despelote Review: A Narrative Hat-Trick Celebrating Soccer Fever!

Soccer (or football, as most of the world would call it) certainly captures the hearts and minds of many across the globe. Whether you played for your high school team or you'd rather sacrifice your firstborn child than miss a World Cup game, you know how deep the love of the sport goes. Published by the ever-unpredictable Panic, despelote is one man's recollection of a historic moment in both soccer and Ecuadorian history. But does despelote receive a red card, or does it score a GOAAAAAL? Strap on your cleats and let's get out on the review field!

despelote is told from the first-person perspective of developer Julian Cordero, who, at just eight years old, is swept up in soccer fever with the rest of Ecuador. Our story takes place in the quaint town of Quito in 2001 and begins just as Ecuador's soccer team gains a hard-fought win that puts them just four matches away from a spot at the World Cup. Julian's life seems to entirely revolve around the sport, from playing Tino Tini's Soccer 99 on the family TV to running off to kick the soccer ball with his friends at the mere suggestion of downtime.

And it's not just Julian who is caught up in soccer-mania. The enthusiasm for Ecuador's team is tangible everywhere as you navigate your way through the town. You'll hear side conversations from shop patrons and catch the newspaper headlines that echo your feelings of national pride and sportsmanship as you try to pull off impressive footwork by kicking bottles with your friends.

If you're looking for the type of game that places a strong emphasis on interaction, despelote is not going to be the title for you. The game plays more like a personal essay set to unique visuals than a typical video game. At times, you'll be able to control just Julian's gaze, turning his head from a stationary point to observe the sights and sounds unfolding around you. Other times, you do have full control and are able to explore the town at your leisure—or, at least, until your mom tells you it's time to come home. Looking down will allow you to check your watch so you can be sure you don't miss dinnertime.

During the more open-ended exploration segments, you're able to interact with people and objects that are rendered in a hand-drawn, black-and-white style that serves as a stark contrast to the backdrop. Many times, the object you'll be interacting with is—you guessed it—a SOCCER BALL, or a bottle to replace the soccer ball you lost, or your video game console to play a soccer game! I'll admit, I thought the game within a game was pretty fun the first time, but it lost a bit of its luster as the gameplay wore on. Conversations will carry on around you as you play, as will the bustle of the household, which definitely hit me right in the childhood.

All the while, adult Julian narrates Ecuador's progress on their journey to qualifying for the World Cup and his memories of his childhood home. Whether Ecuador takes home the cup or not isn't what's important here; it's that the team brought the whole country together. A moment of unity in a world that always seems so eager to divide us or isolate us with personal struggles.

This moment clearly sticks with Julian, who returns to the park of his childhood to record the game's audio backdrop. The sounds of children laughing and shouting in the distance, chirping insects at night, and light traffic in the streets all come from the very place that the game is depicting, which does have a nice grounding effect that firmly plants the game in time and space. It's a good thing that the sound effects have such a large presence, as music in despelote is SPARSE. There are some radios you can interact with that play brief snippets of songs and, of course, your beloved video game with some 8-bit tunes, but the majority of what you'll hear is the voice of our narrator and the sounds of the city.

despelote also has a visual style all its own, with backdrops looking like a heavily filtered, static-y television image with high-contrast, two-tone images that are oddly stiff compared to the black-and-white drawn characters and cartoony interactive objects. The contrast is great because you always know what you can and cannot interact with, and the interesting color palette certainly caught my attention, but the effect is sometimes wasted on repetitive locations and scenes. There is also one scene where there is a 3D render of the park thrown in to represent how things "really looked," but if my park had cars bleeding into sidewalks and giant holes in the earth I could fall through, I simply would not return. I would have loved to see real-life footage of the park or even still images in its place, but it's certainly a choice.

My biggest gripe with despelote is that there is not enough game for the casual soccer fan to remain engaged, even for its short (less than 2-hour) runtime. There are a lot of moments that feel like missed opportunities, particularly scenes that have the player stationary—able to look around at your surroundings and listen to what's happening around you, but not able to be an active participant. I also found myself wandering around frequently, wondering if I missed an instruction or if I was truly meant to be aimless in this particular scene. There is a bit of a lack of direction when you're left to your own devices.

Additionally, while I do think it is touching to share core memories of our childhood and celebrate historic events, I'm not sure all audiences will connect with Ecuador's 2001 journey to the World Cup. Soccer die-hards and Ecuadorians may find some nostalgia here, but more casual fans of the sport might find the excitement lost on them.

Regardless, despelote still gets some things right. This developer does a tremendous job of immersing the player in the sights and sounds of 2001 Ecuador. While I would have appreciated a bit more musical accompaniment, I did enjoy the sounds of the city, and the visuals of this game are instantly recognizable. At the end of the day, this story comes from the heart, from a time and a place that meant something to a lot of people. Video games are a storytelling medium, after all, and despelote has a story to tell.

GOOD