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Three Tips For The Early Game
Game Reviews

Three Tips For The Early Game

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Following the game’s relatively short introduction, in which you create your character and their background, you’re dumped into the desert unceremoniously; the world of Arrakis sprawls as far as the eye can see. It’s daunting. And it feels like everything and everyone you encounter wants to kill or consume you. (They do).

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But if you’re going to live to see a grand-standing base of your own, wearing better armor and wielding powerful weapons, you need to survive the early game. Here are a few early game survival tips for Dune Awakening learned over multiple characters and servers.

Follow the main storyline

Screenshot: Funcom / Brandon Morgan / Kotaku

For some, the main story of Dune: Awakening will feel more like a tutorial, a distraction on the way to the genuine article: the endgame. In some ways, those opinions aren’t wrong. Dune: Awakening features numerous story missions, and they’ll introduce you to the basics. You’ll learn how to turn blood into water, how to construct a base, where to find rare crafting materials, and how to traverse the desert without perishing.

Overall, it’s an excellent way to level up your character, unlock additional skills, and prepare for the ultimate spice war in the Deep Desert. Don’t take this time lightly; farm resources and learn from Arrakis!

You can ignore sandworms…until you can’t

Screenshot: Funcom / Brandon Morgan / Kotaku

Anyone familiar with the lore of Frank Herbert’s Dune understands the threat of the sandworm. These monstrous creatures surf through the sands, following sound vibrations to hunt and eat prey. In this case, prey means you. If you’re running over the sand dunes, you may attract a worm. But the vibration mechanic is rather forgiving. It’s tense, to be sure, but not overly dangerous. Once the vibration meter turns red and starts flashing, that’s when you know a sandworm breach is coming. But even so, it’s generally not directly on your position, but is instead somewhere else nearby. So don’t panic; you’ll usually have time to traipse across the dunes until you reach the safety of a rocky outcropping.

Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. Sometimes, because you’re using a ground vehicle or are too busy lobbing grenades, sandworms come fast and ferociously. I watched in glee as one of my friends ran for his life while a sandworm chased after him. Someone was tossing grenades from the cliffs above, taunting the sandworm. It was me. I was throwing grenades at him.

Don’t worry, you can respec your skill points

Screenshot: Funcom / Brandon Morgan / Kotaku

If you’re the indecisive type who likes to min-max your stats and skills in any game with RPG elements, then you’re going to love hearing about how Dune Awakening allows you to fully respec your skill tree completely for free, albeit with one caveat. You can’t do it frequently. There’s an arbitrary cooldown of 48 hours between respecs, meaning you’d better be satisfied with your choices on the second go-around.

Alternatively, you can always visit one of the game’s many trainers at safe locations, like trading outposts. Once you complete a quest for the specific trainer, you’ll unlock the other class skill trees and may then invest points elsewhere for a well-rounded character!

Dune: Awakening is available now for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.



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Switch 2 launch game Fast Fusion gets update to improve image quality
Game Updates

Switch 2 launch game Fast Fusion gets update to improve image quality

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Futuristic racer Fast Fusion will receive an update later this week, adding new tracks and a new rendering mode without upscaling.

As Digital Foundry reported, the Switch 2 launch game actually renders at a low image resolution but uses the console’s DLSS equivalent to upscale the image. Put simply, the game has been criticised for poor image quality, despite being such a fast game.

Now, developer Shin’en Games is introducing a new render mode called “Pure” that removes upscaling and instead renders at a native 1440p when docked (and 1080p in handheld).

Fast Fusion on Switch 2 – DF Tech Review – Brilliant Technology, Exceptional GameWatch on YouTube

What’s more, a new Carbium Cup will be added, including three new tracks: Alpine Trust, Sunahara Plains, Zenshoh Habitat.

Players of previous game Fast RMX may recognise these tracks, though they have all-new graphics and changed layouts to make use of Fast Fusion’s Hyperjump feature.

Further additions include: a new particle effect for snow, two new jukebox entries, a lower price to unlock the third cup for easier progression, fixed an issue where the game shut down when changing render mode, while stability and performance improvements have been implemented.

The update will arrive on 26th June.

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Fast Fusion is one of the few brand-new launch games for Nintendo’s new console. It’s the follow up to Switch game Fast RMX, itself an improved version of Fast Racing Neo on Wii U.

