We’ve made it to the Friday gaming news:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Despite 'mixed' user reviews, Elden Ring Nightreign explodes onto Steam, with 300,000-150,000 players presumably getting wrecked by a big dog
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/despite-mixed-user-reviews-elden-ring-nightreign-explodes-onto-steam-with-300-000-150-000-players-presumably-getting-wrecked-by-a-big-dog/
Elden Ring Nightreign's not debuting to the best of review scores from users—which is hardly surprising. I'm really starting to rather enjoy myself after 19 hours, but it took a minute to get adjusted to the sheer, unrestrained chaos of FromSoftware's most experimental game to date.
That hasn't stopped it from hitting the Steam concurrent charts like Radahn doing his terrifying meteor move, though. Per SteamDB, Elden Ring Nightreign debuted to a massive 300,000 players. It's since dwindled to 150,000, though some fluctuation is to be expected.
>> Here’s an article about the mixed reviews (only 66% are positive).

Fanatical has three new 24h Flash Deals:

• Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is 35% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/dead-rising-deluxe-remaster
• SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS has a 39% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/sonic-x-shadow-generations
• And Persona 3 Reload will be 57% off: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/persona-3-reload

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 25.5.2 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/amd-radeon-software-adrenalin-25-5-2

HIGHLIGHTS
New Game Support

• F1 25

FIXED ISSUES

• Intermittent application crash may be observed while playing F1 25 with path tracing enabled on AMD Radeon™ RX 9000 series graphics products

INTEL Arc Graphics 32.0.101.6854 Preview driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-graphics-32-0-101-6854-preview

FIXED ISSUES
Intel Arc B-Series Graphics Products:

• Farming Simulator 25 (DX12) may exhibit flickering textures during gameplay.
• Google Earth may experience an application crash.

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

• Autodesk Motion Builder may exhibit intermittent flickering on certain materials.

Intel Core Ultra Series 2 with built-in Intel Arc GPUs:

• Farming Simulator 25 (DX12) may exhibit flickering textures during gameplay.
• The Last of Us Part II (DX12) may exhibit black pixel corruptions.
• MechWarrior 5: Clans (DX12) may experience an application crash with certain XeSS presets enabled.
• Blender 4.4 may fail to complete rendering while using Cycles render engine.

>> Be warned that this is release has a note saying: ”This driver is intended for developers and early access usage”. Install it at your own risk.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Red Dead Redemption Got a Multiplayer Mod, Alpha Version Out
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/red-dead-redemption-got-a-multiplayer-mod-alpha-version-out/
Red Dead Redemption fans, here is something cool for you today. Modder ‘K3rhos’ has released an alpha version of his multiplayer mod for the PC version of Red Dead Redemption.
RDRMP is inspired by popular multiplayer mods like FiveM for GTA V or MTA for GTA: San Andreas. Just like those, this mod uses a special custom scripting system, written in LUA, to make online multiplayer possible. This means that people can create custom servers with their own rules, game types, and even new gameplay features.
However, keep in mind that the mod is still in its Alpha stage. That means it’s very early in development and still needs a lot of work. Right now, it’s very basic and doesn’t have many features. It’s also a bit buggy and unpolished. So, if you’re hoping to jump into a full multiplayer adventure right away, you might be disappointed.
At this point, RDRMP is mostly for server developers. These devs can start experimenting with the scripting system and help shape what the future of this mod will look like.
So, what does this mean for regular players? Honestly, not much yet. Most people might not find anything exciting to do with the mod right now. But don’t worry! This is just the beginning. As more developers work on it and as updates come out, the mod could grow into something amazing, just like FiveM did for GTA V.
>> The article has a shorter than 1 minute video.

