The post is a the latest iteration of the Xbox Excellence Awards, which was created last year to celebrate how players engaged with various releases on Xbox. The Store Rating category lists 2025 games with the best ratings on the Microsoft Store, with an added requirement of the title having at least 500 ratings. Player Engagements is about the average number of hours spent on a game by each player within the first six weeks of a game’s release. Daily Active Users celebrates titles, expansions or updates with the highest single-day active users throughout the year. And finally Units Sold is fairly self-explanatory.

Going down the lists, you’ll find many of the biggest releases of the year, from ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6, as well as award-winning RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Indie titles have also been well-represented, with games like Crime Scene Cleaner and Satisfactory making it into the lists. There also doesn’t seem to have been a singular genre to dominate the lists, since everything from sports games like EA Sports Madden NFL 26, to fantasy adventure life sims like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, and even fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics are well represented.

Curiously, none of the games was present in all four of the categories. At most, we got to see titles like Borderlands 4 being able to make it on to three of them: Player Engagement, Daily Active Users and Units Sold. Even ARC Raiders, which has seen quite a bit of success, is only on the Units Sold and Daily Active Users lists.

Microsoft has also emphasized that the lists represent a diverse collection of games developed by studios of varying sizes. All in all, it represents 48 unique developers based out of 13 countries, with 24 publishers having had a hand in their release. 19 of the games were self-published. “Taken as a whole, it’s an encapsulation of development on Xbox – we want gaming to reach you wherever you are, and for the teams making those games to find you from wherever they are,” wrote the company.

Full list of games:

Store Rating:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Crime Scene Cleaner
• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dreamcore
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Lies of P: Overture
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Little Nightmares III
• Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
• Minami Lane
• Mullet MadJack
• Poppy Playtime Chapter 4
• Satisfactory
• Silent Hill 2
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Player Engagement:

• Borderlands 4
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Farm Together 2
• Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles
• Helldivers 2
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• NHL 26
• Rust
• Satisfactory
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Daily Active Users:

• Arc Raiders
• Avowed
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• DOOM: The Dark Ages
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fortnite
• Forza Horizon 5
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Grounded 2
• Helldivers 2
• Marvel Rivals
• Minecraft
• NBA 2K26
• Rematch
• Roblox
• Rocket League
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

Units Sold:

• Arc Raiders
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• EA Sports Madden NFL 26
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Helldivers 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• PGA Tour 2K25
• Ready or Not
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• WWE 2K25

Due to issues arising from crossplay, the studio has decided to push back the entirety of Rematch’s patch 3, which would have had cross-platform multiplayer as its headlining feature. Sloclap hasn’t yet revealed when players can expect the feature to finally make its way to the title.

“During our final tests today, we found a major matchmaking issue linked to Crossplay,” posted the studio on social media. “Since Crossplay is the heart of Patch 3, we’ve decided to delay the release while we fix it. We know this is disappointing and we’re truly sorry for the repeated delays. Thank you for your patience and support. We’ll share a new update as soon as we have more news.”

In another statement provided on Reddit, the studio acknowledged that some players might be getting frustrated, since cross-platform multiplayer would revitalise the player base for Rematch thanks to wider matchmaking pools. However, the studio also noted that it is working on resolving this issue as soon as possible. The studio also gave further insight about how crossplay has been affecting matchmaking during testing; with the feature enabled, testers for patch 3 were essentially stuck in matchmaking with no option to cancel or restart the process.

“Our focus right now is on resolving this matchmaking issue as quickly as possible,” wrote the studio on Reddit. “At the same time, we’re actively working on improving our production pipeline so that future updates are delivered with the quality and reliability you deserve – and more importantly, we will refrain from announcing release dates until we are absolutely certain that we can deliver the updates on time.”

Rematch was released on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S just a couple of months ago, and the title was quite well received at the time. In just a month, it had even gotten 5 million unique players. However, since then, the player base of the competitive football game has dipped quite significantly.

