A couple of days ago, Valve has released the first stable version of Proton 9.0, a compatibility layer for Windows games to run on Linux-based operating systems. The newest stable version is built on Wine 9.0 and brings all the improvements and fixes seen in earlier beta releases.

According to the release notes, the new Proton 9.0-1 enables some games that were previously playable only with Proton Experimental, including Sonic Colors: Ultimate, Command & Conquer games, The Finals, Lord of the Rings: Gollum and others, enables NVIDIA NVAPI by default for most games, adds support for Steamworks SDK 1.59, and fixes a bunch of other issues in a lot of games. The new version also limits the number of cores seen by some games in order to make them actually playable on CPUs with high core count, including Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 4, The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition, a couple of Warhammer 40,000 games and others.

On Friday, Sony announced that Helldivers 2, a 3rd person squad-based shooter from Arrowhead, will require a PlayStation Network (PSN) account for gamers to link, in addition to their Steam accounts. However, that caused quite a stir in the gaming community, especially in the form of negative reviews on Steam. Since the May 2 announcement of mandatory PSN account linking, the game received more than 200,000 negative reviews from gamers. Not only is the PSN account another layer of log-in details, but it also doesn't work in 177 countries, effectively preventing gamers from those 177 countries from purchasing and enjoying the game. Arrowhead Studios CEO and Helldivers 2 Creative Director Johan Pilestedt noted that over the weekend, there were talks with Sony about reversing the decision.

Today, we have the information that Sony has reviewed its course and that the update requiring a PSN account, planned for May 6, will not be moving forward. This means that the game is PSN-free, and gamers are able to enjoy it on their Steam accounts. It has also been reported on Reddit that some users received refunds from Steam, even when their purchase was over two months old, and they had played 120+ hours of the game. As per the GDPR, terms that are changed after the agreement is made require action from the seller. This has resulted in Steam stepping up for gamers and issuing a refund for Helldivers 2, as PSN account linking was optional upon release. Gamers have shown their collective power, and Sony has managed to reverse its decision so that no further harm is done.

Premiered during a showcase on Bilibili streaming platform, this clip contains both cutscenes and location overview, giving a glimpse of in-game story and atmosphere. It's also the first time you can have a taste of the Ukrainian voiceover - the one to be available alongside the English one for everyone to enjoy. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl releases on PC and Xbox Series X/S on September 5, 2024. The game will be available on Game Pass day one, and pre-orders are opened on our website, as well as on Steam and GOG.

"Behold Her! The Zone blossoms, in her own resplendent yet enigmatic and twisted way: luring, gifting, and taking away. Speaking in many voices, both familiar and new. How far to the edge will you go in pursuit of what you seek?"

Hooded Horse and Slavic Magic are delighted to announce that historical city-building and strategy game Manor Lords is available in early access via digital platforms across the world!

With over 3 million wishlists on Steam alone, this highly anticipated game presents players with a vibrant and detailed world inspired by 14th-century medieval life. Featuring a high degree of historical authenticity and a rags-to-riches setting, players will be tasked with growing a humble village into a powerful feudal city. Manor Lords mixes organic city-building systems with intricate production chains that feed into a real-time tactical combat layer where the workers are also the warriors.

Lords of the Fallen got a new big update that is now live for both PC and consoles, and brings several new features, improvements, and fixes, as well as support for AMD FSR 3. Called the Master of Fate, the new version 1.5 update is the culmination of over 30 updates released since launch and should significantly improve performance, stability and optimization, as well as bring difficulty balancing based on the feedback from gamers.

According to the full release notes released over at Steam, the biggest update is the new Advanced Game Modifier System, which will be available to both new and old players, and brings several content and quality of life enhancements. In addition, the new Version 1.5 update also adds support for AMD FSR 3 and fixes several issues, including a multiplayer issue where the player can fall through the elevator, a fix to increase the maximum stack count of Vestige Seeds from 5 to 99, and a fix for a rare crash caused by AI.

Publisher Wired Productions are proud to share that visionary independent developer Tomas Sala's Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles releases today on PC, and PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox Series S|X and Xbox One.

Once more, gamers have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the tumultuous realm of the Ursee. Marked by years of relentless conflict and scarred by the ravages of war, the world now hosts only a handful of factions struggling to survive amidst its rugged cliffs and tempestuous waters. With intuitive controls at their fingertips, players will wield the power to rebuild this shattered landscape, erecting towering fortresses in a domain uniquely their own.

