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Matt Vatankhah

Matt Vatankhah

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From a Marine to a God: ‘DOOM The Dark Ages’ Shows How You Can’t Deny the Slayer’s Superhero Status

In the original DOOM games, our lovable, grunty protagonist was pretty much your everyday dude. In fact, the UAC Marine was originally meant to be...

yesterday 1

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

Bye Bye, DBM: Blizzard’s New Vision for ‘World of Warcraft’ Eliminates the Need for Some of Its Most Popular Add-Ons

In today’s WoWCast, World of Warcraft senior game director Ion Hazzikostas explains Blizzard’s philosophy toward in-game combat add-ons and how a...

01.05.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

New ‘God Save Birmingham’ Trailer Reveals Exclusive Gameplay Footage That Just May Be Too Good To Be True

God Save Birmingham, an upcoming zombie survival game by Korean devs Ocean Drive Studio, answers an important question. “What’s worse than being...

30.04.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

From D-Day to the Dark Ages, the Steam ‘Wargames Fest’ Sale Has a Party for Any Platoon

Remember the days when we weren’t constantly on the cusp of a third world war? Hah, me neither! Thankfully, Steam has a sale going on that’ll help...

29.04.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Fatal Fury’ Producer Yasuyuki Oda Suggests There’s Still Room for More Unexpected Characters Like Ronaldo in ‘City of the Wolves,’ but Does Anyone Really Want That?

Guest characters aren’t anything new to fighting games. In the past, when games would at least attempt to fill out their original rosters before...

25.04.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Labyrinth of the Demon King’ Is Feudal Japanese Horror Meets ‘King’s Field’ and I’m All Aboard This Nightmare Train

As a certified fossil, growing up alongside the PS1’s library of gritty horror games was a pivotal part of my adolescence. Resident Evil was the...

24.04.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Clair Obscur: Expedition 33’ Makes Turn-Based Combat an Artform, and Paints a World So Gorgeous, You’ll Forget You’re Dying (Review)

I think about mortality often. More specifically, the mortality of my loved ones, and the haunting reminder that my time with them is finite. I wonder...

23.04.2025 9

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Oblivion: Remastered’ Is Actually Just as Moddable as Its Original 2006 Release, and Another 20 Years of Unhinged Mods Is upon Us

After a long week of anticipation over recent leaks, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is officially real. And, released on the same day. For...

22.04.2025 8

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ Proves This Series Still Has Hands, Even if It Misses a Couple Shots (Review)

While SNK’s annual King of Fighters hasn’t missed a beat since its 1994 release, Fatal Fury hasn’t seen the light of day in quite some time....

21.04.2025 5

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Rematch’ Has No Martial Arts, but the ‘Sifu’ Studio’s Arcadey Football Showdown Kicks Ass, and You Can Play the Closed Beta This Weekend

Check it out, someone finally made Rocket League, but with people! I feel like this would make a pretty popular sport in real life. Sifu studio...

18.04.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

Take a Deep Breath – ‘Autonomica,’ an Open World Survival Crafting Farming Life Sim with Romance and Dogs and Mech Battles, Gets Fully Funded on Kickstarter within 24 Hours

Whew, that’s a mouthful. But that’s sort of the point – Autonomica, developer Crytivo’s multifaceted game with just about everything, has big...

17.04.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

Removing Proximity Chat from ‘Marathon’ Won’t Stop the Toxic Nature of an Extraction Shooter, It’ll Just Make It Less Engaging

One of my first experiences with proximity voice chat was, coincidentally, in Bungie’s Halo 2. Listening to brief moments of unfettered rage after...

14.04.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Deedlee Doo! Carkour!’ Is a Charming Ride through a World Made of Clay and Sounds Made with a Mouth

Nate Purkeypile (sick name, by the way) is no stranger to making games. Before going solo and independently releasing The Axis Unseen last year, he...

11.04.2025 6

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

‘Path of Exile 2’ Studio Grinding Gear Games Is Banning Players In Spite of Their Own QA Fumble

It’s been a rough start for ‘Dawn of the Hunt,’ Path of Exile 2‘s latest seasonal league. With massive overtuning on mobs and nerfs across the...

09.04.2025 4

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Rosewater’ Is a Rootin-Tootin’ Point and Clickin’ Hell of a Good Time (Review)

It’s not always about the destination — but the friends and choices made along the way. That philosophy seems central to Grundislav Games’...

07.04.2025 5

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Matt Vatankhah

I Finally Stopped Ignoring ‘Tekken 8’, and Now I Understand the Hype

I’ve been a fan of fighting games for as long as I can remember. But, like any insufferable purist out there, I’ve stuck solely to 2D fighters....