A quick look at the SteamDB charts reveals that the title hasn’t quite been able to get back to the all-time peak concurrent player count of 92,841 from three months ago. More recently, the title has stabilised to a 24-hour peak of between 7,000 and 10,000 concurrent players. These numbers are only really hit at certain timeframes, however, with the player base also dipping all the way down to less than 2,000 concurrent players. However, it is also worth noting that this is just for the PC version of Rematch.

While Sloclap continues working on patch 3 for Rematch, you can check out details of the other updates that have been released for the title since its launch, including the first major update bringing bug fixes and improvements to the game’s UI. Also take a look at our review of Rematch.

Core issues related to the netcode being fixed with this update are tackles not registering, and goalkeeper dive rollbacks causing goals to still be scored despite it being a clear save. As part of testing this update, the beta build of Rematch will only have 3v3 Quick Match, 5v5 Quick Match, and Customisation with default items available. 4V4 Quick Match, Ranked, Store and Battle Pass will be disabled in the beta.

The developer does point out that, even with the update, achievements will not be instantly unlocked. Rather, they will unlock the moment the player hits a new milestone. An example provided was the achievement for getting to level 35. If it hasn’t unlocked for a player, they will have to play more to get one more level to retroactively unlock the Pro and Elite achievements.

Sloclap has also confirmed that it has already begun work on the third major update for Rematch, which will focus on remaining known issues (listed below), while also bringing cross-platform multiplayer to the title. There will also be some gameplay tweaks. The update is planned for release in late August.

Rematch is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our review. And also check out the complete patch notes for the update below.

Rematch Patch #2 – 1.200.200 notes:

Matches / Core Gameplay Improvements

Major Changes / Updates

• Tackle improvements
• Improved network resolution and rollback on tackles
• Fixed an issue where sometimes a player preparing a shot cannot be tackled
• Fixed achievements unlocking (should affect Post to Post, Pro, Expert): if you already meet the requirements for one of these achievements, you will need to perform one more related action to unlock the achievement.
• Goalkeeper improvements
• Fixed an issue where the GK catch/deflect seemed to play correctly, but was subject to rollback immediately after
• Fixed a similar but different issue where a goal could be validated and scored even if the goalkeeper had caught or deflected the ball, causing a rollback
• Fixed an issue where the goalkeeper would sometimes play the catch animation when diving close to another player
• Invulnerable goalkeepers can no longer be tackled when doing an action moving them outside of the keeper area
• Added procedural animations so that GKs will now visibly move their arms to catch balls
• Reworked Ball Touch, to prevent the ball from appearing too far away from the player in possession.
• Ball Touch is the visual system that animates the ball when in possession. This allows ball possession to be more clear but doesn’t impact gameplay, since in possession, the ball doesn’t have a hurtbox.
• Fixed incorrect ball position during Ball control, where the ball warped back and forth in a weird way during certain Ball Controls.
• Reduced Shake cam intensity on ball steal success
• Fixed an issue where Defense Mode deflects could be denied/ignored by the server
• Fixed an issue where the Defense Mode deflect animation would cancel itself prematurely when moving
• Fixed static ball not being controllable
• Multiple animation improvements and fixes.
• Reduced speed of walking animation

New options have been added

• Options can now be reset per tab
• Added magnus sensitivity setting
• Fixed several crashes:
  – Fixed a crash that could occur after a replay
  – Fixed a crash that could occur if the player performs a ball action in Freeplay as they join an Online Match

• Fixed the lag at the end of a match
• Fixed an issue where the custom match server region was different from the one selected in the options
• Fixed an issue where the ball would become impossible to interact with after someone in its possession disconnects