Anyone who’s a fan of the F-Zero or WipEout series will find much to enjoy here, with the game’s high speed thrills, rollercoaster tracks, and techno soundtrack. Indeed, it’s a modern day rival to F-Zero GX – one of three GameCube games available on Switch 2 through Nintendo Switch Online.

“The Switch 2’s best launch exclusive might not be Mario Kart World, but another racing game,” wrote Eurogamer’s Tom Orry on Fast Fusion.



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climbing in peak
Esports

Viral co-op game Peak was mostly made in just four weeks: “We locked in”

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Breakout indie hit ‘Peak’ has been all the rage on Steam of late, and it turns out the mega-popular co-op climbing game was mostly made in just four weeks. As the developers put it, they simply “locked in.”

Every so often, a new indie game comes around that shatters expectations. From 2023’s Lethal Company to 2024’s Content Warning, and even the likes of R.E.P.O. most recently, these titles – often revolving around chaotic multiplayer situations – have blown up on the internet.

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Now, the latest game to replicate that success is Peak. While at first, it caught on for the humor in its name, thousands began to realize there’s real potential in the game itself. The idea is simple. Join up with friends online and climb a mountain together. With each day, however, there’s a new mountain to scale, meaning all-new challenges to overcome.

It’s become a smash hit on Steam, reaching a peak of over 100,000 concurrent players and has quickly sold over a million copies too.

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So, where did this viral success come from? Well, it turns out the developers hustled for the better part of four weeks to piece the majority of it together.

Peak is a breakout success, with the indie co-op climbing game selling 1 million copies in a week with almost no marketing

The game has gone viral because people can’t stop joking about the name pic.twitter.com/KCsrv160xp

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) June 22, 2025

Peak was mostly made in just four weeks

Amusingly enough, the motivation behind Peak stemmed “mostly from jealousy,” as studio head Nick Kaman told PCGamer. It was actually one of those aforementioned games, Content Warning, that spurred the team at Aggro Crab on.

The studio was on the verge of releasing Another Crab’s Treasure, a charming yet ever-so-punishing underwater Soulslike that took them over three years to develop. While the game did well for the team, seeing other projects like Content Warning gave them pause.

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Why spend over three years on a game for it to do decently, when “Content Warning was a much bigger success [and] one made in much less time,” as Kaman said.

LandfallWithout the success of Content Warning, we never would’ve had Peak.

Inspired by the very same trajectory, a handful of Aggro Crab developers packed their bags and traveled to Seoul. There, they plugged in their computers and well, “locked [the f**k] in for a month.

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“Basically any given moment was either working on Peak or getting food while talking more about Peak,” Kaman explained. “While it was pretty intense, it was also the most fun I’ve ever had working on a game.”

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Of course, the entire co-op experience wasn’t finalized in that stretch, but the majority of the game had indeed come together in the form we now see on Steam today. Evidently, their hustle paid off.





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Death Stranding 2
Product Reviews

It’s been so long since I played a 30 fps console game, it took me a week to realize Death Stranding 2 was literally giving me headaches

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Just over a week ago, after devoting half my Sunday to delivering packages across the continent of Australia in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, I went to bed with a dull ache behind my temples. I wrote it off as a likely symptom of the usual suspects: maybe I hadn’t drunk enough water, or by snacking my way through the afternoon instead of having a proper meal, by the time I had dinner the headache was already settling in as a side effect of hunger. Maybe lack of caffeine? It’s not like I’d spent all day glued to the TV, which can sometimes leave my brain buzzing and desperate for a break.

But by Tuesday I had a new suspect: Death Stranding 2.

I didn’t start to blame the new PlayStation 5 game, which I’ve been playing for the past week and a half, until last Tuesday, when I went to bed with a pounding headache. It was the kind you wake up from in the middle of the night and immediately notice the absence of, relieved of a tiny subconscious irrational fear that your brain could just be like that now. Tuesday had otherwise been normal: I’d worked most of the day and felt fine, then played about two hours of Death Stranding in the evening. That was all it took for the ache to start burrowing in.


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Nothing in the game seemed like an obvious trigger. Wearing a VR headset for long enough is guaranteed to give me a light headache or nausea, but Death Stranding 2’s standard third-person camera is basically videogame comfort food, easily digested. And the game doesn’t suffer from dramatic framerate drops or the kind of zoomed-in first-person FOV that can often cause nausea.

The only thing it suffers from, as a console game, is running at 30 frames per second. But after years of primarily gaming on PC, apparently that’s all it takes to mess my brain up good.

