Soccer Story Is A Sports Fantasy RPG That’s Coming To Game Pass

There’s a new RPG coming out this year, and it’s soccer-themed (which rules). Soccer Story is an open world game with turn based combat and real time soccer matches. Best of all, you’ll be able to grab it on the Game Pass once it’s released.

You’ll be solving overworld puzzles and fighting monsters using a magical soccer ball. Though the ball appears powerful, you’ll also have to improve your personal stats in speed, shooting, energy, and strength. In the main storyline, an evil corporation rolled in and banned soccer around the world. As the Savior of Soccer, you have to revive the sport from the dark ages. The storyline is over 15 hours, but you can continue playing with up to 3 other friends in local multiplayer.

Despite the worldwide soccer ban, it wouldn’t be a soccer game without being able to play in real-time matches. But the developers aren’t content with abiding by the constraints of reality or social decency. You’ll be able to obliterate sharks, ninjas, the elderly, and toddlers in soccer matches. You’ll even be able to use your magic soccer ball to play adjacent sports, though the Steam page doesn’t make clear what they are yet.

My favorite part of the trailer is Soccer Story’s colorful pixel art style, which reminds me of the older Pokémon games on the GBA. But a lot of fans around the world are just really excited about the premise of a soccer RPG. Europeans are jokingly complaining that it’s football and not soccer, and half of the fans who are yelling about the game online are from Brazil. Clearly, the developers have tapped an underserved market of weebs who want their fantasy football to be a little more… fantasy.

Indie sports RPGs seem to be having a moment. Soccer Story was made by a different studio than the developers of Golf Story, but there are definitely similarities in the pixel art style and the ball-based puzzle gameplay. Maybe other studios will make basketball or baseball RPGs in the near future.

There’s no specific release date yet, but you can sign up for the Steam beta on their website. The game will launch on PC, PlayStation, Game Pass, Nintendo Switch, and Stadia.