Minor / Misc. Fixes

• Fixed multiple issues in tutorials and workshops
• Fixed AI not being goalkeeper in Score tutorial
• Fixed the goal collision volume not taking ball radius into account correctly
• Fixed ball attaching itself to shoot on kickoff
• Fixed the Shots on Target stat in the Player Profile
• Fixed the ball’s behaviour in the Main Menu and in Freeplay
• Optimized pause menu loading time
• Fixed some shop items being shown in the customization menu when they shouldn’t
• Fixed some cases where players could clip through the pitch’s walls during celebrations
• Fixed the Cart Wheel celebration in 3v3
• Players no longer teleport after the stadium entrance cutscene
• Fixed an issue where changing the audio language options would create unwanted button in the user interface
• Fixed an issue where, when launching the game for the first time, the default audio language would be set to a language other than English.
• Fixed an uncommon issue where players could walk in the air
• The Customization menu now works correctly when the Shop is in maintenance
• Player customization will now be saved properly when joining a match while making changes to it

Menus & Interface

Additions and updates

• Customization – Added editable color feedback on the body part thumbnails
• Customization – Now only displays owned items
• Workshop – Added score objectives reminder in the HUD
• UI – Added missing mipmaps on various UI textures
• Store – Updated the price component design

Major Fixes

• End of match – Fixed the Skip feature
• Store – Fixed the item tiers backgrounds
• Store – Fixed the bundles thumbnails display
• Player Profile – Fixed the Exp Gauge display

Misc. Fixes

• Fixed the Button Remapping display
• Fixed the button prompt display in notification pop-ups
• Added visual feedback to identify owned Bundles in the Store
• Fixed the Social Panel sometimes getting stuck during the credits
• Fixed Rich Presence sometimes not updating properly when a friend is alone in a custom match lobby
• Fixed the video preview to have it loop from the start when arriving in the Store Feature tab, Bundles tab and in the Battle Pass
• Fixed an issue where the game would lose focus loss in the Friends List panel
• Fixed the descriptions of collaboration items
• Various UI rendering quality improvements

Art / Rendering

• Additions and updates
• Improved the Player Card lighting in the Customization menu
• Improved the Goal Celebration cutscene lighting during the match
• Various Stadium & VR optimizations
• Added a colour control setting for eyelashes
• Improved Global GPU/Rendering performances
• Improved GPU/Rendering performances for Low/Medium settings during the Prologue

Minor / Misc. Fixes

• Fixed AR Reactions not playing properly from the Celebration to Replay transition, and from the Replay to the kickoff Countdown transition
• Fixed the wind animation for foliage during goal bursts
• Fixed displaced meshes on the main character’s hairstyle in the Prologue
• Fixed Radar Bounces clearing too early when the previous ball’s owner shoots
• Added missing thumbnails for some tattoos
• Fixed missing animations for low resolution crowd
• Fixed visual artefact where character outlines would be visible through the character’s hair

Audio

Major Changes / Updates

• Various user interface sound-related issues have been fixed

Minor / Misc. Fixes

• Fixed the gameflow transition sequence when going back to the Main Menu
• Added the BGM title in the PS5 Menu
• Fixed a bug where the sound of the ball trail was playing loudly during the kickoff animation
• Fixed an issue preventing the countdown sound effect to start while playing in the Water Stadiums, Wind Stadiums and Mountains VR

Known Issues

Matches / Core Gameplay

• Sometimes, aerial volley animations are cancelled mid air but the actions are correctly triggered
• The invulnerability visual feedback for the goalkeeper can sometimes be missing
• Ball steal priority present for standing tackle over sliding tackle
• Desync can be caused upon repeatedly switching between Windowed and Fullscreen mode while shooting
• Games end abruptly after 60mn with no indications for players
• Sometimes, the pre-catch animation as Goalkeeper is triggered but does not connect with the ball
• The ball can sometimes appear to suddenly warp/snap to another position after tackle interactions
• Ball desync present upon reconnecting to a session following a deflect
• Misplaced AI pathing during the “Tackle” portion of the prologue
• Ippy Slide: Catching the ball during an Extra Effort transition can make the ball appear to warp/snap to another position
• Player ball catch/ball control is triggered even if the ball is moved out of the control range instantly
• Missing ball control functionality after recovering from a tackle without moving.
• Title crashes during the Movement Tutorial if the Player waits too long during the second Oriented Control Step.
• Corrupted replay camera in Spectator mode.
• Players can become spectators upon multiple players getting backfilled (joining an ongoing match) into a Quick Match.
• Shoot priority overrides the Defense Mode Ball Control upon receiving a pass.
• Inconsistency between invulnerability circle UI and timer when tackling an ally as GK.

