Game does not load - Steam/PC

[BigSto]

I'm struggling with this issue a great deal. I'm currently running: Win11, i7 12700k, 3070rtx. Below are the steps I've taken to attempt to resolve my own issue:

1. verified all files

2. uninstalled the game (several times)

3. erased all local saves of the game.

4. turned off family mode/sharing and revoked other machine/user.

5. checked for all updates and optional updates - OS/system/gpu

6. power cycled my desktop

7. tried to run the app as admin (produces an error that states: "system32 x3daudio1_7.dll is either not designed..."

8. input the direct x line, from within Steam

To me, something isnt right about the error I get when running the app as admin - but I've not changed any files and I'm not running any mods, so I'm not sure if this a system thing or a bad/incompatible file included with the game for my specs. Not sure what to do at all.