Hi everyone, we're thrilled for our PC community to join Aloy on her journey as she braves the Forbidden West—a majestic but dangerous frontier that conceals mysterious new threats. That's right, Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition has launched on PC. Horizon Forbidden West continues six months after the events of the critically acclaimed Horizon Zero Dawn. Vicious superstorms rage. The land is dying. Machine hunter Aloy has traveled west to investigate the source of a mysterious blight that ravages the remnants of humanity. In these uncharted lands, she will meet strange new tribes and face ever more deadly colossal machines. Together with old friends and new companions, she must brave this awe-inspiring frontier to find the answers she needs, halt the biosphere's imminent collapse, and save life on Earth.

Unlocked frame rates, ultra-wide support up to 48:9 resolutions and performance-enhancing technologies including NVIDIA DLSS 3 AI-powered upscaling and frame generation allow PC players to experience Aloy's journey in its full glory on compatible hardware. NVIDIA DLAA is available to help maximize image quality. The game also comes with NVIDIA Reflex, reducing system latency and improving gameplay responsiveness. Intel XeSS and AMD FSR 2.2 upscaling is also supported. The team at Nixxes is working on an update to add AMD FSR 3 with frame generation.

Aleph One, a community project, has worked on an "open source continuation of Bungie 's Marathon 2 game engine" for several years. Bungie's classic 1990s trilogy—consisting of Marathon, Marathon 2 and Marathon Infinity—is natively supported on the Aleph One platform (on macOS, Windows, and Linux). The first entry (1994) in the series debuted on Mac systems—Bungie stayed loyal to Apple OS ecosystems with successive titles, but started to shift over to PC platforms with its Myth franchise. A clean break occurred after post Microsoft's takeover, although Halo: Combat Evolved (2001) did eventually land on Mac OS X systems. Long-term Marathon fans have spotted an exciting entry on Valve's Steam store—the Aleph One Developers group has listed a "Classic" version of the first game.

PC Gamer reached out to Bungie for comment on the new-ish listing—a spokesperson responded with this statement: "Yup, this is real, and will be free. We're very supportive of the Marathon community and Aleph One's dedication here to bring the original Marathon to PC, Linux, and Mac for everyone to experience, with cross-platform play available in multiplayer. This is a true tribute to the original game!" The Sony-owned studio is working on a reboot of its classic IP, but that reimagining—as a PvP extraction shooter—is not due anytime soon. The entire original trilogy could be released on Steam by that time (possibly 2025/2026).

Spring on over to Steam between now and March 21st at 10am PT to explore deals by the thousands! Games of all kinds are discounted, and we've added some free fun with our daily sticker drops. Since Steam's Spring Sale also coincides with the 2nd-ish birthday of Steam Deck, we're also using the occasion to surface the 100 most-played games on Deck from the past year, regardless of verified status. With many of the titles in the list also participating in the sale, it's another fun way to explore potential additions to your library by seeing what other players seem to be enjoying most on Steam Deck. The Steam Spring Sale is on now through March 21st. See you there.

V Rising is emerging from the shadows to take its greatest form to date! Join millions of Vampires on the journey to become the supreme predator of Vardoran, carving your name into the history of a world that has forgotten your kind. Journey through the shadows of the lands of man and monster, staking your claim and raising your towering castle. Drink blood, gather knowledge, and prove that you are worthy of the claim of the greatest Vampire to ever live by overcoming one final challenge…

Coming May 8th, 2024 to Steam, take to the skies on leathery wings and face down the Vampire king! Write the future of Vardoran in blood and live your legend this Spring! More information on the upcoming launch is right around the corner, so keep an eye on us to be the first to hear about the latest, greatest chapter of V Rising! V Early Access is available now on Steam!

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut is coming to PC! We at Nixxes are thrilled to collaborate with the talented team at Sucker Punch Productions who created this critically acclaimed open-world action adventure. We are excited to bring Jin's story to a new audience and to bring a Sucker Punch title to PC for the first time. The PC version of Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut includes the full game, the Iki Island expansion, and the cooperative online multiplayer Legends mode. For the past year, the team at Nixxes has been working hard to bring the Sucker Punch in-house engine technology to PC and implement PC features such as unlocked frame rates, a variety of graphics settings and presets, and customizable mouse and keyboard controls.