Menus / Interface

• The player character’s color palette can be overridden with the Equipment color while previewing Special skins.
• In specific situations, the ranking promotion displays incorrect information to the player.

Other

• Rare random crashes can be encountered on PS5.

Headlining the list of features brought in as part of the update is the ability for players to remap their controls. While the feature isn’t quite considered complete by the studio yet—with the developers noting that players can’t yet create combinations of inputs—players can still start tinkering with the options to make some changes. A more advanced take on remappable controls is slated for release later.

There are also a host of core gameplay fixes for Rematch, including rollback issues when sprinting, improved hit detection, and general improvements to the netcode. The update has also brought with it accessibility improvements in the form of a colorblind mode, as well as improvements to the player progression screen with better readability and UI feedback.

For a full list of changes, check out the patch notes below. And for more details about Rematch, check out our review.

Rematch Patch 1 Changelog:

Matches / Core Gameplay Improvements

Major Changes / Updates

• Gamepad Remapping – this first version is quite basic (it doesn’t allow to create combinations of inputs), but we opted to allow players to start tinkering with mapping before offering a more advanced version soon.
• Less locomotion rollbacks:
• – Fixed rollback issues while sprinting
• – Improved packet loss handling during locomotion & interaction phases
• Better Hit Detection:
• – Fixed an issue where the ball would be deflected instead of being caught by the goalkeeper in certain situations : the ball speed was not correctly evaluated to decide whether to catch or deflect. Note: some design to tweaks to catch vs. deflect parameters will also be coming soon.
• – Improved goal validation when the ball is caught on the goal line : decision making now uses a delay to check for potential deflect/catch and account for network variation before validating the goal
• Other general netcode improvements and fixes

Major Fixes

• Multiple fixes to camera during goal replays, removing jitter
• Fixes to “hindering” (physical contact between players): it should now be more efficient to “body block” opponents
• Fixed end match screens skip function (at last!): scoreboard can now be analyzed without going back to ranking screen automatically
• Fixed pause menu toggle in any stage of match: pause menu should be accessible at all times during matches
• Fixed various crashes happening during post-goal sequence
• Multiple animation improvements and fixes:
• New statics tap animations
• Polish on volley shoots animations
• Polish on Dive player animations
• Polish on pushball animations
• Minor animation improvements and fixes

Minor / Misc. Fixes

• Fixed an issue where goalkeepers were not reacting to opponents’ collisions: goalkeepers should now react to other player’s physical presence the same way other players do (this does not change the rules of invulnerability against tackles).
• Fixed several issues with the physical & visual state of the ball inside menus & at matches’ kickoff.
• Shots deviated by an outfield player’s defense mode now have a wider angle, except against goalkeeper or sweeper shots.
• On mouse and keyboard, when performing a tap, the camera control is given back a bit sooner than before (more news on m&kb tap aiming soon!)
• Fixed an issue with Ball Camera Lock while using mouse and keyboard where the camera would teleport back to the previous position when shooting.
• Fixed an issue where pushball would not keep last direction inputted when going quickly back to neutral
• Increased communication/ball call cooldown from 0.8 to 1s, to slightly decrease comms spam
• Shoots now trigger a rumble during the shoot preparation
• Goal Bursts are now stopped correctly after goal replay
• Multiple VFX fixes and improvements during and after goal replay
• Fixed pause menu footer display in match
• Fixed missing move input in spectator mode
• Fixed spectator icon on match livefeed
• Fixed ping icons legibility: switched icon and background colors
• Fixed opponent nametag in match stats screen: color fixes
• Display player number for opponents in scoreboard
• Fixed scoreboard input actions display in footer
• Audio update for the UI SFX of post match screens
• Update on the music integration during the start section of a match
• Various audio update on animations
• Fixed a bug where the music playing during the beginning of a match was not the expected one
• Multiple environment and lighting improvements and fixes
• Multiple minor fixes to tutorials and workshops

Menus / Interface

Additions and updates

• Colorblind mode: when activated, this option will change color selection for teams at match start, according to the three main types of colorblindness (deuteranopia, protanopia, tritanopia). In the next patch, this feature will be pushed further, to apply a filter on the whole screen.
• Visual update of player progression screen – improved readability and UI feedback
• Added voice channel parameter choice on custom match parameter screen, allowing to chat with all players in the lobby, useful to train with friends on both teams.

