...)
So, obviously, people are immediately cheating.
>> I wonder what will Capcom do and how many of those cheaters will complain.

Metaphor: ReFantazio tried to make you love turn-based combat again, but it almost broke the game during development
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/metaphor-refantazio-tried-to-make-you-love-turn-based-combat-again-but-it-almost-broke-the-game-during-development/
(… an unnecessarily long intro...)
But not everyone has my dedication to martial asceticism. Some people just want to get on with things, and that's why Atlus—the guys who make Persona and Metaphor: ReFantazio—has been finding new ways to make its combat a little less of a chore in its recent games. In Metaphor, that experimentation took the form of a combat system that alternated between real-time and turn-based—letting you easily clear out low-level mooks but dropping you into a more traditional, RPG-esque squad combat mode for tougher enemies (Persona 5 had a similar system, mind).
It's one of the best things about the game, but apparently it took Atlus some risky experimentation to get there. In a talk at GDC (via GamesRadar), lead battle planner Kenichi Goto said the devs almost broke the entire Atlus formula in their quest to create a combat system that didn't bog players down in trash fights.

In a world of bizarre fighting game crossovers, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has taken it up a notch with a niche Swedish DJ
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fighting/in-a-world-of-bizarre-fighting-game-crossovers-fatal-fury-city-of-the-wolves-has-taken-it-up-a-notch-with-a-niche-swedish-dj/
Fighting games are no stranger to an odd crossover: Bandai Namco put Final Fantasy 15's Noctis in Tekken 7, Mortal Kombat 11 had the Terminator, and Dead or Alive 4 even made an entire new Halo character called SPARTAN-458, someone who is canon in neither game's universe.
But hey, what about a semi-niche Bosnian-Swedish DJ? Well, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves developer SNK is doing just that after it announced that Salvatore Ganacci was coming to the game as a playable character. Alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, lest we forget.
>> Dear SNK: What the F are you doing?!

Sure seems like Ubisoft just frantically patched boobs back into Far Cry 4 after accidentally patching them out
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/sure-seems-like-ubisoft-just-frantically-patched-boobs-back-into-far-cry-4-after-accidentally-patching-them-out/
Maintaining games, especially old games, is a real minefield. Even the oldest, most beloved classics have some issues in them, but what should devs do about that? If you go in and fix them, you might cause some new, bigger issue, setting off a maintenance spiral that just produces headache after headache, and all for a game that—let's be honest—not many people are even playing anymore.
This is what Far Cry 4's got me thinking about, anyway, in the wake of a minor controversy surrounding censorship of a topless lady (and bottomless gentleman) in an unexpected patch the game received yesterday, a decade after it first released.

Uh oh, Monster Hunter Wilds isn't messing around anymore—its new high-rank monsters hit hard and often, hopefully putting the difficulty discourse to bed
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/uh-oh-monster-hunter-wilds-isnt-messing-around-anymore-its-new-high-rank-monsters-hit-hard-and-often-hopefully-putting-the-difficulty-discourse-to-bed/
If you've been listening to the seasoned, grizzled veteran monster hunters gathered around the campfires of social media, they'll tell you that Monster Hunter Wilds is easy. Back in their day, they had to climb up a hill both ways just to have a shot at killing a monster—series newcomers like me have it easy, rabble rabble.
(...)
Well, those hardcore gamers are in for a treat with the game's latest title update which, by all accounts, has added a duo of far meatier challenges for high hunter-rank (HR) players to sink their fangs into. Those being Mizutsune (HR 21+) and Zoh Shia (HR 50), with an Arch-tempered Rey Dau soon to follow in a coming patch.