Hot off making the biggest city in any Elder Scrolls game, Tamriel Rebuilt is already eyeing one 'Twice the size'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/hot-off-making-the-biggest-city-in-any-elder-scrolls-game-tamriel-rebuilt-is-already-eyeing-one-twice-the-size/
Modding project Tamriel Rebuilt's quest to make the rest of Morrowind continues apace, even over two decades after it began. The team has just released Grasping Fortune, its biggest expansion yet, bringing with it the sprawling city of Narsis. As House Hlaalu capital, Narsis took years to put together and features over 600 interiors, which means it dwarfs every other playable city in every Elder Scrolls game.
So, obviously, it's nearly time to make an even bigger city.
TR's next expansion will "start introducing parts of the Indoril heartland right outside of [Morrowind's capital] Almalexia," says TR senior dev Cicero in a chat with PCG, "And I think Almalexia might be on the cards of opening up development really soon as well… I think we might be doing it in the next few years."
As Morrowind's capital and home to the mortal-turned-goddess who shares its name, Almalexia makes even Narsis look like some podunk hamlet. "Almalexia is kind of like two cities," says Cicero, "and just looking at our math, it's about twice the size of Narsis. It might not be quite as dense as Narsis, just for our sanity and also for performance, but it's gonna be twice as widespread, and it will have more buildings, for sure."
Of course, an interesting wrinkle is that Almalexia—part of Almalexia—is already in the base game. Morrowind's Tribunal expansion takes place in Mournhold, located in Almalexia, which means the TR team will have to do a touch of light surgery to integrate that official content into its eventual expanded version of Almalexia as a whole, raising questions about preserving Bethesda's work and intent.
"The idea is we wouldn't delete anything," says Cicero, but Mournhold as it stands is built in a finicky way: "Mournhold itself is in what's called a fake exterior… it's just meshes in an interior cell with a skybox." In other words, it's an inside pretending to be an outside.
"You can't really have that if you want to incorporate it into the actual mainland… it has to be implanted into Almalexia within the same worldspace, and things would have to be spread around." So a bit of Bethesda's work might end up shuffled—King Helseth's castle might have to take a jaunt to a new bit of the province, some NPCs would have to be scattered around, farther apart.

GAMING NEWS

Stellar Blade PC demo to be released on May 31st
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/stellar-blade-pc-demo-to-be-released-on-may-31st/
Shift Up’s community manager has confirmed on the game’s Discord server that a PC demo for Stellar Blade will be released on May 31st. This demo will let you try the game before purchasing it.

STALKER 2 Title Update 1.4.2 Released, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/stalker-2-title-update-1-4-2-released-full-patch-notes/
GSC GameWorld has released Title Update 1.4.2 for STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl and shared its full patch notes. So, let’s see what this new update brings to the table.

Friday gaming news, part two:

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord's big naval expansion is delayed: 'After taking a hard look at where things stand, it became clear we won’t be ready'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/mount-and-blade-2-bannerlords-big-naval-expansion-is-delayed-after-taking-a-hard-look-at-where-things-stand-it-became-clear-we-wont-be-ready/
War Sails, the Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord expansion announced in March, has been delayed. Instead of launching on June 17 as planned, developer TaleWorlds Entertainment says it's now on track for release in early fall.

After a year and a half of updates, WoW Classic's Season of Discovery is finally winding down in favor of something new: 'We need to get in the proverbial kitchen and cook'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/world-of-warcraft/after-a-year-and-a-half-of-updates-wow-classics-season-of-discovery-is-finally-winding-down-in-favor-of-something-new-we-need-to-get-in-the-proverbial-kitchen-and-cook/
Season of Discovery is an odd one. It's an offshoot of WoW Classic—a recreation of World of Warcraft circa 2006—which soups it up with all sorts of new build options, raids, legendary weapons, and wild PvP events. For fans, it's been like peering into an alternate reality where WoW stuck to its guns and never reinvented itself with the times.
Well, show's over, buddy: Blizzard announced this week in a blog post that there's no more big seasonal updates on the way. While the SoD servers aren't closing down for the time being, there's a more substantial project in the works that needs the team's attention. The blog post from Aggrend reads: "We need to make sure we’re spending our time where it will make the most impact on the long-term future of WoW Classic … we hope to see the game mode continue to operate similar to WoW Classic Era for many months (if not years) to come."

