Just pass the ball. Truthfully, the next few hundred words you’re about to read could be boiled down to as few as those four. I’ve recently been sinking my teeth into Rematch, the newest football game on the block from developer Sloclap, and it’s largely felt like a breath of fresh air in a subgenre of games that has been desperately in need of one. I love that feeling it gives me of being back on the school field, or those heady power league days I briefly took advantage of before my knees started to make crunchy noises every time I bent them. It really nails that individual sense of expression that can come from the beautiful game — a key aspect of what makes the sport so engaging to both play and watch — but more often than not, it means that team play falls by the wayside.
Maybe the one-man army nature of Rematch’s flow shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Sloclap’s previous game, Sifu, is built around this entire concept, after all. In fact, much of the 2022 martial arts roguelike hit has made its way onto the football pitch, with its tight, bordering on complex series of button combinations blurring the line between sports and action game. I’m a big fan of how Rematch plays in this regard, and there’s no doubt a satisfaction to rainbow flicking the ball over a defender before rifling it past a flailing goalkeeper, who, let’s face it, likely doesn’t want to be in net anyway. The precision with which you can aim these shots adds a real edge that is rarely seen elsewhere in the genre, including the simulation and arcade experiences that EA FC and Rocket League offer, respectively. This all sounds great, and, at times, it really is. But Rematch all too often finds itself at an awkward middle ground between these two clear inspirations.
The problems begin when players forget that football is a team sport and matches descend into who can most accurately recreate Diego Maradona’s magic from the 1986 World Cup. No, not the Hand of God goal. We don’t talk about that one. Unfortunately, many players actually end up resembling the kid who’d turn up to school with golden football boots and then proceed to fall over his own feet attempting a Ronaldinho-esque elastico. All the gear and no idea, indeed. It’s a sentiment so easily applied to many of Rematch’s players, too, as they sport wild haircuts and kit combos, but then fail to play the game to a level that matches such attire. But don’t get me wrong, I’m not asking you to be amazing at the game (I’m certainly not), I’m just asking you to pass the ball.
Minutes can fly by as you endlessly watch teammates attempt to dribble through whole defences and then take out shots from outrageous angles, even when I’m waiting invitingly in the box for an easy cross. I’ve gone through whole matches of Sifu, whether playing in 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5, without having been passed the ball once. Granted, when pulling off all of the above, Rematch highlight reels can quickly build, as acrobatics, flicks, and tricks naturally hold an aesthetic appeal, and I wouldn’t dare suggest that aspect be reduced to infrequent glimpses. But moments of magic like that should be exactly that: highlights, not the sole driving force behind every possession of the ball. The game may be about glory, but to me, that glory has always been found in a collective.
Whether it be when I used to play actual football and drifted between the lines of midfield and defence, trying to lay on chances for a striker, or more recently playing EA FC Clubs and channeling my inner Andrea Pirlo as I spray the ball around the park from a deep-lying playmaker position, it’s always been a team sport to me. Frustratingly, Rematch just hasn’t given me what I look for from my favourite sport. Playing as a team in any game is one of my very favourite things to do, but whereas Slocap’s soccer could so easily feel like a delicately-crafted hero shooter version of football, with each player filling a role and acting as part of a greater whole, it instead feels like playing on open role queue —- like an Overwatch lobby loaded with DPS as far as the eye can see. Admittedly, this can still provide thrills, but it doesn’t ever feel like it’s operating as designed, or at least intended.
I’m not sure how to best combat this problem, if indeed it is one and not a very personal annoyance of mine. It’s largely down to the player base to choose how they want to play a game, but perhaps Slocap could incentivise teamplay further by offering cosmetics or bonus XP as rewards for more altruistic play, such as laying on assists for others, or even going as far as rewarding players for every pass they make. Perhaps, though, these are just the pitfalls of playing a team-based game online with strangers. Rarely can chemistry be built over the course of just ten minutes.
Maybe the answer is that I just need to find a group of like-minded mates to play Rematch with — my very own Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets who will smile and laugh with me as we play passes in neat little triangles around our opponents. In truth, though, making friends in your 30s is hard, and seeing as I didn’t grow up training at Barcelona’s La Masia academy, this dream is dead on arrival. Oh well. In the meantime, please, just pass the ball. I promise to pass it back.
Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.
