Rematch Hands-On Preview: The Sifu Devs Do Soccer…and So Far They’re Nailing It

Soccer was the first organized sport I played as a kid. Wearing our white and yellow uniforms, practicing with my dad, and having snacks as a team after the game (Seriously, mom? Orange slices again?) are nostalgic memories for me, as is the tense feeling of being on the pitch, struggling for the ball, and being poised to strike when an opportunity presents itself. I didn’t realize how absent this feeling was from soccer video games until I spent some time with Rematch, the upcoming fast-paced, arcadey multiplayer soccer game from Sloclap (the Parisian studio responsible for Sifu).

Sports games, more than most genres, have an unfortunate tendency to stagnate over time, eschewing innovation in favor of refinement – probably in part due to the gameplay confinement that the inherent rules of the sport put in place. What results is games like FIFA and PES becoming staples, iterating on rosters year after year, but not really offering anything novel. Occasionally, you’ll get Mario Strikers, Football Manager (for the true sickos out there), and now I get to add Rematch to the list.

Instead of controlling a full team of soccer players, you play as only one – but every player is another real person. You’ll start with a character creator to design their look, decide what ‘home’ and ‘away’ uniforms look like, and then head to the pitch to play. The team at Sloclap has said they wanted to design a game where great plays feel earned and mistakes sting, and that was certainly true of my experience with Rematch during the closed beta.

Struggling back and forth, finally getting the chance to take a shot at the goal, only to narrowly miss elicited excited shouts of, “No!” and I legitimately pumped my fist in the air when I banked a shot for one of my teammates to slam in for a point. Because it’s a multiplayer game, I had to rely on this kind of back-and-forth with my teammates to create openings, and it felt bad to let them down. I got invested in my 4- and 5-person squads (one casual queue for each, as well as a ranked 5v5 mode) even though we didn’t play together for more than a few minutes at a time.

It’s important to note that there are no stats (just like another skill-based soccer game; Rocket League), so you only get better when you improve, making progression more personal and meaningful. This, combined with how well the controls are designed, mean it is trivial to get started, but it feels like there is some depth and self-expression along each step of your improvement.

The tutorials got me up to speed quickly, teaching me how to shoot, pass, tap, push ball, how to easily do trick shots, manage stamina for sprints, and the like, and then some limited practice routines give opportunities to test and improve those skills. What’s more, once each match begins, there is virtually no down time. No penalties, no time-outs, just The Great Game. The only time you aren’t controlling your character are the match intro, outro, and short replays after each goal.

Rematch has special currency you can use to acquire post-goal celebrations, uniforms, and other character customization options, but the structure of the unlock system isn’t final, so we’ll have to wait for 1.0 to have a final verdict on that. Hopefully there aren’t any gross microtransactions awaiting us. I’m not expecting any, as Sloclap is already forgoing free-to-play; Rematch will cost $30.

Soccer is a heck of a pivot from a hardcore kung-fu brawler, but thus far, Sloclap has shown that it has the versatility to leapfrog from one genre to a completely different one. One thread of continuity between the two games is that they both feel great to play. I hope the minor but annoying bugs I encountered in the beta get sorted out and it gets some needed polish in the months between now and release on June 19, because Rematch made me feel a bit of that old soccer excitement I didn’t know I was missing.