Rematch Preview - Immensely Fun Co-op Soccer Game that Works Great on Steam Deck

If you haven't yet, follow us on X (Twitter), Mastodon, or Bluesky to know when we post new articles, and join our Reddit or Subscribe to us on YouTube to check out our content and interact with our awesome community. Thank you for supporting us!

NOTE: A preview code for PC Steam was provided by Sloclap.

Rematch is already shaping up to be an incredible take on the world-renowned sport of football (or Soccer in the US). It's an immersive third-person football game where you compete in casual and competitive matches with an arcade twist and an over-the-shoulder view. After playing a few matches, I have a pretty good understanding of what this game is and if it shows any promise. It might not satisfy the hardcore fans of the Football Manager or FIFA franchises, but I think there’s a somewhat separate audience that will enjoy this more casual third-person multiplayer experience.

Rematch is currently being developed by Sloclap, the team that made the extremely successful Sifu, and you can feel some similarities in how it controls. You take control of one player on your team and compete in fast-paced 3v3, 4v4, or 5v5 matches from a unique third-person perspective. Sloclap sent the SDHQ team codes to participate in their closed beta, and we all teamed up to win some matches. I’ve played plenty of multiplayer football games, such as FIFA and FIFA Street, and I’ve always enjoyed how those games play. However, Rematch takes your typical multiplayer football gameplay and provides an all-new, exciting perspective.

The Unique Mechanics of Rematch

As someone who knows virtually nothing about football, I could still quickly get to grips with the general gameplay. There seems to be a fairly low-skill floor, but there is plenty of room for high-level players in the competitive game modes.

Each game lasts for around 6 minutes, and the aim is to score as many goals as possible. You can play as a player on the pitch or as the goalkeeper and change positions on the fly during gameplay if you need to be more offensive or defensive. You can even choose to have no goalkeeper at all if you're desperate for a goal. If your team or the opponent team takes a four-goal lead, the game will (mercifully) end. I think that teamwork is fundamental in ensuring that your team is successful.

I quite enjoyed being a goalkeeper, which I wasn’t expecting, but making a challenging save in the heat of a match feels rewarding. Controlling the ball felt fluid and tactile, and there were never any moments where it felt like something going wrong was the game's fault instead of my lack of skill.

If you just focus on trying to score, I almost guarantee your team will struggle and likely lose. I’ve also noticed no standard rules in Rematch, such as fouls, the offside rule, and pauses. This allows you to tackle your opponent as much as possible without worrying about snapping their leg. Once you gain possession of the ball, you can dribble and sprint, followed by passing, shooting, or performing tricks to evade an attacking player.

I also noticed that there’s no auto-passing or auto-possession feature. You have to make sure you’re looking exactly where you want the ball to go or where you want to take possession. If you lose possession of the ball, you must get it back by challenging your opponent with a slide or standard tackle. I like that there are no outer bounds because the pitch is surrounded by futuristic virtual reality cages that change the stadium's environment. So, if your ball touches the sideline, it will stay in, keeping the game flowing.

A player at random on your team will be selected to be the goalkeeper whenever a goal is scored and everyone will reset on their own side. You can make saves as the goalkeeper, but you’ve got to know how the opponent will shoot to make the right save. As I said before, if you don’t like playing as the goalkeeper, you can come out of the goal and be a player on the pitch. The other players can go into the penalty box to become a goalkeeper.

The gameplay itself is intense action and requires deep tactics. Rematch has a tutorial and some workshops for you to get some practice with how the game plays. I tried the standard tutorial, which teaches the basic gameplay, followed by two workshops. Once I learned the basics and felt good enough to try out a game of 4v4, I started up a quick match.

I played Rematch with the SDHQ Writer team, and believe me, we won (just trust me, we won) (Editor's Note by Oliver: We got absolutely demolished.) most of the matches due to our communication on voice chat. Utilizing the in-game voice chat features makes it easier to use strategic approaches like who should stay as the goalkeeper, as we did get our fair share of free goals without a goalkeeper, and where to pass the ball to. I think the players who are not communicating with each other can struggle to win the matches because this is a game where you have to be in contact with your buddies.

Even without voice chat, the game features a request pass animation. You can use the pass button to request a pass, helping your teammates decide who to pass the ball to, as it highlights them saying they are requesting a pass. With manual aiming for passing, these highlighted actions can be critical.

I found the gameplay fun and didn’t want to put the controller down. However, when you’re playing in a team with random people who haven’t got their mic on, you can bet that teamwork is difficult.

Steam Deck Performance

I did have some brief encounters with what seemed to be a bit of lag or server instability, but that could have been on my end, especially as the SDHQ team was across 3 different countries at the time. We’re still a couple of months away from the launch, so I wouldn’t worry about the technical side.

Performance-wise, the game is pretty flawless, with high frame rates on the Steam Deck and some nice visual options to adjust so you can fine-tune your experience. I also enjoyed the vibrant visual style, which always makes the game look good, even on lower settings. This is a brilliant experience for the senses, with exciting music that ramps up alongside the action. Rematch is already shaping up to be an incredible take on the world-renowned sport of football.

On lower settings, a 50 FPS frame rate is definitely possible, so you don't have to feel like you're at a disadvantage just because you're playing on a Steam Deck and not a PC.

This is also before the game has been certified for the Steam Deck! When we got the codes, we were told that more information about Steam Deck compatibility will be available closer to launch and in future updates, but if the performance so far is indicative of anything, Rematch is going to be a solid game to play on the go.

Sloclap also says that they are going to be constantly supporting this game after launch. With every season, they will feature new game modes, arenas, and new cosmetic content.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time during the preview session, and I’d highly recommend that you keep an eye out for when it releases on June 19th. There is an Open Beta starting on April 18th that you can register for right now. You can enjoy a new experience with Rematch on PC for $29.99 when it launches on June 19th.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!