With ultrawide monitor support, you can take in the expansive terrain and ancient landmarks with a cinematic field of view. Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut on PC is fully optimized for 21:9 and 32:9 resolutions and even supports 48:9 resolutions for triple monitor setups. Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut on PC features the latest performance-enhancing technologies. NVIDIA DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3 are available with both upscaling and frame generation options. Intel XeSS upscaling is also supported and if your hardware has headroom to spare, you can use NVIDIA DLAA or FSR 3 Native AA to further boost image quality.

NVIDIA today released the latest version of its GeForce Game Ready drivers. Version 551.76 WHQL comes with optimization for "The Thaumaturge." This includes support for Reflex, and DLSS 3 Frame Generation in the game. Among the gaming bugs fixed with this release include game stability issues seen in "The Talos Principle 2" with DLSS 3 Frame Generation enabled; and general bugs fixed include NVENC accelerated video encoding in GeForce GTX 16-series GPUs causing video corruption or error messages (this issue was expeditiously fixed in a recent Hotfix). Steam component Steamwebhelper.exe causing notebook display mode switching to block, has also been fixed.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 551.76 WHQL

Greetings, Flameborn! In less than a month since launching, Enshrouded crossed the two million players mark! Since its first week, the game has held a steady Very positive rating on Steam, and the reception everywhere has been both incredible and humbling. Whether you're one of the celebs, athletes, or one of the two million anonymous Flameborn who have taken up the fight to reclaim Embervale, you're all absolute heroes in our book. We couldn't have expected such a response.

We—Keen Games—have already put out multiple hotfixes and a patch to address your concerns and issues. We're hard at work on another patch that we hope to release shortly, and work has started on the first content update, for which we hope to share plans soon! In the meantime, a reminder that you can vote for one of the 2600+ player suggestions on our feedback platform. You've trusted us to make Enshrouded the best game it can be. The journey is barely starting, and we can't wait to share it with you!

The PC version of Helldivers 2 has shot up the Steam charts since yesterday's launch (also available on PlayStation 5)—according to tracking sites, peak player population sits at 151,927. Games industry watchdogs believe that this is Sony PlayStation's most successful launch title on PC platforms—24-hour peak telemetry has Helldivers 2 attracting 81,840 players versus God of War's 68,000 (January 14, 2022). An abundance of technical issues has prompted the submission of negative feedback—around 12,200 reviews have been left on the game's Steam Profile. Its current status is "Mostly Positive," but launch evening impressions were "Mixed" following 5300 review submissions. Eurogamer has summarized the problematic period: "Chief among criticisms are complaints about persistent crashes, while others have singled out server and matchmaking issues. Then there's ire directed towards PC optimization, and its kernel-level GameGuard anti-cheat software, which some feel is cause for concern, as well as complaints around Helldivers 2's monetization—which includes a battle pass and premium currency in-game shop, despite its £34.99/$39.99 price tag."

The development team at Arrowhead Game Studios implemented day-of-launch matchmaking fixes and addressed the most common crash problems. Helldivers 2 Game Director, Mikael Eriksson, stated that a patch was in the making: "If it's a success, we'll trigger a hotfix and get it out to the Steam community first, then roll it out to PS5 players as quickly as we can. Thank you—seriously—for your patience. We really want you all to have a blast playing this game. Bear with us, we're almost there." Arrowhead have followed up on their promise(s) today with another set of fixes pushed out to PC gamer population—Eriksson shared some good second day news: "We've uploaded a patch to Steam that should improve matchmaking for PC. The patch also includes some other crash fixes we've identified. We know there's more to solve, and we're working our way through it. Nevertheless, we hope this rapid patch goes a long way to making your experience better. Now go smash some bugs (and bots)!"

Hello there! Community Manager Katten here, we provided access to the Steam Next Fest Demo! So this Diary is here to get you caught up to speed to the question; What is Millennia? Millennia is a revolutionary turn-based 4X game developed by C Prompt Games, a team of experienced strategy developers known for their work on the Age of Empires franchise. This game introduces innovative elements such as alternate history, custom tech trees, and a focus on both economy and combat. Millennia stands out by redefining the 4X genre with dynamic historical progression, where your decisions shape the unfolding of different historical ages. Each age brings its own distinct gameplay challenges and opportunities, taking players on a journey from ancient civilizations to futuristic societies. With every choice holding significance, Millennia offers unparalleled replayability and strategic depth with its unique core pillars, so let's dive in!