Here are the weekend deals at Steam (GOG posted it all yesterday):

+Steam

• Age of Wonders 4 is going to be 35% off until the 8th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1669000/Age_of_Wonders_4/
• Comedy Night gets a 50% discount until the 10th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/665360/Comedy_Night/
• Cult of the Lamb is going to be 50% off until the same 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1313140/Cult_of_the_Lamb/
• Guns, Gore & Cannoli will have a 60% discount until April 10, same as the sequel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/322210/Guns_Gore__Cannoli/
• Sons Of The Forest will also be 60% off until the same 10th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1326470/Sons_Of_The_Forest/
• BOKURA will have a 70% discount until the 17th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1801110/BOKURA/
• And these are the two new sales:
  • Publisher/developer Skybound Games puts its games up to 80% off. There’s one deal that will end on the 8th, but the others will last until the 15th: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/9036111/sale/skyboundapril25
  • And in order to celebrate its latest DLC, SCS is putting its truck games on sale with up to 75% discounts until the 15th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/4036972/sale/missouri

And that’s it for this week. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

Glad I decided to upgrade during Biden lol

If you're in the US and near a Microcenter, you can get yourself a pretty good PC for a bit less than $1500 (before tax). JayzTwoCents dis a sponsored video yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UreYbJPafhE

I wonder if that price took into account the latest tariffs or if it's going to be even more than that now.

In any case, $499 for the 4060Ti when the 5070 is only $50 more is not a smart move. 

You know what's interesting? Unless I'm wrong, Intel hasn't released a single desktop 8-core CPU in the i5/7/9 classes since Rocket Lake, the 11th gen processors.

I most certainly spend far too much time looking at specs too, you're not alone!

My hardware should be fine. I have a 9800X3D and I've ordered an RTX 5080 today - time to check that it has all the ROPs when it arrives on Sunday

OverclockersUK were selling a few 5080s for £979.99 today, though they were out of stock by the time I got back from work, so I settled for the OC model for £50 more. Upgrading from a 3070.

Nice upgrade! I saw there was a decent drop of Zotac 5080's and 5070Ti both at MSRP again seems the UK is doing very well with MSRP cards these past few weeks but still it's only Zotac and MSI that I ever see offering them at that price I got mine on the Amazon drops just over a week now and all has been good :)

I'll have what Jensen is smoking please.

Seriously though, the 5060Ti 16GB will get smoked by the 9070 AND the 5070 at that price, and the 8GB card has the longevity of a mayfly compared to a 16GB 9060(XT) while probably not being substantially more powerful enough to award it's price to itself.

And if the 5060 non-Ti is still not getting a 16GB version, all it's additional power compared to the 4060 will be for naught, as it's gonna starve on it's 8GB no matter how fast the VRAM itself is.

5060Ti 16GB may actually be able to pull through on games like Indiana Jones where the 5070 falls apart because of VRAM. Still not good overall, but not sure any of these can take the crown from 5070 as most pointless product of the generation just yet.

Any 8GB card that comes out this year still beats the 5070 in pointlessness by virtue of the first games not working at all anymore with just 8GB VRAM.

AMD Radeon RX 9070 can be BIOS modded with XT firmware, surpasses reference RX 9070 XT when overclocked

https://videocardz.com/newz/amd-radeon-rx-9070-can-be-bios-modded-with-xt-firmware-surpasses-reference-rx-9070-xt-when-overclocked

Multiple GeForce GPU driver issues replicated – Gamers Nexus: “this is the worst launch I’ve ever seen for NVIDIA”

https://videocardz.com/newz/multiple-geforce-gpu-driver-issues-replicated-gamers-nexus-this-is-the-worst-launch-ive-ever-seen-for-nvidia

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti spotted in FurMark database

https://videocardz.com/newz/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5060-ti-spotted-in-furmark-database

NVIDIA PhysX and Flow libraries are now fully open source

https://videocardz.com/pixel/nvidia-physx-and-flow-libraries-are-now-fully-open-source

AMD Gained 16.6% CPU Market Share While Intel Lost 10% As Per Early 2025 CPU-Z Statistics

https://wccftech.com/amd-gained-16-6-cpu-market-share-while-intel-lost-10-as-per-early-2025-cpu-z-statistics/

Dell Wants You To Pay $35 To Install a “Third-Party” Motherboard On An Alienware Gaming Pre-Built System

https://wccftech.com/dell-wants-you-to-pay-35-to-install-third-party-motherboard-on-an-alienware-system/

