Sifu wasn't just a kung-fu game, say its devs, and Rematch is actually a "samurai game" and not a football game

I may have been playing Rematch wrong for several weeks, because apparently it's "not just a football game," but a "samurai game," which suggests that it's a little deadlier than I first thought.

In a recent dev update ahead of Rematch patch 1, developer Sloclap explained that Sifu, its previous game (whose players it admits to somewhat leaving in the dark when it came to Rematch), was "not just a king-fu game." While Sloclap doesn't quite explain what it means there, I think I get it - Sifu sometimes felt to me like a rhythm game, and while there's a lot of rhythm inherent in any martial art, there was something more to it than a simple brawler.

Just like Sifu wasn't just what it said on the tin, however, Sloclap argues that Rematch isn't either. It's new game is "not just a football game," it argues, perhaps ignoring the fact that Rematch is the most authentic replication of 5-a-side football I can imagine. In fact, Rematch is "a samurai game," Sloclap argues, suggesting that "interactions between players are swift, decisive, and can turn the tide of events in an instant."

I know what they mean, but it does feel like the Rematch devs might have been writing this particular update just after watching the latest Ghost of Yotei trailer. While a single mistake or piece of skill can turn the tide of a game in Rematch, I've also seen players scrambling over the ball in a way that feels neither swift nor decisive. Granted, I've had some sloppy kills in Assassin's Creed Shadows too, but that's not really the samurai fantasy that Ubisoft or Sloclap were aiming with.

Regardless of how much an Edo-era aristocrat would have enjoyed Rematch, I'm certainly having fun with it. I guess I'd just be having an easier time if I were rocking a katana on the pitch. For now, I suppose I'll have to settle for a cutting pass or two.

Rematch director doesn't want to make "$50-100 million" games, "because that's what the big studios do" and all it does is limit the studio's creative freedom.