Major fixes

• Fixed ball indicator arrow orientation, was not always following the ball
• Fixed navigation focus and camera in customization menu
• Fixed social panel navigation and display issues
• Fixed “”Some players in lobby are still in a match”” pop-up can not be displayed in same time as reconnect prompt”

Misc. fixes

• Fixed options footer display
• Fixed matchmaking research panel visibility
• Fixed input action text “Leave lobby” in custom match matchmaking
• Fixed reconnect state being applied to players leaving a server after a ranked game was deemed incomplete
• Fixed mouse navigation in custom match parameter screen
• Fixed purchase popup toggle in customization menu
• Fixed items thumbnail background in store menu
• Fixed focused state lost on clicking spin wheel buttons
• Fixed “Press any key” display in launch screen
• Fixed rank icons in player profile menu
• Fixed custom keyboard mapping preset selection
• Fixed keyboard custom profile input modifier option showing as enabled by default
• Fixed reconnect pop-up overlap
• Fixed warning message overlap
• Fixed victory mood thumbnails display
• Fixed player card customization screen display
• Fixed currencies packs order
• Fixed language options not being properly saved on first launch
• Fixed User Agreement not being translated in languages other than english
• Special skin now have an assigned voice
• Various audio fix within the menus
• Audio and voice language options settings are now correctly saved
• Update on SFX for the tutorials and workshops
• Multiple localization fixes and improvements in the options menu
• Multiple UI fixes and improvements
• Multiple fixes in tutorials
• Lighting improvement in Player Profile menus

Art/Rendering

Additions and updates

• Add detail mod for small actors, on levels and VRs.
• Add new Balls to Prologue (ball custo will be coming soon!).
• Add crowd spawn / distribution textures for stadiums.

Major Fixes

• Increase min LOD in low settings for Customization menu.
• Fixed head sections
• Fixed corrupted crosshair on certain actions.
• Fixed crowd LOD bias.
• Fixed UI material AA.
• UI textures improvement.
• Cast shadow, WPO and VSM optimization on VRs / Stadium.
• Meshes fixes and optimization on levels.
• Optimize minimap & line textures.

Minor Fixes

• Fixed Material Time period
• Fixed accessories material in Ponytail.
• Fixed Jelly Tails, Golden Flyaways materials.
• Fixed Eyelashes Material.
• Fixed Characters textures compression settings.
• Update goal reaction behavior for smokes & flash flares.
• Playable Intro lighting optimization.
• Force LOD on certain sequences in playable intro.
• Cast shadow optimization on VRs.
• Minor material and math optimization.
• Minor update for Eye material.
• Character parts, disable cast shadow on specific parts.

Unlike FIFA, Rematch offers a more arcade-like take on football with no offsides or fouls. You control a single player, competing alongside others in 3v3, 4v4 and 5v5 matches. Though it didn’t quite reach the highs of its betas, the Steam concurrent player count peaked at a respectable 92,841 last month.

Of course, Rematch has received criticism for the lack of crossplay and player reporting. Fortunately, both of these features will be available in September when Season 1 drops (the former potentially earlier). Sloclap is also targeting a patch for this week to add remappable controls for gamepads, colorblindness options, and bug fixes.

Stay tuned for more details when the patch notes become available, and check out our review in the meantime.

Tarno also acknowledged that this may have come down to the marketing for Rematch being not quite up to snuff. Noting that the original reveal trailer for Rematch had the text “from the team behind Sifu”, he believes that fans of the martial arts game might have been mis-led into thinking that there was a new Sifu game on the way.

