Rematchis a massive success,attracting over 3 million unique playersaccording to Sloclap. The core loop is addictive, and no game captures the feeling of playing 5-a-side better than Rematch, but I think most lovers of the game can admit it’s not quite the finished product.
As with any live-service game, Sloclap is wholly committed to improving the game over time. In arecent interview with PC Gamer, game director and studio co-founder Pierre Tarno and lead game designer Dylan Allen discussed the immediate future of Rematch.
Rematch Will Have In-Game Tournaments
Another upcoming feature is the implementation of an in-game tournament system, which is intended to vary the competitive experience and to give players something to look forward to.
“[We’re going to add] tournament systems to add variety to the competitive experience, further down the line,” Tarno explained. “You’ll know at a specific time, there’s a tournament, you can train for it with friends, you can put it on your agenda, you’ll know ‘we have a couple of hours to play this tournament, and it’s something to look forward to’”.
A club system is also in progress, “really further down the line.” The plan is to link the club system to real-world cities and locations, injecting the sense of tribalism that makes real-world football so engaging.
Allen also explained that the team is constantly looking at exploits that have become popular and is investigating whether these mechanics are healthy for the game. For example, the dolphin dive was a short-lived strategy that involved spamming the jump button because it drained less stamina than sprinting. This was hotfixed, but other mechanics like the so-called Blade Shot and Ippy Slide are still being looked at by Sloclap.
The interview did not mention a common complaint players have with the ranked system. The match-making rating (MMR) system employed by Rematch doesn’t adjust, i.e. you don’t earn more points for having a higher win rate. Also, some players have reported instances of Elite-ranked players matching with Bronze-ranked teammates, casting doubt on how effective the MMR system is at separating divisions.