Like most big budget, high fidelity games on the PS5, Death Stranding defaults to a “quality mode” when you launch it, prioritizing resolution, but it doesn’t advertise that fact. You wouldn’t know there’s a performance mode unless you go into the options menu’s graphics settings tab, which has only two entries: screen brightness and graphics mode, which can be flicked over to “prioritize performance” to lock the framerate at 60 fps instead of 30.

Death Stranding 2: On The Beach – PS5/PS5 Pro – Digital Foundry Tech Review – 4K HDR – YouTube

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In a PC game that tab would be my first port of call, but for the first few days I was playing Death Stranding 2 I didn’t even bother checking it, because I knew I wouldn’t find the granular settings for things like texture quality and draw distance and anti-aliasing I’m used to on PC.

Besides, the game looked great! So I just started playing it. And also started getting headaches.

I grew up playing loads of console games at 30 fps or worse (ahh, Nintendo 64) without issue, but over the last decade or so it’s become more and more of a rarity for me. I’m used to locking games to at least 60 fps on my 144Hz monitor. On my Steam Deck, the types of games I tend to play at 30 fps don’t involve much rapid action: Dorfromantik is as chill as they come.

So either my brain’s somehow grown more vulnerable to strain from lower framerate games altogether, or there’s something about Death Stranding 2 that I found especially nauseating. (Screen size could also be a factor, since the Steam Deck doesn’t dominate my view the way my 60″ TV does).

When I sat down to play the game on Wednesday, I opened the meager graphics menu for the first time and switched it to performance mode. It immediately felt like breaking free from the tar pits that pockmark Death Stranding’s world. Everything was moving so fast. The animations and protagonist Sam’s responsiveness to my button presses were suddenly so snappy I couldn’t believe what I’d been tolerating for the last few days.

Flipping back and forth between the two graphics modes now, I think the most likely culprit for my headaches is the camera—spinning it around at 30 fps makes me a little queasy. Perhaps stronger motion blur would help cover up the choppiness of the refresh rate, but I’m not sure that would be an outright cure.

(Image credit: Kojima Productions)

I think the bigger issue is responsiveness. I’ve gotten so used to a game leaping to enact my inputs within every 16.67 millisecond window—the time it takes to generate a frame at 60Hz—that waiting double that time for each button press or analog stick flick, plus 20 milliseconds of input lag from my TV and a few more from the wireless controller, is now just too jarring. Like when I’m playing a VR game and the refresh rate of the screen is a smidge too low to perfectly match every little motion of my head, there’s a disconnect between what my brain’s seeing and what it thinks it should be seeing.

I’m thankful Death Stranding 2 has a performance mode on consoles, and for players who are happy with 30 fps, the game runs extremely steadily in that mode. I’m now happily headache free despite playing 20-something hours of the game in the last few days. But it also renewed my appreciation for the fact that even the most barebones PC port today will likely still offer enough graphical options to hit 60 fps on years-old hardware.

Yeah, we’re still struggling with unoptimized games like Monster Hunter Wilds and the stutter epidemic. But between standard graphics settings, upscaling tech like DLSS and FSR, frame generation, and community-made tools like Special K that help smooth out performance, these days 60 fps is a lot closer to the floor for PC gaming frame rates than it is the ceiling. And judging by the quality of the first game’s excellent PC port, when Death Stranding 2 does finally arrive on PC it’ll be an even better version of an already stunning game.



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You have a Swedish hot tub, a Korean game jam, and that pesky emotion called jealousy to thank for Peak
Game Updates

You have a Swedish hot tub, a Korean game jam, and that pesky emotion called jealousy to thank for Peak

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How does one come up with, and subsequently make, Peak? Well, it sounds like you just kind of have to do it in weird ways. If you’ve missed it, Peak isn’t just slang you’ve heard your teen use to denote something being really good, it’s a co-op video game about climbing mountains with your friends and having a very good/ bad time while doing so. The bulk of work was also done in a single month as part of a collaborative game jam between Another Crab’s Treasure developer Aggro Crab and Content Warning developer Landfall. And in an interview with PC Gamer, a couple of the devs that worked on Peak have shared a little insight into how it got made.


According to Aggro Crab head Nick Kaman, Peak was made “mostly from jealousy.” To be clear this sounds like mostly a joke, but for Kaman and the rest of Aggro Crab, this feeling came about when they learned that Content Warning was also made as part of a one-month long game jam, and sold ridiculously well. “It turned everything we know about game development upside-down,” Kaman said.