“I’m sorry about that misunderstanding because I think we should have probably, early on, let the Sifu community know that we were about to announce a title and that it would not be Sifu 2, and they shouldn’t be expecting it, just so they didn’t have this disappointment,” he said.

Tarno also noted that, while Sifu has a passionate fan base, Sloclap would have moved on from the title eventually. The studio, according to Tarno, “felt that we’d really provided and kind of given everything we had on Sifu,” taking into account the year and a half’s worth of post-launch content that was released for the game. Fundamentally, Tarno also admits that there might be an industry-wide problem where players expect a studio to make the same types of games repeatedly.

“We have a huge opportunity to pursue the creative projects that we are passionate about, and not many developers have that chance,” he said. “It’s really very rare as developers to be able to do that. And then I think players and also media realized that although it was not exactly the same, [the games are] both third-person action games. Both grounded, credible, still epic, with bodies and movement, it’s physicality. There is a lineage between the titles, from Absolver to Sifu to Rematch, and our experience making the two previous games is what allowed us to make this one.”

Rematch was released back in June and was very quickly able to get more than a million unique players. The title puts players in the shoes of a single footballer. Players must then work as part of a team of 3, 4, or 5 players to take on an opposing team. The game has drawn quite a few comparisons with another multiplayer sports-adjacent title—Rocket League. Tarno, however, has noted in the past that the studio wanted to create a fresh take on the genre with Rematch, separate from Rocket League and EA’s FIFA/EA Sports FC series.

“These games are different giants in all these fields, and they do what they do super well,” said Tarno. “And so I think we just want to do something different.”

Rematch is available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details about the title, check out our review.

According to Tarno “the decision to do Rematch happened way before Sifu was released.” He also went on to talk about how the studio isn’t particularly risk averse, which would explain how it was able to pivot from working on more action-based martial arts-centric titles like Sifu and Absolver to a multiplayer sport game like Rematch.

“It was not a question of ‘oh, Sifu did very well – what are we doing next,” he continued, noting that prototypes for Rematch were already being developed by a small team at Sloclap during the development of Sifu. The decision to work on a game that is completely different from its other offerings came about because, for the studio, “chasing the safe bets is a death sentence,” Tarno said. “I think gamers are on the lookout for new, original experiences.”

When it comes to drawing inspiration from other titles, it could be easy to see how games like the older FIFA franchise and even Rocket League could have inspired Rematch. However, Tarno noted that “these games are different giants in all these fields, and they do what they do super well. And so I think we just want to do something different.”

Rematch was released just a few days ago on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While the PC version is available via Steam, PC and Xbox players can both also play it through Game Pass. The title puts players in control of a single footballer in matches that could be 3v3, 4v4 or 5v5. Rematch also features a 5v5 ranked mode for players that might want to get more competitive with their football.

Since its release, Rematch has proven to be incredibly successful. The studio revealed that, in just a day, the football game had gotten more than a million unique players across PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Back in April, Tarno had spoken about how Sloclap had never considered a free-to-play business model for Rematch. When asked about the game’s $30 price tag, Tarno spoke about why it didn’t need to go free-to-play to find success. Rather, he believed that the unique skill-based gameplay would be something players would find interesting enough to pay money for.

“I never considered free-to-play,” said Tarno. “One of the things I love about making games is that there is no secret formula or anything, but the best way—or maybe actually the only way—to make a commercial success is to just make a very good game.”

Speaking about the core gameplay of Rematch, Tarno had also mentioned how Sloclap wanted to respect its players by offering them challenging gameplay that would also be fun.

“One of our cultural pillars at Sloclap is respecting our players, respecting their intelligence, respecting their skills,” he said. “We like challenging gameplay and gamers are a very discerning audience. They are often very analytical, very precise in their assessment of mechanics and what works, what doesn’t, what’s balanced, what’s not balanced, etc.”

For more details about Rematch, check out our review.

