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'83 Early Access: A Solid Tactical Shooter Searching for an Audience
A multiplayer game lives and dies by its population. I can jump into the server browser and see less than 100 players (right around 90) playing right now across the servers. It is Monday night, but even peak times on the weekend weren’t that populated–not to mention the wasteland of EU and Oceanic servers. I really hope this changes and Blue Dot Games can make ‘83 the game it has the potential to be.
Antal Bokor
Apr 283 min read


Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth — A Beautifully Bittersweet Introduction to a Nordic Icon
There’s something nostalgic about Moomintroll, even if I don’t directly remember it before playing the demo for Winter’s Warmth at the Steam Next Fest. Created by Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson in 1945, the Moomin franchise has steadily evolved from beloved children's literature into a multi-generational global empire.
Antal Bokor
Apr 273 min read


Chilled Out, Checked Out: A Review of Above the Snow
Games like Frostpunk turned resource management into life-and-death affairs—and I’m done with intense decisions that can lead to a cascade of death and failure. I’d rather have something a little more cozy. So I was excited when I heard about Above the Snow. It’s a resource management game that doesn’t make it feel like what you’re managing is going to fall apart at any moment.
Antal Bokor
Apr 234 min read


Through a Different Lens: Finding Redemption in OPUS: Prism Peak
There’s a part of me that associates video games with platformers and shooters, despite the fact that I spent a chunk of my childhood playing narrative-heavy games like OPUS: Prism Peak. Prism Peak, on the other hand, deals with a very human journey while incorporating spirits and Japanese folklore elements to tell its very earth-grounded story.
Antal Bokor
Apr 155 min read


Review: MINOS is a Good Tower Defense Game in the Shadow of Great Roguelites
While MINOS isn’t exactly the "Balatroization" I was hoping for (that’s a real word, I swear), it is a competent tower defense game with roguelite elements and some synergistic fun.
Antal Bokor
Apr 94 min read


The Pitt S2E13 7PM - Who Will Survive
Listen, 7pm is a good time to be at home, in your pj’s, with a pizza and a good show after work (unless you work in an industry where it’s go time). Right now though, we’re in a situation where everyone’s been working since...well, forever ago, and are now entering the second hour of a holiday nightshift. No one’s having fun. Not the patients who did a few bumps and assaulted a nurse, not the guy who blew himself into a garage, not really anyone. And not the doctors of The

Marielle Bokor
Apr 822 min read


NASA's Artemis II Mission is 'Hopecore,' and I Can't Stop Crying
Have you ever seen anything more beautiful than Earthset? No one has. Via NASA. I’ve got a weird relationship to the moon. I’m not quite Gen-X, not quite full Millenial, so I’ve got a weird relationship with everything, really, but the micro generation known as X-ennials, which is me, has a very unique perspective on things, because of our fluency in an analog then digital world. We get the best of both worlds. I can work a card catalog and I can touch a computer like it’s

Marielle Bokor
Apr 73 min read


The Pitt: Season 2, Episode 12 : 6pm - We Gotta Get Out of This Place
Meanwhile, several pirates look on as one of them gets stitched up. Apparently, he got bayonet..ted. Doesn’t seem super bad. Maybe they’re Revolutionary War re-enactors, in fact. I just saw pirates. Either way. Bayonetted.

Marielle Bokor
Apr 624 min read


Panel: Ioan Gruffudd and Michael Chiklis Talk Fantastic Four
In 2005, the second live-action attempt at Fantastic Four was released, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis. It received decidedly mixed reviews and spawned one sequel, the Rise of the Silver Surfer, before being rebooted in 2015 to an abysmal reception, and again in 2025, garnering overwhelmingly positive reviews.
aaroncynic
Apr 43 min read


Ember Island Review: Frustrating, Floaty, and Fundamentally Flawed
I don’t want to be too hard on developer Calibus Creations. I’ll admit that I sometimes judge indie games on a bit of a curve. I’ll let things like production value go as long as the gameplay is good. Ember Island doesn't really have that going for it. There’s a lot of 'okay' there, but not much good, and nothing I could qualify as “great.” It doesn't just lack polish; it lacks a soul. It looks exactly like the uncanny video an LLM spits out when prompted to generate a "retro
Antal Bokor
Apr 23 min read


