This is going to be one of those "Ubisoft investigates Ubisoft and found that Ubisoft did nothing wrong at Ubisoft"-situations, isn't it?

The really interesting part is IMO this one:

I personally always dislike it, too.

There are two reasons you might want to do this as a dev, of course. One of them I feel kinda half-asses your design, if you don't want to get a threat or failure during gameplay to get into the way of your storypacing, just make a visual novel. Or at least something like SOMA, Amnesia or Still Wakes The Deep.
Or alternatively, if you want to make a game explicitly made for children that's okay, but then also do the marketing a bit more kid-centric IMO. I dunno, maybe this one is actually genuinely meant for children, but some of the humor and writing doesn't feel that way if I'm honest. Princess Peach does this more thoroughly: It is the same "handholding 100% of the time", but it's also very obviously meant to be played primarily by relatively small children!

Text copied and pasted from the linked Steam update (there's also a video showcasing things):

Brand New Gameplay Presets

You wanted a challenge, more variety, and more control over... everything! So we've given it to you. Starting today you can modify your trips in the Zone with 7 new presets:

Pacific Drive

The standard Pacific Drive experience - a Pacific Drive through the Olympic Peninsula.
Scenic Tour

Crafting requirements, resource consumption, driving difficulty, hazards, dangers, storms, and damage are all lowered or disabled. The player cannot die. A scenic route through the story of Pacific Drive.
Joyride

The same gameplay and tension as Pacific Drive, but gathering, crafting, and research requirements are all lowered. Damage and failure penalties are minimal.
A Sunday Drive

Focus on the Olympic Peninsula with minimal interruptions
Nuclear Journey

Every map will be filled with low dose radiation that is harmful to the player. Storms are faster and stronger, hazards and damage are more plentiful. An unpredictable, irradiated journey that only the car can protect you from.
Mechanic's Road Trip

Terrain and the status of the car impact driving more. Items to repair the car are more costly to craft, and can't be crafted on a run. A challenging drive and susceptible car will provide a test of your forethought, problem solving, and automobile experience.
Olympic Gauntlet

All aspects of the game are much harder - An extreme gauntlet to challenge the most dedicated Breachers.
Iron Wagon

All aspects of the game are much harder, and failing a run will delete your save file. An extreme gauntlet to challenge the most dedicated Breachers, with no room for failure.

It doesn't end there though, you can create your own presets with over 50 new settings in addition to the base game's existing options. Tune and tweak your trips to be as punishing or as pain-free as you'd like, all from the same menu.

New Paintable Parts and Collectible Cosmetics

Unleash your inner artist and further customize your heroic wagon! Bumpers and wheels are now fully paintable. It's fully possible for you to create the best and brightest clown car station wagon imaginable, or black out your rig for a more Mad Max style adventure.

Along with the new paintable surfaces, we've add two new collectible cosmetics to find out on a trip - an antenna topper and mirror hanger that fit in pretty well with the surreal, fantastical elements of the Zone.

Play Custom Music from Local Storage (PC ONLY)

Now that you've got a custom car... how about some custom tunes? One of the most requested features from the community was the ability to use your own playlists and music in game - and we're happy to say that this feature is also included in todays update. For PC players, you can now load your local music into a folder via local storage and Pacific Drive will pull it into the game. You'll be able to kick back and listen to it in the garage via the Jukebox or out on the road through your old station wagon speakers.

Songs are loaded from `%localappdata%/PenDriverPro/Custom/Radio/` folder, and this feature supports .wav, .mp3, and .ogg files, as well as simple .m3u/.m3u8 files.
Playlist files may point to an external internet radio stream as well (if the stream type is supported).
Enabled in the Audio settings category, can choose to have no custom music (Default), a mixed playlist of default music and your custom set, or exclusively your own music.
Reminder:
If you are streaming the game or otherwise creating content, you could be at risk of DMCA strikes or content restrictions on platforms like Twitch and YouTube if you are playing copywritten music through Pacific Drive’s in game radio. Use this feature responsibly, and at your own risk.

The Anomalous Cosmetic Pack

Last but certainly not least... we have a new cosmetic DLC pack available! This Anomalous set features parts and decals that pay tribute to your favorite weirdness from out in the Zone.

Included in this cosmetic DLC:

Mailbox Bunny (Bobblehead)
Sawblade (Hood Ornament)
Tourist (Shifter)
Anchor (Steering Wheel)
Vacation (Sticker Pack)
Anomaly (Decal Kit)

Our paid cosmetic DLC packs allow Ironwood to continue to support the game with content updates just like this one! Stay tuned towards the end of the year for upcoming details about our Winter update and more - Pacific Drive just keeps getting bigger and better and we're very thankful that you're all along for the ride.

This emoji summarizes it perfectly: 🤢

I am quite happy they added the borders, but I know some people use high-contrast themes as a base for their own theming and don't want this, in this case, add this to your userChrome.css:

:root {
  --toolbarbutton-outline: none !important;
}

Obviously, given the subject matter, I had to let ChatGPT generate a summary for this:

The Meta Stack Overflow post discusses a policy decision regarding the use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, on the platform. The key points include:

1. Ban on Generative AI: The community has decided to prohibit the use of generative AI for answering questions on Stack Overflow. This is due to concerns about the quality and reliability of AI-generated content.

2. Quality Control: The decision aims to maintain high standards for answers, as AI-generated responses may lack accuracy and context, potentially leading to misinformation.

3. Community Feedback: The policy was influenced by feedback from the community, emphasizing the importance of human expertise in providing reliable answers.

4. Future Considerations: The post suggests that while the current stance is a ban, the situation may be revisited in the future as the technology evolves.

Overall, the policy reflects a commitment to ensuring that the content on Stack Overflow remains trustworthy and valuable to its users.

So... if the backend gets moved over to Wordpress, and Wordpress can already federate, I guess this means Tumblr is coming to the fediverse? 😮

This is looking pretty good. I'm especially excited about them taking key bindings seriously, with even class-specific binds.

Coming fresh off of Avatar Frontiers of Pandora - which I loved - where Ubisoft could not even be arsed to make key rebinding usable by having several hardcoded functions on E and F, absolutely crucial buttons that both block using ESDF to move (as is proper, as per Tribes) or using a lefty keybinding setup near the numpad for us 96% users.

Don't get me wrong, this is still the successor to the severly undercooked if well-designed DA2 and then the big but also super tepid and boring DAI. Not truly excited about the game as a whole, and definitely not going to get this before a few patches have passed fixing the worst bugs.

But for as laughable as the first trailer was, it's now looking... quite good?

The closed alpha consists of two thrilling modes - Hotzone and Team Deathmatch - across three different maps (Ozone, Zenith and Frontier) and grants players an early look at each of its three factions. There is no time or match limit during the alpha, and it is free to play.

Iterating on the initial game’s success, 1047 has rebuilt Splitgate 2 from scratch. Suit up and portal into the action as an elite Ace, choosing between three factions - each with their own distinct abilities tailored to a variety of playstyles. Mix and match to create the ultimate team and play together to master Splitgate 2’s fast-paced combat unlocking new capabilities along the way.

From the article:

On the whole, Bloober's Silent Hill 2 sometimes seems more... visually led than it should. There's an innocent airiness and spaciousness to it, for all the shadows and grime, with puddles that grandly reflect the clouds and sumptuously imagined interiors that speak to an antiquated fixation with extravagant lighting effects and photorealistic fine-detailing for its own sake.