Hey everyone!
We hope you've had a wonderful end of the year, and if not, we hope things are looking up soon with brighter days ahead. We wish you a happy new year, and all the best for what's to come! Everyone is back from their holidays and the team is now back in full swing and ready to get things done for Season 2 and beyond.
In this post, we'll talk about what's next in Season 2, a quick recap of the feedback we've gotten since Patch 7, some Discord and esports-related news, as well as the upcoming Patch 8 Beta.
Without further ado, let's get started!
Season 2 Highlights
With Patch 7 out since mid-December, the team's focus has partially shifted to Quality-of-Life changes to provide a more intuitive user experience across the board for Patch 8 and Patch 9.
Patch 8 (tentatively™ planned for the end of the month) will see the release of the long-awaited 1v1 Limited Time Mode with its own Quick Play queue, and will be available indefinitely as a Custom Match game mode! We are also reworking the way Outfield Dives work to make them a more consistent and intuitive defensive tool. Do note that depending on player feedback during the upcoming Beta, we might need more time to iterate and polish the Outfield Dive, which might see it postponed for Patch 9. Additionally, we're also adding the Dribble Lob Push Ball. This one won't make it into Patch 8 proper, as we'd like to get your feedback first before putting it into the live game.
Our UX team has reworked the Battle Pass item previews to more easily identify the type of reward you are getting. The Home/Away and the Celebrations customization screens have also gotten a fresh coat of paint! Check it out below.
Patch 9 (also tentatively™ planned for the end of February) will introduce more character customization slots, up to six total, for those of you who express themselves through fashion as much as they do through their plays! Player reporting will also be made more easily accessible.
Last but not least, the Fireball Limited Game Mode will make its return in Patch 9 (not sorry Isagi wannabes). We're also looking into cycling LTMs, although this is still in the early design stages. We'll keep you updated on that front!
This is a non-exhaustive list of changes and new features, but this should give you a rough idea of what to expect for the rest of Season 2. We have A LOT planned this year, and this is only a small bit of our plans moving forward. We still want to share a long-term roadmap with you soon for what's coming in 2026!
Patch 7 Feedback
It’s been almost a month since the launch of Patch 7 and Season 2, and we’re happy with the overall response! Many of you have shared how much you’re enjoying the new additions, such as the new dribbling move to the bug fixes that have helped make matches feel smoother and more responsive. This feedback is incredibly encouraging and gives us confidence that we’re moving in the right direction. Patches 8 and 9 will continue to build on the foundation laid by Patch 7.
We’ve also seen some thoughtful discussions around areas that could use further improvement, such as the Quick Play leaver penalty and the variety of unique content in the Battle Pass and the Shop. These are valuable conversations, and we’d like to take the time to address them more thoroughly in a future post. Whether you’re sharing praise, ideas, or concerns, your feedback helps us better understand what works and where we can do better, and we’ll keep listening as we move forward.
Overall, it’s been great to see such a positive community response. Many of you have been sharing clips, starting constructive discussions, and celebrating great moments from your matches, and a lot of the most visible conversations reflect that energy.
Community Spotlight
On that note, we’d like to give a special shout-out to Reddit user FakeFrooz for the clean diagrams they’ve been posting over the past month. They show a deep understanding of the game, and highlight some ways we want the game to be played, with tactical thinking and role rotations. There is room for everyone to develop their playstyle, and it is amazing to see players share their ideas and be helpful towards the community.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Rematch/comments/1pyqcf0/use_the_wall_to_your_advantage/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Rematch/comments/1py7hn0/tunnel_vision_under_stress/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Rematch/comments/1pxz557/advice_for_the_last_attack/
Discord Breakout Hit
In case you missed it, Discord has awarded our Discord community with the Breakout Hit award, as one of the fastest growing video game communities on the platform! We'd like to thank you all for being so invested in Rematch ever since its announcement all the way back at The Game Awards 2024!
Thank you for the wholesome message!!
While we can't get everyone a cool Gift Box (thank you Discord, it's awesome <3), we still wanted to celebrate the community by making new and free in-game items, available to everyone! We plan to release these items hopefully with Patch 9 in late February.
We plan to have a whole Discord-themed kit to customize your Player Card with, as well as community-selected titles ("Discord Kitten", for real?)
Here's a sneak peek (these are still very much a WIP and are subject to change before they make it into the live game!):
Work In Progress
Esports
We've touched upon esports in our previous post, but to reiterate:
Official, Sloclap-run competitions are still a long way off, and Rematch isn’t quite ready yet for high-stakes competitive play. We don’t ever want a match or a tournament result to come down to an unlucky bug, and the game simply needs more time to be polished before we go that far. That said, the competitive spirit is already very much alive. Several community groups are running their own tournaments, sometimes on a pretty big scale, and that’s something we're both impressed by and excited to see. While we keep improving Rematch, we’re slowly exploring ways to support and sponsor these community-run events, and to give players more reasons to jump in and compete. This is a gradual process, but it’s a direction we’re excited about as the game gets better, patch after patch.
We are currently working with 3 major competitive actors in Rematch Federation, Major Rematch Championship, and The Elite, who have run several tournaments on their own, some even in-person, to great success! We are partnering with them to hold higher stakes events in order to help the competitive scene thrive while we focus on improving Rematch!
Feel free to join their respective Discord servers for more information.
Patch 8 Beta is now live!
You can expect some of the changes mentioned earlier in this post planned for Patch 8, but also a few gameplay tweaks we want you to try ahead of Patch 9! The earlier we get your feedback, the more time we have to act on it and polish the game before we release it live. This is something we have done with the 1v1 LTM that you have been able to test in the Patch 7 Beta for an eventual Patch 8 release. As stated earlier, the Outfield Dive rework, currently planned for Patch 8, might be postponed to Patch 9 depending on its reception. The new Dribble Lob Push Ball move, planned for Patch 9, will also be made available in the Patch 8 Beta so we can start gathering your feedback ahead of time.
Alright, that's it for us! Thank you for reading, for playing Rematch, and we'll be looking forward to your feedback when the Beta drops.
See you on the pitch!