Dealing in Nostalgia: Poker Night at the Inventory Returns to the Table
Somewhere in my awareness, I knew the Telltale Sam & Max games had been remastered, but I didn’t expect Skunkape to bring Poker Night at the Inventory back into the hands of modern audiences.
While their mainstream relevance might not be what it was in 2010, the crossover still works, and underneath the nostalgia is a surprisingly decent game of poker.
Antal Bokor
Mar 302 min read


Panel: Art of the Poster with Tracie Ching & Robert Wilson IV at C2E2 2026
If you are cued (or queued) into the world of entertainment posters, you know how unique and beautiful the work can be. From galleries like Bottleneck Gallery, Mondo, and SpokeArt to direct work with film and TV studios, posters mix the world of creativity and commercial utility. On Friday renown poster artists Tracie Ching and Robert Wilson IV took over S405b for a talk all about the poster industry. I purposefully noted the panel room for this talk because with 10 mins til

Julian Ramirez
Mar 303 min read


GALLERY: Cosplayers in Their Sunday Best at C2E2 2026
What's one person's Sunday bests is not another's though. For example, you might be in a classic floral, and I might be covered in EVA foam and LED lights stomping around as the coolest damn mech you've ever seen. Getting all dressed up means a lot of things to a lot of people, but when the effort is there, you can't deny it.

Culture Combine Staff
Mar 301 min read


Was Reality Even In the Room With Us for Reality Check: America's Next Top Model?
I’d say I was waiting for the E! Docuseries to air its America’s Next Top Model episodes for me to comment on The Tyra one where Tyra didn’t have anything to do with production see, so it’s totally non-biased. Except, surprise, or not, if you’ve seen the documentary, the part where you think you’re getting some expose about what happened and potentially have the people involved at least fess up to it and try to make some amends has been replaced with Tyra, in a trench coat, s

Marielle Bokor
Mar 302 min read


Possible Project Hail Mary Sequel Plot Teased by Andy Weir Himself at C2E2
Project Hail Mary is still going strong at the box office, so it’s no wonder that Andy Weir was in such a great mood during his panel at C2E2. And that room was packed. I’ve never seen a side panel room get filled to the brim, but Mr. Weir attracted a sizable chunk of Sunday’s C2E2 attendees.
Antal Bokor
Mar 304 min read


GALLERY: Saturday at C2E2 2026
We certainly thought opening day at C2E2 was the most jam packed one in recent memory, but of course Saturday raised the ante. Saturdays are usually the biggest day of the event so it was no surprise that McCormick Place was chock full of even more amazing cosplay, more panels and more fans filling up the aisles at Chicago's premiere pop culture event! Once again our intrepid photographers - Julian Ramirez, and Marielle Bokor - were out on the floor to capture just a taste

Julian Ramirez
Mar 291 min read


GALLERY: Friday at C2E2 2026
We weren't the only ones ready to show out though - there was a ton of great cosplay even for a first day of the convention. We had our roving photographers - Aaron Cynic, Julian Ramirez, and Marielle Bokor - out on the floor to capture all your amazing 'fits - and you didn't disappoint.

Culture Combine Staff
Mar 281 min read


A Con of Your Own: Our 2026 Choose Your Own Adventure C2E2 Preview
Oh my God, there's so much new at C2E2 this year. Hang on to your butts.

Marielle Bokor
Mar 2710 min read


Aether & Iron Is A Gorgeous Noir Tale Stuck in Turn-Based Traffic
Screenshot: Aether & Iron As much as video games have tightened up as safe, corporate products over the years, it’s still awesome to see developers taking chances and swinging for the fences. Aether & Iron wouldn’t be possible if every release came from a rigid corporate structure. It’s an ambitious blend of RPG and visual novel that might occasionally betray its lower production values, but it more than makes up for it with great storytelling and stellar voice acting. There
Antal Bokor
Mar 275 min read


The Pitt Season 2, Episode 11: It's a Five O'Clock World When the Whistle Blows
5 pm. Quittin' time. End of watch. Ohhh noooooo. I'm not ready. Are you ready? I'm just... not ready. But hey, that's what recaps of recaps are for, right? Let's go!

Marielle Bokor
Mar 2321 min read
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