Ages
A key innovation in Millennia is the Age-based design. There are ten Ages in a "normal" game, ranging from the Age of Stone to the near-future. Each Age provides the experience of the Age - the Age of Iron has Iron Age technologies, Iron Age units, Iron Age buildings, and rules specific to the conditions of the Iron Age. If you keep things within "normal" parameters, you might progress through 10 "standard" Ages, each delivering historical gameplay. However, Millennia allows history to go off the rails. If you make some different decisions, you might steer your timeline into alternate Ages. These Ages are still historically themed, but explore some "what-if" territory. The Age of Aether is based on a history where the internal combustion engine doesn't come about as soon as it did and steam-power develops further. The Age of Blood is based on a war raging out of control and spreading across the world. Ultimately, most of the things you have to use in a game come from the Ages, so you can end up with very, very different scenarios depending on the specific history and alternate history your timeline moves through.

Steam Next Fest is here and we're thrilled to have you join us to play the first-ever public demo of Stormgate! The Steam Next Fest demo includes full access to the current closed beta phase, codenamed "Elephant." (Each Stormgate playtest build is named after a classic RTS unit, in alphabetical order.) Here are some key insights into the current game state and what you can look forward to during the playtest.

How to Play With Friends
While our party system is still under construction, you can easily play with friends by creating custom games, either public or private, and sharing the Lobby ID. Crush that smack-talkin' Major Galt together in our 3P co-op map, WRECK HAVOC!

Hey everyone! About 4 years ago I started working on this game and it was just a small random project like any other I was working on on the side. After one of those "what am I doing with my life" evenings I thought I might as well just give it a shot and send a mail to Devolver. I'm glad I did. Because now this Demo is out! I feel incredibly lucky with all the support I got from everyone involved. Including everyone at Devolver, Aidan Baker, who did the audio, Nil Vendrell making the cutscene art, Stephen Cavalier editing the cutscenes and helping with the story, Maria de la Puente and Rocío Valentín helping with the level art, Brainwash Gang with their game design and art help, Juan de la Torre being a great producer and friend, and of course my wonderful girlfriend Vendy.

Thanks to all of you! It's a cliché thing to say, but I could not have pulled it off without any of them. I don't expect everyone to be into this, but I hope some of you find joy in this experience. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's feedback. It's been a crazy and exciting time for me working on this and I'm excited about what's going to happen. Thank you all very much for your time!

• René | @primaerfunktion

Hey, everyone! We're excited to bring you some big (and heartwarming) news today! Today is the day! Get ready to trade in John's bang-bang gun for a watering can, and embark on a tranquil new life in Octopia. (Don't worry, you'll still need that frying pan 🍳). In Eastward: Octopia, Sam and John return in a parallel world adventure, leaving the miasma and monsters behind them, to start a simpler life, living off the land. Get ready to trade swords (or may we say rusty pans?) for shovels and embark on a tranquil world of rural life, fishing, and culinary magic in Octopia, the brand-new DLC for Eastward, landing on Steam and Nintendo Switch TODAY at $5.99 / £4.99 / €5.89 / 700円 / ¥22 CNY, with a special launch offer of 15% off the DLC running from today until February 14th! We're also running special limited-time offers on the base game & bundle too.

"I haven't played Eastward! Do I have to play the base game to get the most out of the DLC?"
Eastward: Octopia takes place in a parallel universe, so there's no need to have finished (or even started) Eastward's base game story to enjoy the simple life—you can even play it straight from the menu. However, please note that a copy of Eastward is required to access the DLC. Although many familiar faces appear in Eastward: Octopia, the plot, gameplay and character 'settings' will be a completely new experience. Once you've purchased and downloaded the DLC, make sure the DLC is 'checked' in the base game properties. After starting the base game of Eastward in your Steam Library, you can then travel to the pastoral time and space of Eastward: Octopia is a single click from the main menu interface! 🚞

We, the Mohawk Games team, are pleased to announce that the fourth DLC for Old World, entitled Wonders and Dynasties, is now available on Steam, Epic and GOG. Old World - Wonders and Dynasties introduces 30 brand new ways of starting your game with the addition of new Dynastic leaders - each empire has received new leaders and starting conditions. Play as the dictator Sulla to leverage your unique dictator trait, as Khufu to construct endless wonders with the help of his wonder cost reduction, or as Nebuchadnezzar to quickly control large amounts of territory and forge a massive empire in the early game.

Meanwhile, eight new wonders of the ancient world will add new and unique modifiers to your empire. Generate free specialists with the Jerwan Aqueduct, become the trade capital of the world with the Al Khazneh, or spawn an endless army of swordsmen with the Colosseum. Carve your legacy in blood, or stone.