“At the time we were on the precipice of launching our biggest game ever, Another Crab’s Treasure—an intense 3+ year-long project that burnt a lot of us out. While it was a success, Content Warning was a much bigger one made in MUCH less time.” So, Kaman and two other devs at Aggro Crab asked if they could join Landfall for their next jam, conducted in Korea, the latter said yes and off they went.


“We brought our computers to an Airbnb in Hongdae and locked tf in for a month. As soon as we landed, we beelined straight for the nearest IKEA and spent the day assembling office chairs and desks (that were donated to the local indie scene at the end of the month).”


Peak itself had actually been pitched the year prior… in a hot tub in Sweden, of all places, said Aggro Crab creative director Caelan Rashby-Pollock. “The concept was a lot more vague then and much closer to an open-world survival thingy, but we all quickly got excited about being a group of lost scouts on an island, and the macabre slapstick that can come from that.”


After that, all their time in Korea was spent either working on the game, or “getting food while talking more about Peak,” Kaman said. “While it was pretty intense, it was also the most fun I’ve ever had working on a game.”


While sales are absolutely not an indicator of quality by any means, Peak has since gone on to sell a boatload too. I mention only to point out that this doesn’t mean the key to success is starting with a good idea and then only taking a month to make it. Both Aggro Crab and Landfall are experienced developers, so I beg of you, don’t point to this as an example of a quick route to success.



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There's a fantastic, fan-made Sonic fighting game in the wild, and you can play it right now
Game Reviews

There’s a fantastic, fan-made Sonic fighting game in the wild, and you can play it right now

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Did you know there’s a 3v3 Sonic the Hedgehog fighting game? Well there is! It’s called Ultimate Sonic Smackdown, and you can play it right now.

Indie studio Arcforged has released the game to the public for free. In an announcement trailer released today, you can see a variety of Sonic characters duke it out in 2D. All you’ve got to do is join the game’s official Discord server and get playing!

You may have guessed it from the title, but Ultimate Sonic Smackdown is actually a drastic overhaul of an older fan game: Sonic Smackdown. That game was a traditional 1v1 fighter, and has been playable online via Itch.io or at US tournaments for a while now.

Check out the trailer here!Watch on YouTube

This iteration, four years in the making, is a wilder evolution of the game. A tagging system means more hectic fights, more options for offence, and the opportunity to team up your favourite Sonic characters in your chosen squad. It’s the latest in a sparse scattering of Sonic the Hedgehog fighting games, first established by the official, Sega-developed Sonic the Fighters released in arcades in 1996. Its Sega Saturn port was cancelled.

As a tag fighter, Ultimate Sonic Smackdown joins a bizarrely packed collection of similar games coming out soon. You’ve got HunterxHunter NenxImpact coming in July, 2XKO which is bound to come out sooner or later, c’mon guys. Then you’ve got Invincible Vs coming next year, as well as Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls! So suddenly, a style of fighting game that had basically no modern representation is stacked with incoming options.

Sonic has a rich history of fan games. Famously, Sega hired Christian Whitehead to be lead developer on Sonic Mania, following his work on unofficial ports of older Sonic games. There’s also a fan-made PC port of Sonic Unleashed which is rad, and a 16-bit makeover of Sonic Triple Trouble from a few years back.



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We're Entering a Golden Age of Marvel Fighting Game Figures
Product Reviews

We’re Entering a Golden Age of Marvel Fighting Game Figures

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A few weeks ago, Hasbro revealed it was cooking up a massive tribute to the legacy of Capcom’s Marvel fighting games, from Children of the Atom all the way through to the legendary Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, with a series of Marvel Legends figures replicating aesthetics and matchups from across some of the most iconic fighting games ever made. But would it be a fighting game without a shock new challenger entering the ring?

Last night Bandai confirmed that it would be kicking off its own “Gamerverse” line of figures in the S.H. Figuarts range, likewise inspired by the classic Capcom Marvel games, starting with a downright glorious Cyclops that’s due out this November for ¥9,900 (or around $68). Heavily inspired by the aesthetic of Bengus’ artwork for the likes of Marvel vs. Capcom and X-Men vs. Street Fighter (itself drawing inspiration from Cyclops’ then-current Jim Lee suit from the ’90s refresh of the X-Men comics), the figure is more than just Bandai’s first crack at comics-inspired X-Men figures (the Figuarts line has had a few mutant entries via movie adaptations, most notably Deadpool and Wolverine via their appearances in Deadpool & Wolverine). It’s a celebration of Cyclops specifically as he appeared in those classic fighting games.