The result is a solid, entertaining experience that’s easy to learn but harder to master in the thick of the action. However, the game’s early access period certainly had a few kinks to iron out. Fortunately, Sloclap is on the job, releasing patches that fixed several issues while mitigating others, an indication that the studio is focused on making its football debut a successful and memorable one. 

But does that mean Rematch can hold the attention of a player base that can be quite discerning when it comes to their favorite sport? Let’s find out.

"By avoiding a more traditional rendition of a football match, Rematch makes things quite easy for its players, allowing them to use the field’s walls to line-up passes and even shots."

Rematch makes it quite easy to get into the action, with a well-implemented prologue section that wastes no time in introducing players to a simplified control system that we found quite effective at getting the job done. With the basics out of the way, players are given the option to dive right into a quick game, choosing between teams of three, four, or five players. Winning a few games and levelling up soon unlocks the option to play ranked matches, giving players a lot of options right off the bat. 

As far as its controls go, Rematch eschews the bells and whistles of its popular counterparts, with Sloclap opting for a control scheme that makes passing, shooting, tackling, and staying in control of the ball a breeze. For players who find football to be a little more complex than they would like in other well-established franchises, Rematch is an excellent option that allows for a gameplay loop that quickly becomes addictive  – and quite rewarding. 

By avoiding a more traditional rendition of a football match, Rematch makes things quite easy for its players, allowing them to use the field’s walls to line-up passes and even shots. Taking the lower number of players on the pitch into account, the game does away with offside penalties and the like. Heck, there isn’t even a referee on the pitch, which makes things light and breezy just like Sloclap intended. 

"There were many moments where we were left scrambling to find a teammate to pass to, the pressure to retain possession mounting and leading to forced errors that served as lessons in hindsight."

Its progression systems are quite generous, allowing players to quickly level up while collecting two in-game currencies that they can then use to unlock cosmetics for their character, or new arenas to dive into.

Depending on which game mode you choose, Rematch can be either very easy or difficult. Playing a game with just three members on your team requires strategic use of positioning, possession, and picking your moment to shoot your shot. Given that you can only control your character on the pitch, your mileage may vary depending on how good your teammates are at the game. Things get a little easier with four or five players, giving you more options while also making things more challenging when you’re up against an opposition that plays as a well-coordinated unit. 

We were lucky enough to be pitted against a few teams that left us gasping for air as we tried to chase them down even as they kept a firm control of the ball, forcing us to stay on the defensive and keeping the pressure up almost all the time. However, other teams were less threatening, allowing us a lot of freedom in the way we approached our own strategies. 

Although the game’s controls are simple enough, you will need precision and excellent timing to ensure that the ball goes where you want it to be, a challenge when you have two or more opposing players doing their utmost to take it away from you. There were many moments where we were left scrambling to find a teammate to pass to, the pressure to retain possession mounting and leading to forced errors that served as lessons in hindsight. 

Irrespective of the game mode you’re playing on, Rematch is undeniably entertaining which is both a good and bad thing. 

"While there is no specified timeline about when crossplay could go live, Sloclap has assured its players that it remains among their top priorities at the time of writing this review."

That’s because matchmaking in Rematch was a mixed bag, with 5v5 matches barely getting started in the early access period. A lot of our time in the game was spent playing with either three or four players despite our efforts to get into a 5v5 game. However, the other two modes were reasonably quick to find us a team and get started with a few exceptions. We recommend switching servers to your specific region as opposed to leaving the auto option selected. 

In a few matches, we found several instances of lag which marred the experience to an extent. It can be quite annoying to line up your player to receive a pass only for the game to stutter and ruin what could have been an opportunity to score a goal. At times, it felt like our teammates were teleporting across the field but switching server regions alleviated these problems to a large extent. 

It can be a tricky balance between finding teammates to play with and then actually getting to play the game. We also encountered a single instance of desync on one of the few 5v5 matches that we managed to get into, and were unable to rejoin it even after restarting the game. 

Sloclap has since acknowledged these issues and has promised to iron them out along with adding crossplay support, which should alleviate matchmaking issues in the coming months. While there is no specified timeline about when crossplay could go live, Sloclap has assured its players that it remains among their top priorities at the time of writing this review. 