04.04.2025 10

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Path of Exile 2’ Dawn of the Hunt Starts Tomorrow, so Buckle Up and Play SSF, You Coward

Path of Exile 2 is dropping its newest season, Dawn of the Hunt, tomorrow. A brand new league means brand new beginnings, with a reset economy and...

04.04.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

Close Enough, Welcome Back ‘Bloodborne’ – FromSoftware Reveals ‘The Duskbloods’ as a Multiplayer-Focused Switch 2 Exclusive

Is that a dude in Victorian garb under the pale moonlight? A woman’s hand reaching upwards in comically slow fashion as she mutters, “I give you...

02.04.2025 5

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

‘Mario Kart World’ Has Free Roaming Cows – Wait, No, It Has a New Free Roam Mode and You Can Race as a Cow

This is not a drill – the next edition of the biggest and best racing series in the world has officially been announced during the Switch 2 Direct....

02.04.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

Valve’s Long-Forgotten ‘Ricochet’ Sees Its All-Time Concurrent Player Record Obliterated Thanks to Dedicated Group of ‘Half-Life’ Fans

Once per year, Valve fan community LambdaGeneration comes together to resurrect the studio’s classics. In 2021, the group gathered together to play...

02.04.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

You Can Smother Your Loved Ones with Affection with an Officially Licensed ‘Silent Hill 2’ White Pillow

April Fools’ is always a fun time. Goofs and gags aplenty around every corner of the internet, and sometimes, it’s hard to tell which ones are...

01.04.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ Can Now Be Purchased with WoW Gold as It Joins Blizzard’s Battle.net Storefront

id Software’s upcoming DOOM: The Dark Ages has officially hit the Battle.net storefront, marking the second non-Activision/Blizzard game available...

01.04.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

id Software’s Hugo Martin and Marty Stratton Talk ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’, ‘80s Movies, and How To Juggle Between Innovation and Engagement (Interview)

After playing DOOM: The Dark Ages for a few hours, I had questions. Secretly, I wondered if the folks at id Software were actually human, given their...

01.04.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

Playing ‘DOOM: The Dark Ages’ Has Me Convinced That id Software Are Wizards (Hands-on Impressions)

As a kid in the ’90s, I remember begging my parents to purchase an extra 4 MB (yes, megabytes) of RAM for our family PC. My uncle, a teenager at the...

31.03.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

Life Sim ‘inZOI’ Quietly Patches Out Ability to Run Over Children with Cars

Now officially launching into early access, Life Sim inZOI being called “The Sims killer” may actually be a double entendre. The KRAFTON...

28.03.2025 4

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Path of Exile 2’ Is Shaking up Its Endgame Content in the Best Ways with ”Dawn of the Hunt” Season

Path of Exile 2 is nearing almost four months into its early access period, and for those well into its endgame, things have been getting a bit stale....

28.03.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

Cristiano Ronaldo Debuts in ‘Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves’ as the Most Random Guest Character in a Fighting Game I’ve Seen

After an initial tease last September from the legendary footballer himself, it looks like the rumors are true. Portuguese football pro Cristiano...

27.03.2025 6

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

‘Monster Hunter Wilds’ Title Update 1 Takes Hunters to the Grand Hub for Some Speedrunning Sicko Activities

Last month, Monster Hunter Wilds was released with resounding critical success. Topping the Steam player charts and even breaking records for Capcom,...

25.03.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘V Rising’ Gets Players Thirsty for Blood with a Cryptic Image Posted on Its Official X Account

Ah, V Rising. The game that knocked on our doors in 2022, politely asked to be let inside, and turned us all into bloodthirsty fanatics ever since....

25.03.2025 10

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Matt Vatankhah

Raw, Relentless, and Rewarding: ‘The First Berserker: Khazan’ Is a Must-Play Soulslike about Embracing Your Dark Side (Review)

It’s hard to tell what constitutes a “Soulslike” these days. The term’s been tossed around, chewed up, and regurgitated so much that any game...

24.03.2025 8

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

‘Silent Hill 4: The Room’ Joins GOG’s Preservation Program and Receives New Update to Restore Missing Content

Silent Hill 4 certainly has its own unique charm. The last game in the series by Team Silent, The Room has Henry Townshend locked inside his haunted...

22.03.2025 5

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

Cat’s Out of the Box: Microsoft Accidentally Reveals Steam Games May Be Coming to Your Xbox Console

In a blog post today, Microsoft details its plans to further incorporate Xbox into every device possible. Describing it as “opening a billion...

21.03.2025 10

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Matt Vatankhah

A ‘Final Fantasy IX’ Animated Series Based on Vivi’s Six Children Was Reportedly in the Works before Its Studio Filed for Bankruptcy

Cyber Group Studio, a Paris-based animation company responsible for the production of several award-winning children’s series, was reportedly in...