4 years after being delisted, Lost Planet 2 finally got a Steam update to remove Games for Windows Live—but it also removed online multiplayer and blew up everyone's saves
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/4-years-after-being-delisted-lost-planet-2-finally-got-a-steam-update-to-remove-games-for-windows-live-but-it-also-removed-online-multiplayer-and-blew-up-everyones-saves/
Lost Planet 2, Capcom's sci-fi third-person shooter that's a little like space Monster Hunter with mechs, massive aliens, and sweet, sweet T-ENG, has spent years in a purgatory of neglect. As one of the countless games left in a state of disrepair after Microsoft discontinued support for its universally despised Games for Windows Live, Lost Planet 2 was made unavailable for purchase on Steam in 2021 so that Capcom could "investigate the matter."
Yesterday, almost four years later, Lost Planet 2 received an update on Steam that finally exorcised the lingering curse of Games for Windows Live. Unfortunately, the update also broke online multiplayer and wiped out local save files for anyone who still had it installed.

This Brazilian roguelike is a 'brutal test against history's oppressors' where you can battle the perpetrators of a 19th century atrocity with AoE knife magic
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/roguelike/this-brazilian-roguelike-is-a-brutal-test-against-historys-oppressors-where-you-can-battle-the-perpetrators-of-a-19th-century-atrocity-with-aoe-knife-magic/
Hell Clock is a roguelike that's aiming to pack a Path of Exile league's worth of build progression into a minutes-long run. It's a compelling pitch, and based on the sheer density of unlockable, upgradeable mechanics and systems for carving through undead hordes I found in my time with a preview build, it's making an admirable effort. But when I looked at the game's Steam page, it was the premise that grabbed me.

Helldivers 2 Chinese community valiantly holds the line to save 'Super China,' then flogs Arrowhead with negative Steam reviews for capping liberty at 99.9783%
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/helldivers-2-chinese-community-valiantly-holds-the-line-to-save-super-china-then-flogs-arrowhead-with-negative-steam-reviews-for-capping-liberty-at-99-9783-percent/
The Helldivers 2 community proves once again that the sun never sets on Super Earth. In the wake of the Illuminate's ghastly invasion of our home planet, divers have spent a week trying and failing to save its megacities from annihilation. All except one.
>> It’s a long article that can’t be cut short so, read the rest of the article to know what’s going on.

Dune: Awakening's player guilds will be able to pass some pretty OP server-wide laws—including one that means you'll lose everything when defeated in deep desert PvP
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/survival-crafting/dune-awakenings-player-guilds-will-be-able-to-pass-some-pretty-op-server-wide-laws-including-one-that-means-youll-lose-everything-when-defeated-in-deep-desert-pvp/
With survival MMO Dune: Awakening on the brink of release, Funcom has detailed one of the central features of the endgame: the Landsraad. In Dune's fiction, the Landsraad is a council made up of the heads of the Great Houses: most notably House Atreides and House Harkonnen. In a new video you can see below, Funcom explains how the Landsraad's political system has been adapted for the game.

The Drifter is a grimy point 'n' click adventure mixing bleak sci-fi with low-budget Aussie schlock, and there's a demo out now
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/the-drifter-is-a-grimy-point-n-click-adventure-mixing-bleak-sci-fi-with-low-budget-aussie-schlock-and-theres-a-demo-out-now/
Point 'n' click adventurers eat well in 2025: every week there's at least a couple of interesting ones released on Steam, like last week's Kathy Rain 2, or the week before that, Neon Hearts City. Despite my wishlist bulging with these things, I'm especially excited about The Drifter.
Developed by Powerhoof, the studio responsible for Crawl and Peridium, The Drifter is a gritty, seedy take on the works of "King, Crichton and Carpenter", leavened with the ocker ruthlessness of Ozploitation cinema (don't know what that is? Start here).

A game claiming the backing of Russia's military just popped up on Steam: 'I understand Ukrainian players don't like us'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/strategy/a-game-claiming-the-backing-of-russias-military-just-popped-up-on-steam-i-understand-ukrainian-players-dont-like-us/
A new game hit Steam yesterday—Squad 22: ZOV. Claiming to be "officially recommended by the Russian Military for use as a basic infantry tactic manual for cadet and Yunarmy [Russia's state organisation for young army cadets] training" and set in the ongoing war in Ukraine, Squad 22 puts you in command of teams of Russian troops as they fight the Ukrainian Armed Forces, take prisoners, and rescue hostages.