It’s very cool to see the SHF Cyclops hitting all the poses you’d want him to hit from those early games, from his legendarily sassy Optic Blast pose, to hitting a Gene Splice uppercut, to, of course, using a set of back sheets to replicate his massive Mega Optic Blast hyper combo. He can even do his little x-hand pose before he fires, to boot!

But what’s most interesting about this wave of merchandising nostalgia for the early Marvel/Capcom games—off of the back of the re-release of several of the classic games in the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection last year—is that they’re now all dropping right as Marvel’s fighting game legacy prepares to move away from Capcom itself. The start of this month saw Sony make a surprise reveal of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a new tag-team fighter in the vein of those classic Capcom titles, but made by Guilty Gear‘s Arc Systems Works. It was the first major Marvel fighting game not developed by Capcom in years, and came in the wake of the disappointing release of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite back in 2017.

The MvC series had spent nearly a decade wash with disappointment for the latest title, while also patting itself on the back for the legacy that had come before it. Now, on the video game front, that legacy is preparing to go elsewhere. But on your toy shelf, at least, it’s staying firmly put in Capcom’s court.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.



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Dune Awakening is the perfect blend of survival, MMORPG, and house envy
Game Reviews

Dune Awakening worms its way past one million sales, Funcom’s best performing game to date

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Dune Awakening has passed one million sales, making it the best performing Funcom game ever.

Just 18 days since the early adopter launch, the game has managed to do what Conan Exiles took a year to achieve. Even now, the game is pulling in roughly 175,000 concurrent player peaks.

In an infographic released alongside the milestone announcement it’s been revealed players have been eaten by worms 816,720 times, 628,807 deaths have occurred in the game’s endgame PvP Deep Desert, and 121,941 guilds have been formed among other interesting tidbits

Watch our video review here!Watch on YouTube

The game kicked off to a mighty start and has shown little sign of losing momentum. It blasted past 142,000 concurrent players on 10th June following its public release. There’s been a little bit of controversy via the PvP Deep Desert, as many players aren’t finding the fun in perilous free-for-alls. The director initially stood firm on the direction of the endgame, but has earlier today announced plans to expand the PvE portion of this region.

Alongside this future change to the Deep Desert, hints at what future major content updates will look like have also been revealed. We know every three-to-four months a Hagga-Basin-style map should be added, which should do wonders for the crowd who like popping back in to play every once in a while.

If you’re curious about whether you’ll enjoy Dune: Awakening, why not check out our review. “Dune: Awakening is a harsh survival game, an intriguing RPG, and a fierce open world PvP game all in one,” it reads. “Somehow, it pulls it off.”



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TIGA welcomes UK Spending Review's focus on creative industries, but emphasizes "importance" of UK Games Fund
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UK launches new $40.5m fund to support British game development

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The UK Government has launched a new $40.5m (£30m) fund and pledged to expand the UK Games Fund to support British game development.

It has also established a new UK Video Games Council, comprising industry representatives, to establish closer links with Whitehall and drive growth in the UK’s creative industries, which will benefit overall from an injection of upwards of $510m (£380m). According to PocketGamer, a new UK Games Skills Network will also be created to identify and address skill gaps.

“The £380 million package is part of a wider plan to deliver targeted investment to create thousands of new jobs and opportunities, in sub-sectors like film and TV, music, performing and visual arts, video games and advertising, while generating economic growth in six regions outside London over the next three years,” the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said in a statement via LBC.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the funding would “boost regional growth, stimulate private investment, and create thousands more high-quality jobs.”

“On behalf of the UK’s world-leading video game and interactive entertainment sector, we welcome the measures set out by the Government to supercharge our Creative Industries as part of the Industrial Strategy,” said Ukie CEO Nick Poole. “[The] announcement is both a validation of the huge cultural and economic impact of video games and an opportunity to show the world we are open for business.”

TIGA CEO Richard Wilson added: “The video games industry provides high skilled jobs, is export-focused and supports economic growth across the UK. The reinforced UK Games Fund will help more small studios to scale up and grow, while the funding for London Games Festival will highlight the capital’s position as one of the most significant games clusters in Europe.”

