If there hasn’t been enough football on the telly over the past couple of weeks, perhaps Sir or Madam would be interested in some Soccer Story?
This RPG and football crossover has arrived on Game Pass today, so lace up the boots and tuck some exercise books into your socks. Joining it, and decidedly less sporty, is Insurgency: Sandstorm (Cloud and Console).
Soccer Story (PC, Console and Cloud) has a terrifying premise if you’re into the old kickball like us. Soccer Inc. has shut down all the local stadia, tournaments and even training grounds, as football has been roundly banned. It’s enough to make you clutch your half-and-half team scarves in fear. Luckily, a magical soccer ball has approached you, instilling you with its power and turning you into the Saviour of Soccer!
Football management games aren’t too far removed from an RPG, so the idea of splicing the classic JRPG and a rags-to-riches tale of soccer stardom makes a lot of sense to us. It’s also physics based, so the many puzzles, combat situations and football matches (you do actually get to play some football in Soccer Story) are all completed with a ball at your feet. Did we also say it looks overloaded with personality, with some lovely pixel art? Well, it is.
Less new and spangly is Insurgency: Sandstorm. This has been out for a few months on Xbox, and is now prone in the grass, shimmying towards a Game Pass release. You can grab it from the Xbox Store, via Game Pass right now.
What did we think of it? Quite a lot, actually. We handed it a 4.5/5 in review, which is quite rare nowadays, saying “Insurgency: Sandstorm is a completely immersive experience. The level designs are fantastic, the simple gameplay is executed exquisitely, the level of customisation of characters and loadouts is various and the sound design is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It could be a little neater in terms of visuals, and there are a few sound hiccups, but when something is this good, it’s easy to let that, and the lack of story mode or numerous game modes, slide.” That may be enough to get you kitting up.
There is only one other game officially announced for Game Pass in November, and that is Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PC). It rolls a d12 and moves onto Game Pass on November 30th.
We wouldn’t leave without informing you of the leavers. On November 30th, we say goodbye to Archvale (Console, PC, Cloud), Deeeer Simulator (Console, PC, Cloud), Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Console, Cloud), Mind Scanners (Console, PC, Cloud), Mortal Shell (Console, PC, Cloud), Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator (Console, PC, Cloud) and Warhammer 40,000 Battlesector (Console, PC, Cloud).
Which Qatar-based distraction will you opt for? Football or sandstorms? Let us know in the comments or on our social channels.