AMD Plans To Release An “AI-Focused” Ryzen Z2 AI Extreme SoC For Gaming Handhelds, Competing With Intel’s Lunar Lake

https://wccftech.com/amd-plans-to-release-ryzen-z2-ai-extreme-soc-for-gaming-handhelds/

A new week, a new round of gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Krafton's first stab at a life sim game is going swimmingly as Inzoi managed to shift over 1 million copies in its first week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/life-sim/kraftons-first-stab-at-a-life-sim-game-is-going-swimmingly-as-inzoi-managed-to-shift-over-1-million-copies-in-its-first-week/
Inzoi may not have captured the critics, but it's certainly managed to capture the life sim community at large, as Krafton has revealed the game's gone and sold over one million copies in its launch week.
That's pretty impressive for any game, but even more so for one that's relatively niche. Life simulation games aren't exactly up there with your Monster Hunters and Marvel Rivals of the world, so it's cool to Inzoi pulling some pretty big numbers even if I don't have super positive thoughts about the game right now.
>> If you’re playing the game, be careful with the river sharks.

Steam has 6 new deals:

• Mechabellum will be free to try during 26 hours and will also be 20% off during that time: https://store.steampowered.com/app/669330/Mechabellum/
• Voxel Tycoon, still in Early Acces, gets a 20% discount until the 13th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/732050/Voxel_Tycoon/
• Furi is going to be 80% off until April 13: https://store.steampowered.com/app/423230/Furi/
• Wedding Witch will have a 33% discount until the 20th of April: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2529820/Wedding_Witch/
• Grocery Store Simulator is going to be 50% off until the 20th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2961880/Grocery_Store_Simulator/
• And Home Sheep Home: Farmageddon Party Edition will have a 60% discount until April 20: https://store.steampowered.com/app/259810/Home_Sheep_Home_Farmageddon_Party_Edition/

Humble Bundle presents the Armor Games Bundle, with up to 10 games to get during 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/armor-games-bundle.

And Fanatical has two new deals:

• While it started yestedray, the Star Deal, Remnant II - Ultimate Edition, will be 58% off during another 24 hours or until it runs out of keys: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/remnant-ii-ultimate-edition
• The BYO Easter Bundle features 16 games to choose from for your 3+, 5+ or 7+ bundles during 34 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-easter-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Cyberpunk/Blade Runner-inspired Unreal Engine 5.5.4 Tech Demo Gets Support for Lumen, Ray Tracing Ambient Occlusion, Ray Tracing Reflections and Ray Tracing Shadows
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/cyberpunk-blade-runner-inspired-unreal-engine-5-5-4-tech-demo-gets-support-for-lumen-ray-tracing-ambient-occlusion-ray-tracing-reflections-and-ray-tracing-shadows/
In March 2025, we informed you about an amazing UE5 Tech Demo that was heavily inspired by Cyberpunk 2077, Blade Runner and the Samaritan UE3 Tech Demo. And today, I’m happy to report that the demo was updated with support for Lumen and Ray Tracing.
Pasquale Sciontiv has used Ray Tracing to enhance the demo’s shadows, reflections and ambient occlusion. As such, this version of the demo is more demanding than its non-RT version.
I’ve tried the tech demo on my main PC gaming system. This system is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 32GB of DDR5 at 6000Mhz, and NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 5090. I also used Windows 10 64-bit and the GeForce 572.83 driver.
At Native 4K on Epic Settings, the demo ran with a minimum of 35FPS. Without Ray Tracing, the tech demo could drop to 70FPS on the very same PC system. So, we’re basically looking at a 50% performance hit due to the new RT effects.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New Starfield Mod adds 300 new repeatable sandbox missions
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-starfield-mod-adds-300-new-repeatable-sandbox-missions/
Starfield fans, here is something for you today. Modder ‘kaosnyrb’ released a new cool mod that adds over 300 new repeatable sandbox missions across over 65 types.
Going into more details, Dark Universe: Overtime adds a lot of new content to Starfield. It brings new mission types and fun activities. The mod improves the mission board system and makes roleplaying more exciting. Players can now take on over 300 new repeatable missions across more than 65 different types.
Missions can take place across caves, colonies, dungeons, infrastructure, science outposts and beyond. Moreover, you can find various Mission Dataslates during the quests. These items will trigger new missions, making each playthrough unique. Not only that, but start remote missions from your ship or local and cargo missions from your outpost.
In short, this is a must-have mod for all Starfield fans. After all, we’re talking about new free content. Plus, it can allow you to play different missions in each of your playthroughs.
What’s also cool here is that Dark Universe: Overtime will work with existing POI mods. It will also support future expansions. As such, it won’t conflict with any of your existing mods. Pretty cool, right?
>> There’s no media about this mod.