After 11 gruelling days and the death of Super Earth's president, Helldivers 2 players have succeeded in turning the Illuminate to calamari and protecting democracy
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/after-11-gruelling-days-and-the-death-of-super-earths-president-helldivers-2-players-have-succeeded-in-turning-the-illuminate-to-calamari-and-protecting-democracy/
It's official—grab your special someone and fill out your C-01 permit—Super Earth is saved. After a gruelling 11-day campaign, the players of Helldivers 2 have finally emerged victorious in a pitched battle against the Illuminate.

REPO has published yet another video promising more content in its long-awaited first update: 'We are in the homestretch now'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/horror/repo-has-published-yet-another-video-promising-more-content-in-its-long-awaited-first-update-we-are-in-the-homestretch-now/
In a completely unsurprising turn of events, Semiwork has published another video about REPO's first update. With that said, it looks like these video diaries are coming to an end, since this week's episode began with an apology directed toward players voicing their desperation for any sort of release date, and the caption "we are in the home stretch now" on Steam.

And these are the weekend deals at GOG and Steam

+GOG

• The KEMCO Publisher Sale launches with up to 50% discounts during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250530_kemco_publisher_sale
• The Revolution Software Publisher Sale has games up to 90% off during 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250530_revolution_software_publisher_sale
• And the Atari Publisher Sale features up to 85% discounts during 9 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250529_atari_publisher_sale

+Steam

• The only deal not related to a sale/event is Boxes: Lost Fragments, 30% off until the 12th of June: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2019810/Boxes_Lost_Fragments/
• And now, the Sales/Events:
  • Sadly, today I’m a bit short on time and they are too many (14), so please, check them out here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/collection/sales/

Nothing else to say. Until the next time, I wish you a happy and gaming weekend.

Sealed ZOTAC RTX 5090 box contained backpacks, not GPU — MicroCenter reportedly finds 31 more cases

https://videocardz.com/newz/sealed-zotac-rtx-5090-box-contained-backpacks-not-gpu-microcenter-reportedly-finds-31-more-cases

Intel “Arrow Lake-S Refresh” leak appears in W880 motherboard manual

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-arrow-lake-s-refresh-leak-appears-in-w880-motherboard-manual

Not just the memory: YESTON’s RX 9060 XT GAEA 8GB and 16GB variants to feature different GPU clocks

https://videocardz.com/newz/not-just-the-memory-yestons-rx-9060-xt-gaea-8gb-and-16gb-variants-to-feature-different-gpu-clocks

POWERCOLOR to launch Radeon AI PRO R9700 with AMD reference design

https://videocardz.com/newz/powercolor-to-launch-radeon-ai-pro-r9700-with-amd-reference-design

NVIDIA’s GeForce Now Native App For Steam Deck Drastically Upgrades Visual Quality Of Games While Lasting Much Longer

https://wccftech.com/nvidias-geforce-now-native-app-for-steam-deck-drastically-upgrades-visual-quality/

MSI Announces Compensation For Damaged PC Hardware Under Its New PSU Warranty Program

https://wccftech.com/msi-announces-compensation-for-damaged-pc-hardware-under-its-new-psu-warranty-program/

NVIDIA Rumored To Cut GeForce RTX 50 Series Production In Order To Increase Production Of AI GPUs Such As GB300

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-rumored-to-reduce-rtx-50-gpus-production-in-china-in-favor-of-ai-gpus/

That's messed up. Those cards should come from Zotac own factories, which means at least one employe (but likely more) are stealing the cards. And that will affect not only Microcenter, but any store in the world.

Zotac has a lot of work to do.

That's just dumb. I mean, why? There's no need for that.

Oh, boy. I hope it's just a false rumor. Otherwise Nvidia will have a tough time ahead in the gaming market, because AMD will take advantage of that to win a lot of marketshare (the two Steves talked about AMD ramping production taking effect in the second part of the year),

Also, if true, well, it will be hard for Nvidia to deny the claims that they've abandoned gaming.

