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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99View Essential Hardware PC Gaming Show Dune: Awakening Recommended reading Rematch blew away my expectations—trailers don't do Sloclap's 5v5 football game justice Sloclap shoots, then scores as Rematch hits 3 million players, proving there's a surprising overlap between sports and fighting game fans Rematch review: A bar-setting football game Soccer fans should be paying attention to Rematch, the 5v5 game coming this summer from the developer of martial arts hit Sifu 7 Rematch tips to help you hone your football skills 'Just make a very good game': Sloclap never considered making Rematch free-to-play, and dismisses the idea that online games can't succeed with a price tag Ball hogs and 'wannabe Messis' are already the heels of the Rematch community: 'Coach should run out onto the field and beat them with a stick' Rematch devs talk balls—specifically, how to balance the ball's feel with function: 'It's the basic brick of the game, it's like an atomic component' Harvey Randall Contributions from 30 June 2025 Any tweaks need to be done in a "considerate and deliberate way". When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Sloclap) Rematch is still going strong after its release, with around 33,000 players on Steam alone as I write this very sentence. Talking to them about their successes, PCG's own Evan Lahti asked co-founder Pierre Tarno and lead game designer Dylan Allen what goes into making the game's balls feel so good to kick. "There's multiple ways to approach it," Allen explains—see, Rematch is a sports game, but it's also got a ton of fighting game DNA inside it, too. Duels on the pitch sometimes give me Absolver flashbacks, and that's all very much deliberate. "One of the most important aspects of making Rematch, which is one of the biggest things that comes from Sifu and the way Sloclap makes games, is worrying about the gamefeel. Whenever you hit the ball, you want it to feel good, right?" Related Articles Rematch blew away my expectations—trailers don't do Sloclap's 5v5 football game justice Sloclap shoots, then scores as Rematch hits 3 million players, proving there's a surprising overlap between sports and fighting game fans Rematch review: A bar-setting football game However, you need to "balance that against the rest of the game, because if you have a ball that goes too fast, too far, how do defenders react to it? How does the goalkeeper react to it? Does it mean that you can just go from one side of the field to the other without having to interact with the midfield?" The answer to that wound up being yes, sorta, but not without caveats. After playing a bit of Rematch myself, the actual surgical precision is clear; a goalie can punt their ball to the other side of the pitch, but their kick stops just shy of landing in the other net. That means you're often just feeding control over to the other team—unless you have a mate in prime position to punt it for you. Still, Allen says that sometimes, "it feels like you have to sacrifice one for the other." As for whether Sloclap'll change how the ball works? Both devs gave the impression that, now they're locked in, they'll need to be similarly surgical about any changes they do make: "It's a big part, as you say, of the way the game feels. It's the basic brick of the game. It's like an atomic component … but yeah, we had to build a lot of the game around it." The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Tarno does state, though, that the team isn't "ruling out making tweaks to it," however, they'll "need to be done in a very considerate and deliberate way. Always taking player feedback into account." He then went on to share the kinds of questions that surround such choices, like "When it bounces on the ground, how high does it bounce back up? How is the effect curve applied?" Because if they do make those tweaks, it'll mean "that players have to relearn how to perform specific actions. How do they judge distance? How do they judge their ability to get there before their opponent does?" Which makes sense to me. Fighting games are two parts muscle memory, and the same'll apply to Rematch—humans aren't great at doing math, but they are great at judging approximate distances. At least, once they've had a chance to see something fly a few times. Any adjustments to Rematch's ball would start that process all over again. "There are certain tweaks that you can do on a regular basis, and some others that are really sensitive and that should be done with a lot of care. If we really consider that, it'll significantly improve the game experience," Tarno adds, before emphasising: "Yeah. We'll be very careful about that." 2025 games: This year's upcoming releases Best PC games: Our all-time favorites Free PC games: Freebie fest Best FPS games: Finest gunplay Best RPGs: Grand adventures Best co-op games: Better together Harvey Randall Social Links Navigation Staff Writer Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many. With contributions from Evan LahtiStrategic Director You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Rematch blew away my expectations—trailers don't do Sloclap's 5v5 football game justice Sloclap shoots, then scores as Rematch hits 3 million players, proving there's a surprising overlap between sports and fighting game fans Rematch review: A bar-setting football game Soccer fans should be paying attention to Rematch, the 5v5 game coming this summer from the developer of martial arts hit Sifu 7 Rematch tips to help you hone your football skills 'Just make a very good game': Sloclap never considered making Rematch free-to-play, and dismisses the idea that online games can't succeed with a price tag Latest in Sports No more dolphin swimming or flying in Rematch—in a bug fix, Sloclap very seriously explains why levitating soccer players aren't part of its vision for the game Rematch players are flopping about like schools of flying fish because—and I tested this—it's actually faster Rematch review: A bar-setting football game 7 Rematch tips to help you hone your football skills Should you play Rematch with a mouse or a controller? 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