PCGamer's news about known/already released games & other stuff:
Activision Blizzard changes course, will recognize and negotiate with Raven QA union
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/activision-blizzard-changes-course-will-recognize-and-negotiate-with-raven-qa-union/
After months of resistance, Activision Blizzard has announced that it will recognize the Game Workers Alliance and begin "good faith negotiations" with its parent union, theCommunications Workers of America, to reach a collective bargaining agreement with the 27 quality assurance workers at Raven Software.The QA employees announced their intent to unionize under the CWA as the Game Workers Alliance in January, following a strike that began in December 2021 to protest planned layoffs.
Homeworld 3 delayed into 2023
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/homeworld-3-delayed-into-2023/
Homeworld 3, which was expected to launch later this year, has been delayed. Blackbird Interactive and Gearbox Publishing announced today that in order to give the developers enough time to make the game without crunch, they have pushed the release into the first half of 2023.
This free browser demo for Resident Evil Village is the perfect use case for game streaming
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-free-browser-demo-for-resident-evil-village-is-the-perfect-use-case-for-game-streaming/
Capcom has released a free, browser-based, streaming demo of its 2021 hit, Resident Evil Village based on licensed Stadia technology from Google. Google has made a big retreat from its game streaming service, rebranding to the more anodyne "Google Immersive Stream" and licensing the technology out to other developers and publishers instead of making big moves in-house.
Build pretend PCs for free in the PC Building Simulator 2 open beta
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/build-pretend-pcs-for-free-in-the-pc-building-simulator-2-open-beta/
PC Building Simulator is a game about building a PC, which, let's be frank, sounds a bit silly. (...)
That sequel isn't out yet, but you can give a pre-release build a spin right now by way of the open beta that's currently underway on the Epic Games Store. The beta includes the first hour of PC Building Simulator 2's career mode, as well as access to the "free build" mode with a limited selection of parts. The full career mode will offer more than 30 hours of gameplay, and access to more than 1,200 individual components, including licensed parts from Nvidia, Intel, AMD, and a number of enthusiast brands.
You can play the Disney combat racing game now in closed beta
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/you-can-play-the-disney-combat-racing-game-now-in-closed-beta/
If Mario Kart with Disney characters sounds like a good time to you, the upcoming free-to-play arcade racer Disney Speedstorm might be just the thing—and you can take a shot at trying it right now in the closed beta on Steam or the Epic Games Store.
To take part, you can go to disneyspeedstorm.com and give them your email address, or just hit the "Request Access" button on the Steam page. That gave us immediate closed beta access when we tried. (It's possible there's a limit to the number of players it'll let in, though.)
'90s crime scene cleanup caper Serial Cleaners is coming in September
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/90s-crime-scene-cleanup-caper-serial-cleaners-is-coming-in-september/
The gritty '90s period piece Serial Cleaners has been on our radar for a while now, but with its new Future Games Show trailer it finally has a release date: September 22.
Boyfriend Dungeon's getting free DLC with three new dateable weapons
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/boyfriend-dungeons-getting-free-dlc-with-three-new-dateable-weapons/
Boyfriend Dungeon, the hybrid action-RPG and dating sim where magical talking weapons transform into cuties you can take on dates around town, is getting a free expansion called Secret Weapons. The DLC will add a new dungeon and three new weapons, one of whom is the boss of said dungeon, as well as adding a few more songs for the soundtrack.
Diablo 4 closed beta pre-registration is now open
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/diablo-4-closed-beta-pre-registration-is-now-open/
Blizzard has quietly opened pre-registrations for a Diablo 4 closed beta, allowing players to opt-in for a shot at the closed beta when testing starts. To do so, all you need to do is head to the Diablo 4 website and click a little "Pre-Register" button, then log in to your battle.net account for a chance to get picked as a tester. As of now, no date has been announced for the closed beta.
Kingdoms Rise developer Flyleap calls it quits, leaving game unfinished
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/kingdoms-rise-developer-flyleap-calls-it-quits-leaving-game-unfinished/
Launching in 2013, Kingdoms Rise was a promising-looking solo project from an indie developer doing business as Flyleap Studios. It was a kind of For Honor before For Honor, a fantasy sword combat game focused on physicality and player skill. Early reviews were quite positive, despite its Early Access status, praising its gameplay and multiplayer.
Development trailed off, however, and the final real update came in 2017. Flyleap did work on another game about quadcopter drone racing in 2016, which was pretty negatively received. Now, five years later, Flyleap has called it quits on Kingdoms Rise—and game development—forever.
Chivalry 2 is finally on Steam, and finally has horses
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/chivalry-2-is-finally-on-steam-and-finally-has-horses/
Chivalry 2's Epic Game Store exclusivity period has ended: The multiplayer medieval combat game released on Steam today. The free Tenosian Invasion update has rolled out for all platforms, too.
