Despite widespread economic collapse and despair, the World Cup has captured the attention of millions across the globe, which, according to FIFA’s official stats, has broken multiple records. The spirit of the soccer season is infectious, but the FIFA and EA Sports FC games have mostly been all that’s been available on the video game side. Rocket League has been another fantastic alternative and is holding its own World Cup-centric event, yet its focus on supersonic acrobatic rocket-powered battle cars means it’s not quite the most fitting way to celebrate the season. 2025’s Rematch, though, is a relative newcomer to the soccer space and makes for a wonderful way to participate in the festivities, especially in light of its first anniversary.

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Rematch’s biggest selling point is still the same 12 months later: Playing soccer with a camera angle and control scheme more typical of an action game is enthralling and adds a whole new layer of depth and immersion to one of the most popular sports. A bird’s-eye view doesn’t accurately capture the thrill of this sport.

Developer Sloclap’s history making martial arts-focused brawlers pays off well here in myriad ways outside of the viewpoint, too. Juggling the ball around and getting past defense takes actual skill, as juking and faking others out takes dexterity and clever stamina management. The ability to bop the ball around and outmaneuver a defender before bicycle kicking one right in the back in the net always looks sick and offers a level of skill expression not seen in the genre. All of this is elevated by Rematch’s surprisingly brilliant (and unsung) sound design that causes the music to rise and fall to synchronize with the tempo of the action.

Rematch’s Action-Oriented Take on Soccer Is Still Brilliant (and Has Only Gotten Better)

It all made for a fantastic foundation, one Sloclap has built on over the past year. Outside of numerous control and animation tweaks that an untrained eye might not be able to pick apart, the studio has implemented a challenge system that doles out tokens (and, thus, makes the battle pass more rewarding to fill out), eliminated the odd time gates around each section of every season, added the ability to fake shots, and, crucially, patched in cross-platform play, something creative director Pierre Tarno said he deeply regretted not having at launch to the point where he would have delayed the game to get it in there on day one. These are all welcome additions that mean Rematch is better now than it ever was.

It still has a little ways to go, though. The battle pass remains bit stingy, old battle passes are still locked (although Sloclap is weighing how they could be brought back), players can’t queue for multiple modes at the same time, and the game is still plagued with inattentive souls who sit motionless after loading in — perhaps an option that would violently rumble the controller upon kickoff would remedy this — but it’s possible these shortcomings will be addressed later. Sloclap put out a vague roadmap and Tarno said more improvements are on the way, so the team will undoubtedly tidy the game up even more as the months pass.

Rematch Is Celebrating the World Cup, Too

The core game’s improvements sync up nicely with Rematch’s World Cup celebrations, which is called Nations Cup here. While not every country is included, players pick a flag to earn points and various cosmetics. Flags adorn the stadium upon scoring and put the event more front and center in the actual matches. It’s more of a skin for the game and, due to exclusivity agreements and sheer investment it would take to add every team, it doesn’t accommodate every country, but it makes for a welcome and friendly competition that cashes in a bit on the hype surrounding the real-life World Cup.

The more “legit” soccer games have dropped the (spotted) ball when it comes to getting on this World Cup action. EA Sports FC 26 received a vague “World’s Game” event but can’t use any of the official licensing due to the publicly bickering between Electronic Arts and FIFA. eFootball has a similar problem. FIFA’s own licensed World Cup game is significantly more appalling, as the Netflix-exclusive slop was unanimously panned. Critics called it “woefully undercooked” and “an embarrassment to everyone involved,” demonstrating how a monstrously corrupt organization like FIFA can’t be trusted to make a competent game despite the heaps of money it rakes in. Rematch may also not have the official licensing, either, but it’s the only soccer game that’s functional and doesn’t feel like a slot machine with a jersey draped over it. Rematch benefits once again from not being a scummy game designed to suck players dry.

While the World Cup festival is nice, Rematch was always a solid game that has now gotten even better with a year of updates. Its hook of bringing action game-like controls and nuances to a soccer game remains brilliant, and those qualities have only grown more pronounced since launch. It’s just that the World Cup and fervor surrounding the sport as a whole right now make it easier than ever to dive in and experience one of the best and boldest sports games in years.

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Source: ComicBook.com