As of January 1st, 2024, Steam has officially stopped supporting the Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems. After that date, existing Steam Client installations on these operating systems will no longer receive any updates, including critical security updates. Steam Support will be unable to offer technical assistance to users still on these older operating systems. Steam also cannot guarantee the continued functionality or security of the Steam client and games purchased through Steam on unsupported Windows versions. Users are strongly encouraged to update to a newer Windows 10 or 11 version to ensure Steam and its games continue functioning properly beyond the January 1st cutoff date.

This change is necessary because core Steam features rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome that no longer functions on older Windows. Future Steam versions will also require Windows features and security updates only present in Windows 10 and later. With Microsoft having ended security updates and technical support for Windows 7 in 2020 and Windows 8.1 in 2023, these older operating systems are increasingly vulnerable to new malware exploits when connected to the internet. This malware can negatively impact PC performance, cause Steam and games to crash, or be used to steal Steam account credentials. Updating to a supported Windows version is highly recommended for all Windows 7/8/8.1 users to continue securely running Steam.

Steam has announced the full list of Best of Steam games for this year across several categories. The list does not include a lot of big surprises but it is nice to see that some indie games also made it to the list. Categories include Top Sellers, New Releases, Most Played, Early Access, Steam Deck, Controller, and VR.

The Top Seller list include Baldur's Gate 3 from Larian Studios, which is also the Game of the Year winner, Hogwarts Legacy, which was a big game this year, DOTA 2 and Counter Strike 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield, Lost Ark, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, Apex Legends, PUBG Battlegrounds, Destiny 2, and Sons of the Forest. Some of the Top New Releases category, which is measured by gross revenue, include Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, Cities: Skylines II, Resident Evil 4, Payday 3, Remnant II, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, FC 24, as well as a few titles that are also top sellers like Starfield, Baldur's Gate 3, Hogwarts Legacy. and Sons of the Forest.

Steam has launched its Winter Sale 2023, which runs from December 21st to January 4th, offering some impressive deals on popular games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Diablo 4, Hoghwarts Legacy, Alan Wake 2, Assassin's Creed Mirage and others.

Although it does not offer free games, like it is the case with Epic Games Store Holiday Sale or GOG's Winter Sale, Steam might have the cheapest price on some games that you might have missed. There are plenty of titles on the list with discounts from 30, up to 75 percent, and it might be the perfect time to get some games that you might have missed.

"The Day Before" is an open-world post-apocalyptic horror/survivor game that released to much fanfare on December 7. Like most games released in the past 3-odd decades, it's a little rough along the edges at launch, which its developer is expected to smoothen out with regular game patches over the following weeks or months even; if only there was a developer left. Fntastic, the game's developer, ceased operations as a business on December 11.

Everyone who pre-ordered the game and bought it after the December 7 release date, still has it; but they now stare at the prospect of a game that potentially has gameplay breaking bugs and other issues that will never be fixed. Steam's refund policy sets a 2-hour gameplay deadline in which to decide if you like what you're playing, and get a refund otherwise. Predictably, there is a large class of gamers who have played more than 2 hours, but yet are left with a potentially broken product that's no longer supported by its developer, just 3 days into its launch. Gamers took to Reddit come draft a template for support e-mails to send to Steam, requesting refunds. The store responded, and made an exception for owners of "The Day Before" to seek refunds, even if they've crossed the 2-hour gameplay limit.

Valve Software today announced that the Steam store will switch to the US Dollar as currency for Turkiye and Argentina. The stores for both countries have implemented this change as of November 20. The reason cited for the change is the high degree of volatility of the local currencies in the two markets, which is causing game developers to struggle to find the right pricing for their games. Gamers from other regions have been using VPNs to shop from these countries as the volatile exchange rates would mean low pricing. Those with Steam Wallet balances in the local currencies from these two markets will see their wallet balances convert to US Dollars at the day's exchange rate.

Half-Life launched 25 years ago this Sunday (November 19, 1998 to be exact) and we felt like a celebration and some attention to the game itself was long overdue. We're marking the occasion by making Half-Life free-to-keep for anyone adding it to their library this weekend, and putting the rest of the games in the franchise on discount during that time.

Plus, we've worked on sprucing up the overall player experience and added or restored content for the game. You can read about the updates in detail on our new webpage created just for this occasion. We also got folks from the original dev team together to talk about their experience making it, and luckily time has not been cruel to their memories.