New Skyrim DLC-sized Mod offers 10-20 hours of new content
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-skyrim-dlc-sized-mod-offers-10-20-hours-of-new-content/
Modders ‘WinterishClover’ and ‘aysigago’ have released a new DLC-sized fan expansion mod for Skyrim, called Become High King of Skyrim TNG. This mod brings 10-20 hours of new free content to the game. So, let’s take a closer look at it.
Become High King of Skyrim TNG introduces a dynamic path to rulership, requiring wealth, alliances, and decisive action to unite the land. Players will be able to recruit trusted advisors, rebuild the Rangers, and defend Skyrim from the looming Thalmor threat. They will rule from Highreach, and keep and shape the future of the North.
The mod adds a vast castle with barracks, forges, marketplaces, a throne room, an arena, a prison, a treasury, and even a captured dragon. As High King, you will order arrests, execute criminals, imprison enemies, seize possessions, and even force loyalty through the Thu’um.
Players will join a royal outcast in a fully voiced personal quest for justice. In this quest, they will uncover secret lineages, betrayal, and hidden documents that tie back to the Empire itself. Plus, a new post-quest storyline will send you to the Sea of Ghosts to find a lost artifact tied to the fate of Skyrim’s past rulers.
>> There’s a less than 4 minutes video in the article.

New GTA 5 Definitive Edition Mod will improve the Ray Tracing Reflections
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-gta-5-definitive-edition-mod-will-improve-ray-tracing-reflections/
Modder ‘BadassBaboon’, creator of the RealityV Mod for GTA 5, is working on a new mod for it. This mod aims to significantly improve the game’s Ray Tracing reflections, and below you can find some screenshots from it.
As the modder noted, the game’s assets were not updated to take full advantage of the brand-new ray tracing. As such, the ray-traced reflections are not looking that impressive in the vanilla version. With this V:DE add-on, though, puddles, reflective surfaces, glasses and windows will look better. BadassBaboon claims that with his mod, the game will take full advantage of RT. At least for its reflections.
There is currently no ETA for when this mod will come out. However, you can find below some screenshots from it. These screenshots will give you an idea of what you can expect from it. Keep in mind, though, that the mod is still in WIP. So, these shots do not reflect the quality of the final version.

After a whopping 13 years in development, the Battle for Middle-earth's Extended Edition mod finally gives the beloved RTS the full Peter Jackson treatment
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/after-a-whopping-13-years-in-development-the-battle-for-middle-earths-extended-edition-mod-finally-gives-the-beloved-rts-the-full-peter-jackson-treatment/
Ambitious modding projects are a bit like baby fish, in that millions of them spawn, but relatively few survive to adulthood. Hence, it's always worth celebrating when one makes it through to full release. Such is the case with the Middle-earth Extended Edition, which launches into 1.0 today after 13 years of development.
Middle-earth: Extended Edition first arose in the east way back in 2012, aiming to give Danger Close's beloved RTS The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth the same embiggening treatment Peter Jackson applied to his film trilogy. Over the course of the last decade plus change, it has added new maps to the game like Moria and Lothlorien, added new playable factions such as the Elves and the Haradrim, expanded existing factions like Rohan and Isengard with new units, and much more.
This most recent update, the first in four years, is somewhat less dramatic, with no major new additions to the game. But it is nonetheless extensive, tweaking and adjusting game parameters for just about every facet of the RTS so it better reflects the source material. Numerous maps have been adjusted so they have enemy lairs more authentic to their locations. AI has been tweaked to construct buildings and deploy tactics truer to their factions' nature. Campaign missions have been altered to more accurately reflect blow-by-blow events in the books and films. And just about every faction has been given a statistical once-over too.
Ultimately though, the main event here is that the mod is now, for all intents and purposes, complete. The mod's creator, Rohirim91, has been consistently involved with the project throughout its long gestation. Indeed, it's fascinating to read back through the game's updates. In 2017, for example, Rohirim was working on the mod while studying for university entrance exams. "During the spring of this year I have made a significant progress on the mod and was close to releasing it," he wrote at the time. "However, due to a mistake on my part and the upgrading of the PC I use, the mod files were lost." Haven't we all been there?
>> The article has a slightly over 2 minutes video.

