Rematch, the popular soccer game with a player base exceeding 5 million, has just rolled out a significant new update. This patch introduces a range of enhancements and fixes, although the highly anticipated cross-play functionality is still in development.
Developer Sloclap stated in a recent blog post that while substantial progress is being made on cross-play and netcode improvements, these complex features require specialized resources. The studio highlighted that they cannot dedicate all their resources solely to these topics to accelerate their release. However, Sloclap expressed optimism, teasing that they are making “very good progress” and anticipate sharing more details on these fronts soon.
New Features and Key Additions
- Colorblind Mode: A crucial addition enabling a toggle for team colors, catering to players with deuteranopia, protanopia, or tritanopia. Future updates plan to expand this to a full-screen filter.
- Player Progression Screen Update: The interface has been visually redesigned for improved readability and user feedback.
- Gamepad Remapping: A foundational version of gamepad remapping has been introduced, allowing players to start experimenting with controls. Sloclap plans to release a more advanced version in the near future.
- Improved Goal Validation System: The system now incorporates a delay to accurately check for potential deflections or catches, and to account for network variations before validating a goal, especially when the ball is on the line.
- Voice Channel Parameter in Custom Matches: A new option allows players to chat with everyone in the lobby, which is particularly useful for training with friends on opposing teams.
Core Gameplay Enhancements and Fixes
Matches / Core Gameplay Improvements
- Better Hit Detection: Addressed issues where the ball was incorrectly deflected instead of being caught by the goalkeeper due to an inaccurate evaluation of ball speed. Further design tweaks for catch vs. deflect parameters are coming soon.
- General Netcode Improvements: Various underlying netcode optimizations and fixes for a smoother online experience.
Major Fixes
- Camera Fixes: Multiple fixes to camera behavior during goal replays, eliminating jitter.
- Player Interaction (`Hindering`): Physical contact between players (`body blocking`) should now be more effective.
- End Match Screens: The skip function for end match screens is now fixed, allowing players to analyze the scoreboard without automatic return to the ranking screen.
- Pause Menu Accessibility: The pause menu is now consistently accessible at all times during matches.
- Stability: Resolved various crashes occurring during post-goal sequences.
- Animation Polish: Numerous improvements and fixes to animations, including new static tap animations, and polish on volley shoots, dive player, and pushball animations.
Minor / Miscellaneous Fixes
- Goalkeepers now correctly react to opponent collisions, while maintaining invulnerability against tackles.
- Fixed physical and visual states of the ball in menus and at kickoff.
- Shots deflected by an outfield player`s defense mode now have a wider angle (except against goalkeeper or sweeper shots).
- Improved camera control feedback during tap actions for mouse and keyboard users.
- Resolved an issue with Ball Camera Lock teleporting for mouse and keyboard users when shooting.
- Pushball now correctly retains the last inputted direction when quickly returning to neutral.
- Communication/ball call cooldown increased slightly from 0.8s to 1s to reduce spam.
- Shots now trigger controller rumble during preparation.
- Goal Bursts correctly stop after goal replays.
- Multiple VFX and audio improvements and fixes during and after goal replays.
- Resolved various UI display issues across different screens, including pause menu footer, spectator mode elements, ping icon legibility, opponent nametags, and scoreboard details.
- Updated UI SFX, music integration at match start, and various animation audio updates.
- Addressed an incorrect music playback bug at the beginning of matches.
- Multiple environment and lighting improvements.
- Minor fixes to tutorials and workshops.
Menus & Interface Improvements
Additions and Updates
- Visual updates to player progression screen for improved readability and UI feedback.
- Addition of voice channel parameter choice on the custom match parameter screen, enabling lobby-wide chat.
Miscellaneous Fixes
- Fixed ball indicator arrow orientation.
- Resolved navigation focus and camera issues in the customization menu.
- Addressed social panel navigation and display issues.
- Fixed pop-up conflicts, such as “Some players in lobby are still in a match” overlapping with reconnect prompts.
- General UI fixes including options footer, matchmaking research panel visibility, input action text, reconnect state application, mouse navigation in custom match settings, purchase popup toggle, item thumbnail backgrounds, spin wheel button focus, “Press any key” display, rank icons, keyboard mapping presets, reconnect pop-up overlap, missing friend status on Xbox, warning message overlap, victory mood thumbnails, player card customization, currencies order.
- Resolved issues with language options not being saved on first launch and User Agreement translation.
- Fixed Xbox version missing rich presence when friends are in custom match lobbies.
- Special skins now have assigned voices.
- Various audio fixes within menus, and ensuring audio/voice language settings are correctly saved.
- Updated SFX for tutorials and workshops.
- Multiple localization, UI, and lighting improvements across menus and player profiles.
Art / Rendering Enhancements
Additions and Updates
- Added detail mods for small actors on levels and VRs (Virtual Realms).
- Introduced new balls to Prologue (ball customization coming soon).
- Added crowd spawn/distribution textures for stadiums.
Major Fixes
- Increased minimum LOD (Level of Detail) in low settings for the Customization menu.
- Fixed head sections and corrupted crosshairs on certain actions.
- Resolved crowd LOD bias and UI material AA (Anti-Aliasing) issues.
- Improved UI textures.
- Optimized cast shadow, WPO (World Position Offset), and VSM (Virtual Shadow Maps) on VRs and Stadiums.
- Meshes fixed and optimized across levels.
- Optimized minimap and line textures.
Minor Fixes
- Fixed material time period, accessories material on Ponytail hairstyle, Jelly Tails and Golden Flyaways hairstyle materials, and Eyelashes material.
- Corrected Characters textures compression settings.
- Updated goal reaction behavior for smokes and flash flares.
- Optimized lighting in the Playable Intro.
- Forced LOD on specific sequences in the playable intro.
- Optimized cast shadow on VRs.
- Minor material and math optimizations, and an update for Eye material.
- Disabled cast shadow on specific character parts for optimization.
Known Issues
Sloclap acknowledges the following issues are still present and under investigation:
- During kick-off, the ball sometimes emits loud wind sounds until kicked.
- Audio is abruptly cut when pressing a button during the start screen.
- Tackles occurring immediately after a player controls the ball may cause rollbacks for the tackling player.
- In some instances, a goalkeeper diving into another player controlling the ball triggers dive catch feedback without actually catching the ball.
- On consoles, ball position may desynchronize for some players after hitting a goalpost.
- Achievement unlocking issues persist across all platforms.