"There is a lot of potential for Rematch to become a popular alternative to more mainstream football titles."

On the performance front, Rematch performs brilliantly, with nary a dropped frame in our time with the game. We also did not encounter any crashes although one bug that showed opposing players celebrating one of our goals was both amusing and confusing at the same time. Menus in the game are quick and snappy, intuitively arranged to allow you to get where you need to go with just a few clicks. 

Sloclap has brought over the cel-shaded art style it used in Sifu, utilizing it to great effect in its latest outing. Arenas are vibrant with colors popping out both on the field and off it. Eschewing the need for ultra-realism has worked very well in Sloclap’s favor, allowing it to present a visual style that is both unique and effective at bringing Rematch to life.

As far as audio is concerned, the sound effects and music are certainly serviceable but do nothing to complement the visuals and set Rematch apart. The game’s music quickly fades into the background as you dive into the action, while a powerful kick doesn’t feel as punchy as it does in other football games. While the game’s audio is synced quite perfectly, it does nothing to enhance the experience. Fortunately, it takes nothing away from it either.

As Sloclap is quick to state in the game’s main menu screen, Rematch is just getting started. There is a lot of potential for it to become a popular alternative to more mainstream football titles, serving as a viable option for players looking to enjoy a quick fix of football without having to dive into field arrangements, substitutions, and the like. 

That simplicity does not take away from the experience that Sloclap intended, however. Rematch could be a great game for players with a more competitive approach, with its ranked mode allowing them to take on equally talented opponents. If you’re a pro at football games, the simplified controls and mechanics can allow you to quickly rise up the ranks and establish your domination on the pitch. 

"For players who play a lot of football on their consoles or PCs, Rematch is definitely worth a shot."

In our time with the game, we saw quite a few players who clearly knew what they were about, making good use of the walls and rebounds to set up truly incredible shots that left us cheering for them irrespective of whether they were out teammates or not. Rematch could be a solid competitive experience if Sloclap can fix its matchmaking and lag issues. 

For players who play a lot of football on their consoles or PCs, Rematch is definitely worth a shot. It does what Sloclap set out to do, and does it quite well with a few minor issues that are likely to be addressed in the near future. If you don’t mind diving into it with strangers, it’s easy to recommend Sloclap’s take on football. 

However, if you would like to dive into it with your buddies on other platforms, we would suggest waiting for crossplay to go live. Perhaps there may even be a sale that could save you a bit of cash at the time. 
Either way, Rematch is a lot of fun and is very easy to recommend to both casual football players and veterans alike.

This game was reviewed on Xbox Series X.

On Steam, the concurrent player count peaked at nearly 93,000 – a significant step down from its last beta, which reached almost 160,000 concurrent. Nevertheless, it’s an impressive start, especially since the latter was free for anyone to play.

Rematch is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC, offering high-octane football with few rules. Matches are 5v5 with no penalties or rest spots. It’s pretty streamlined, and while Steam reviews are “Mostly Positive,” with 77 percent of 7,528 users giving it the thumbs-up, there are criticisms against the price of cosmetics (especially since it isn’t free-to-play).

The amount of content is also a pain point, though seasons will add more. Sloclap is also working to add cross-platform play, which it couldn’t finish in time for launch. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.

While it’s a somewhat unusual pivot for the studio behind Sifu, Rematch focuses more on skill-based gameplay. You control a single player (with a robust character creator for shaping your avatar) in 5v5 matches with rules more akin to street football, which means no fouls or pauses. Competitive play is available for those who want to climb the ranks, and seasons will bring new content over time.

While its open beta peaked at nearly 160,000 concurrent players on Steam, the full game is nearing 55,000 peak concurrent players at this time of writing. That could improve over the weekend, especially with a recent patch addressing issues with desync. Unfortunately, cross-platform play isn’t available at launch, but it’s one of the “top priorities” for the team. Stay tuned for updates in the meantime.