Th eBravely games look "normal", but the Octopath games certainly have a very personal look:

Mind you, having an art style that makes it stand from the rest isn't a bad thing, and sometimes it can help, but it's a double edged sword that may limit your audience.

And I don't know how are the Japanese labor laws, but I dount the French ones from the studio that has made the Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 game that started this conversation can be seen as "lax".

By the way, this may interest some of you how read it:

The Game Informer archive just got upgraded with its entire backlog, so go experience the eye-melting world of '90s game advertising
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-game-informer-archive-just-got-upgraded-with-its-entire-backlog-so-go-experience-the-eye-melting-world-of-90s-game-advertising/
It was a heavy loss in games journalism when Game Informer got kicked to the curb last fall, but it got over its own death pretty quickly when game dev and blockchain company Gunzilla financed its resurrection in March. A few projects were announced back then, including a return to print—but if you want to reminisce about the days when Game Informer was hot off the presses, its archive just got updated with its entire backlog of physical issues.

It's free to view if you sign up for an account on the site, and goes all the way back to 1991. A blog post announcing the additions from editor-in-chief Matt Miller said: "In the coming months, we plan to surface specific legacy articles we believe are worth exploring. In the meantime, enjoy this new level of free access to the rich history of gaming we’ve covered over the last 34 years."

June has come and, as with every new month, it brings a new competition:

*** NEW COMPETITION ***

Win a modular be quiet! Dark Mount gaming keyboard
https://www.club386.com/win-a-modular-be-quiet-dark-mount-gaming-keyboard/
or https://gleam.io/aSjLO/win-1-of-3-incredible-be-quiet-gaming-keyboards

This competition is GLOBAL.

Good luck!

OK, that's actually a pretty cool keyboard. I'm not sure who the modularity caters to, but it sure is cool.

I can see how people might want to move the media keys from one side to the other, but I'm not sure about the num-pad. Maybe it's to give people the option to have those macro-keys closer to the left hand for the programs (or games) that can use them.

Seems more like a gimmick to me.

Microsoft Agility SDK DirectX Now Adds Shader Execution Reordering & Opacity Micromaps Support, Huge Ray Tracing Improvements On NVIDIA Hardware

https://wccftech.com/microsoft-agility-sdk-directx-shader-execution-reordering-opacity-micromaps-support-huge-ray-tracing-improvements-on-nvidia/

Least initially until Radeon and Intel implements the features of the full SDK instead of only Tier 4

NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Unlocks GB202’s Full Performance In Gaming: Beats GeForce RTX 5090 Convincingly

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-rtx-pro-6000-beats-geforce-rtx-5090/

For $10,000 that is

Radeon RX 9060 XT Time Spy Score Leaked Ahead Of Retail Launch: Slightly Slower Than RX 7700 XT

https://wccftech.com/radeon-rx-9060-xt-time-spy-score-leaked-ahead-of-retail-launch/

NVIDIA & MediaTek Are Reportedly Working on an APU For Gaming Laptops; Rivaling Against Intel/AMD In a Competitive Segment

https://wccftech.com/nvidia-mediatek-working-on-apu-for-gaming-laptops/

US Retailer Lists Several Radeon RX 9060 XT GPUs, Starting At $319 For 8 GB And $369 For The 16 GB Model

https://wccftech.com/us-retailer-lists-several-radeon-rx-9060-xt-gpus/

Microsoft-Backed, $1.5 Billion AI Startup “Builder.ai” Collapses After It Was Revealed That Indian Engineers Were Behind AI Responses

https://wccftech.com/builder-ai-collapses-after-it-was-revealed-that-indian-engineers-were-behind-ai-responses/

MS loves that snake oil

AXGAMING intros GeForce RTX 50 X3W MAX series with hidden power connector and custom L-shaped cable

https://videocardz.com/newz/axgaming-intros-geforce-rtx-50-x3w-max-series-with-hidden-power-connector-and-custom-l-shaped-cable

PowerColor confirms Reaper RX 9060 XT 8GB and 16GB models with different clocks

https://videocardz.com/newz/powercolor-confirms-reaper-rx-9060-xt-8gb-and-16gb-models-with-different-clocks