Earlier this month, the Welsh Government awarded six independent Welsh game developers a total $1.15 million (£850,000) in funding. The Games Scale Up Fund for Wales, the first of its kind for the devolved UK nation, was launched earlier this year as part of a campaign by Creative Wales and the UK Games Fund.



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The Best Soccer Game Ever Made
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The Best Soccer Game Ever Made

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Sloclap’s new online third-person PVP soccer game, Rematch, is one of the best games I’ve played this year and one of my favorite online competitive games I’ve played in a long time. I wasn’t expecting that at all.

Disney+ Pulls The Abyss Over Controversial Rat Scene — Again

I’m not a soccer fan. I find the sport boring to watch. I’ve never liked any soccer video games. I outright hated EA’s FIFA series any time I was forced to play it for a few minutes. I didn’t even love Rocket League. And yet, I stayed up until 2 a.m. over the weekend playing a soccer game. And I did it again the next night. That’s because Rematch, out now, is unlike any other soccer game I’ve played or seen. It captures the best parts of the sport while excising the junk. The result is amazing.

Most modern soccer games are played from a high-up perspective, and you’re asked to control the entire team all at once. In these games, you aren’t really playing soccer, but instead controlling a match from afar like a weird soccer god. For fans of the sport, like my brother, this can be fun enough. But Rematch, out now on Xbox, PS5, and PC, is very, very different. In Rematch, you control one player throughout the whole match. The camera is located directly behind you, and every other player on the pitch (I Googled that) is controlled by another player.

Those changes alone are enough to make Rematch stand out from FIFA and similar soccer games. (No, I won’t call it football.) But that alone is not why I keep playing the colorful and stylized Rematch. No, what has me hooked is how it plays.

Moving, sliding, shooting, blocking, and passing in Rematch feel wonderful. Everything is snappy and responsive. When my brother charges up the middle and I’m being attacked by two players, I can effortlessly hit one button to slip the ball behind me, maneuver past the defenders, and pass it to my bro without even looking. Other times, a long pass will be hurled to me and I can run up to it and bicycle kick it into the goal, adding a bit of bend to the shot before it goes in.

All of this feels great, and once you’ve learned the controls, it’s a blast. Thankfully, the opening tutorial gives you just enough of the basics that you’ll be set to hold your own online. As you play more, you’ll learn more ways to combine the controls and techniques you were taught into more complicated and impressive moves. For example, you can flick the ball over your head and kick it in midair, aiming not to score but to bounce it off the wall above the goal, hopefully throwing off the goalie in the process and setting up a teammate to finish the shot.

Oh, right, the wall around the field. I forgot to mention that. See, the soccer in Rematch isn’t normal soccer. There are no yellow or red cards. No penalties. Instead, the game of soccer has been distilled down into its simplest form. Two goals, a pitch, a few players, and the ability for goalies to touch the ball with their hands. That’s it. And around you is a giant clear wall that stops balls from flying out of bounds. (This wall also changes during the match via fancy AR-tech to display wild settings, like being in space or in a jungle.) You can use this wall to bounce passes off at weird angles, too.

Screenshot: Sloclap

When playing Rematch, I almost felt like a kid playing basketball on a small court in the park with my friends. We didn’t follow most of the rules. No, instead we just played a pure form of basketball that was focused on being fun and exicting, letting us do wild shit and make really dumb mistakes. Rematch recaptures that feeling of playing a sport in its purest, simplest form. And it’s exhilarating.

Rematch is also filled with smart, tiny design choices that keep matches flowing. If a team goes up four goals, the game ends due to a mercy rule. No dragged-out matches against much better teams. There are four options to communicate, and if you spam any of them, like saying “Thanks” or “Sorry” too much, you’ll be blocked from using them for a bit. Anyone can be the goalie, just drop back to the goal and if you’re alone, you become the goalie, giving you increased stamina and the ability to catch and hold the ball. Don’t want to be the goalie, walk away. Simple as that.

There are no stats to manage, perks to unlock, cards to earn, or anything like that. There’s a basic battle pass system, but it’s just cosmetics like new shirts and socks. The rest of the game is lean and focused. If Rematch’s developers set out to make a soccer game that is badass, super fast, and very fun, that is also easy to pick up play, while having a ton of depth for those who are willing to sink dozens of hours into it, well, job well done. Rematch is the best soccer game I’ve ever played. And it’s one of the best games of 2025 so far.

.



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