Doom modder puts the Slayer in true hell: A minimum-wage fast food job that's 'psychological warfare only rivalled by the likes of Desert Bus or that one mission from Dying Light 2'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/doom-modder-puts-the-slayer-in-true-hell-a-minimum-wage-fast-food-job-thats-psychological-warfare-only-rivalled-by-the-likes-of-desert-bus-or-that-one-mission-from-dying-light-2/
31 years ago, Edge magazine's review of the original Doom plaintively asked why you couldn't talk to the monsters, in a moment that has become enshrined alongside 'guy is bad at Cuphead' and 'man cheats at Sekiro' in games journalism history. Thing is, though, Edge had a point. Actually, it didn't go far enough. Not only should we be able to talk to the monsters, we should be able to break bread with them, to welcome them into our homes under the sacred law of hospitality.
Well, three decades on, this bold vision is finally reality. Meet Put The Fries In The Bag, a mod for Doom 2 from creator SlendyMawn that turns the Slayer from killer to griller, serving up fast food to imps, pinkies, and cacodemons while potentially violating several tremendously powerful copyrights, but let's not focus on that.
The mod—or WAD, really, but let's stick to language we're all familiar with—sticks you behind the counter at a familiar fast food venue. Your task: to give the customers the precise numbers of fries and "borgor" they ask for. Simple enough, but it all gets exponentially more complicated the longer you go on.
By the time you've fulfilled a few dozen orders, your customers are asking for 300+ fries and 200+ borgor, and you'll have to painstakingly click the correct number of times to keep them happy. Also, some of them just want to use the bathroom. The author calls it "psychological warfare only rivalled by the likes of Desert Bus or that one mission from Dying Light 2."
In the announcement post, SlendyMawn says the project took them "about half a week" to gin up, which I find a bit astounding. Not only does the mod accurately capture the general malaise of working the night shift at a minimum-wage fast-food job, complete with an exhaustively detailed restaurant in which to ply your greasy wares and a "Put The Fries In The Bag remix" of Doom's music, but there are multiple layers to its madness. Successfully serve 100 customers and you'll get promoted to regional manager, ascending to the heady heights of fast-casual aristocracy and never having to do real work again.
Except serving 100 customers would take, per SlendyMawn, "hours," and you have to do it all in one go. Loading a save just gets you incinerated, which I can neither confirm nor deny is a policy in actual fast-food employee contracts.
>> The article has one screenshot and an over 5 minutes video.

GAMING NEWS

Bungie’s Marathon gets first in-engine footage
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/bungies-marathon-gets-first-in-engine-footage/
Bungie has just released the first in-engine teaser trailer for its upcoming game, MARATHON. Moreover, the team revealed that it will share the first gameplay trailer for it on April 12th.

La Quimera, futuristic sci-fi shooter from former Metro: Exodus devs, will release on April 25th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/la-quimera-futuristic-sci-fi-shooter-from-former-metro-exodus-devs-will-release-on-april-25th/
Reburn announced that La Quimera, its narrative-driven first-person-shooter game set in a futuristic Latin American megalopolis, will release on April 25th. To celebrate this announcement, the team has shared a new trailer that you can find below.