Yep, Forza Horizon 5's first expansion is a Hot Wheels collaboration
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/oops-forza-horizon-5s-first-expansion-has-accidentally-leaked/
Oh dear, it looks like someone may have pushed a button a bit too early on the first expansion for Forza Horizon 5. A Steam listing was live mere hours ago, revealing that the first expansion is yet another collaboration with Hot Wheels.
Update: As expected, the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase unveiled the first Forza Horizon 5 expansion. It looks pretty good, too! Somehow a bunch of blindingly orange tracks have shown up all over the place, along with a squad of new Hot Wheels cars to parade around. The Hot Wheels expansion launches on July 19. You can check out the trailer above.
Potion Craft is leaving early access soon, with new quests, ingredients and potions
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/potion-craft-is-leaving-early-access-soon-with-new-quests-ingredients-and-potions/
Potion Craft: Alchemist Simulator just made an appearance on the PC Gaming Show. Players have been brewing potions since early access kicked off last year, and now it's nearly done, with developer niceplay and publisher tinyBuild planning to nudge it out the door in the third quarter of 2022. In the meantime, watch the trailer above to get an idea of what the move to 1.0 means.
Killing Floor 2 shows off new shrink ray and nautical map in Tidal Terror trailer
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/killing-floor-2-tidal-terror/
If you have a hankering to hunt zeds in a nautical location, we have an announcement for you: in today's PC Gaming Show (opens in new tab), developer Tripwire Interactive showed off the latest update headed to Killing Floor 2 this summer, Tidal Terror.
Holy Moley, season 4 of Super Animal Royale has you battling some big moles
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/holy-moley-season-4-of-super-animal-royale-has-you-battling-some-big-moles/
Super Animal Royale does not contain the sort of woodland creatures you find in children's movies, fluttering around a princess as she warbles about her evil family or a handsome man she met five minutes ago. These critters may still be every bit as adorable, but they're packing serious heat and are ready for the cutest fight to the death.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 is getting Dominion DLC this month
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/jurassic-world-evolution-2-is-getting-dominion-dlc-this-month/
Jurassic World Evolution 2, a game about raising dinosaurs and making complicated habitats for them, is getting a fancy new expansion to coincide with the next Jurassic World movie, as seen in a trailer shown during the PC Gaming Show 2022. Called the Dominion Biosyn expansion, the DLC is packing new dinosaur species from the movie, a new location to build your park in, and heaps of quality of life improvements.
Fantasy survival sandbox Frozen Flame launches this fall
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/fantasy-survival-sandbox-frozen-flame-launches-this-fall/
After years of going in and out of alpha and beta both on and off Steam, MMO-ish survival RPG Frozen Flame is finally launching this fall—and it's shown off a brand new trailer at today's PC Gaming Show to celebrate.
Them's Fightin' Herds is a My Little Pony-like brawler and it's getting a big update
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/thems-fightin-herds-is-a-my-little-pony-like-brawler-and-its-getting-a-big-update/
Today's PC Gaming Show has been chock-full of trailers and announcements for games across the platform, but I'm reasonably confident this is the only one that involves a half-horse, half-dragon flame-kicking a cow in the face. This is the 3.0 update for Them's Fightin' Herds, which really puts the hoof to the metal for the 2D animal fighting game.
Core Keeper's titanic Sunken Sea update gets a June release date
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/core-keepers-titanic-sunken-sea-update-gets-a-june-release-date/
If you've got a preference for building stuff with friends while running from hungry and horrifying cave creatures, you may have spied Core Keeper when it launched in early access back in March. The crafty co-op game for 8 players blew past half a million downloads on Steam in just a couple of weeks, its combo of Stardew Valley-esque homesteading and cavern-survival creating a surprisingly effective balance between cosy and creepy. Now, developer Pugstorm is working on Core Keeper's first major update.
The free Styx DLC for survival game Icarus doubles the size of the map
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/the-free-styx-dlc-for-survival-game-icarus-doubles-the-size-of-the-map/
Survival game Icarus recently released Styx, a new DLC pack free to players. It contains a hefty new chunk of map measuring 8x8km, effectively doubling the size of the survival game's playable area, and adding new creatures to battle and new missions to complete.
Kojima Productions has to clarify it still likes Sony after fanboy implosion
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/kojima-productions-has-to-clarify-it-still-likes-sony-after-fanboy-implosion/
Yesterday Hideo Kojima made an appearance at the Xbox and Bethesda showcase, announcing a new partnership between Kojima Productions and Xbox Game Studios. Kojima says it's a completely new project, and "I've waited very long for the day when I could finally start to create it."
(...)
Unfortunately the internet is the internet, and the announcement brought down an avalanche of praise and scorn from Xbox and PlayStation fans respectively. It feels weird to have to point out that Kojima Productions is also working on Death Stranding 2, or at least that's what Norman Reedus says, and signing a development contract to fund a new game's production isn't 'picking sides' in an imaginary war. But it's even weirder that, such was the backlash, Kojima Productions has had to issue a clarification about it being an independent studio:
>> This whole situation is pathetic.
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