19.03.2025 20

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

No, the FPS Genre Isn’t Stagnant – You Just Aren’t Paying Enough Attention to ‘THE FINALS’

There’s this common sentiment going around the FPS space lately, that (Insert game of the moment) “came at just the right time, when the FPS scene...

18.03.2025 4

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

Leaked Footage Reveals Sony Dipping Its Toes into AI Hell World and, Nope, We’re Still Not Interested

Tech companies really want you to get excited about AI. Between Nvidia’s push for their AI-powered ACE technology to Xbox’s environment-generating...

11.03.2025 8

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

Yeah, ‘FragPunk’ Is a Lot of Fun, but It’s Also the Final Boss of a Live-Service Nightmare

Another day, another moment spent wrestling the moral dilemma between an engaging game and its questionable practices. I spent a bit of time playing...

11.03.2025 8

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

I Think I’ve Fallen Out of Love with FFXIV

FFXIV has been my favorite MMO, hell, my favorite game for over 10 years now. I’ve vehemently defended it since ‘A Realm Reborn,’ nearly costing...

08.03.2025 8

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

‘Killing Floor 3’ Delayed to an Undecided 2025 Release Date, Automatically Issuing Refunds for Pre-Orders

Originally releasing on March 25, Killing Floor 3 is now aiming for an unknown date “later in 2025”. Developers Tripwire Interactive claims...

07.03.2025 4

Vice

Matt Vatankhah

Unofficial ‘Balatro’ Fan Ports Hit Nintendo DS, PS Vita, and Even Commodore 64

When solo developer LocalThunk first released Balatro, I don’t think even he could predict the cultural impact it would have. Gaining critical...

05.03.2025 5

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Matt Vatankhah

With ‘Monster Hunter Wilds’ Palicoes Their Most Expressive Yet, I Think It’s Time to Revisit the Palico-Controlled ‘Prowler Mode’

Thrilling combat with menacing beasts and the satisfaction of sewing their parts together for fashionable apparel. It’s the focal point of any...

28.02.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Monster Hunter Wilds’ Becomes Capcom’s First Game to Break One Million Players on Steam Just Hours After Launch

The Capcom sweep shows no signs of stopping, as the Japanese studio continues to launch hit after hit each year. Today, with the launch of the highly...

28.02.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Arceus’ Fans Unite: ‘Pokemon Legends Z-A’ Gets a Late 2025 Release Window

It’s an exciting day for Pokemon fans, as the Pokemon Presents stream reveals even more information about the next entry in GameFreak’s lineup....

28.02.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Fellowship’ Brings the Thrill of ‘World of Warcraft’ Dungeons Without all the Necessary Set Up (Demo Impressions)

They say it’s not about the destination, but the journey. In the MMO world, that journey normally entails hours of grinding, questing, and side...

27.02.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Mecha Break’ Is Pretty Fun Once You Sift Through Its Layers of Live Service Hell (Demo Impressions)

I’m always looking for the next multiplayer mech battler, a genre that doesn’t seem to get as much love as I’d like it to. Adhesive Games’...

27.02.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

This ‘Stardew Valley’ Deluxe Edition May Be the Most Adorable Bundle of Goods I’ve Ever Seen

Stardew Valley, the cozy life sim that stole our hearts in 2016, is now available in an entirely too adorable physical Deluxe edition for collectors....

26.02.2025 5

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Among Us 3D’ Adds a Whole New Layer of Suspense to Its Gameplay (Demo Impressions)

Among Us certainly isn’t the first social deduction game, but it undoubtedly reignited the craze for them while we were all stuck inside in early...

25.02.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Monster Hunter Wilds’ Is a Masterclass in Combat and Consequences (Review)

In Monster Hunter, the hunt has always been at the forefront of the game. Admittedly, and like many others, that’s all I’ve ever really cared...

24.02.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

‘Shotgun Cop Man’ Brings Satan to Justice in a Platforming Trip Through Hell (Demo Impressions)

I’ve always said there simply aren’t enough games that let you throw a pair of cuffs on Satan before tossing him into the slammer. Sure, DOOM sees...

22.02.2025 3

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Matt Vatankhah

‘GO FKN FAST’ Is an Indie Platformer That Focuses on What Really Matters: Speed

For decades, 2D platformers have been a staple in the world of video games. Nearly everyone on Earth could likely point to one as the first video game...

20.02.2025 2

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Matt Vatankhah

More than 10 Years Later, ‘Darkwood’ Is Still the Scariest Horror Game I’ve Ever Played

I’m always looking for the next horror game to truly scare me. Not to simply jolt me awake with a jump scare, but to really strike fear in me. To...

20.02.2025 20

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Matt Vatankhah