So I originally wrote a negative review for this game after playing it with my son many hours and getting frustrated with many of the loose mechanics of the game. I mentioned that although I was having fun, the game had a few things that made it broken to my son. I also mentioned that it had a lot of frustrating mechanics that seemed broken. The developer responded to my review and pointed out several valid points, namely the whole point of the game is for there to be a certain level of unpredictability and that by leaving a negative review of the game it doesn't help improve the game but actually inhibits the developers from improving it. They also mentioned that it was clear we were having fun. Which...fair point.

I'll also add that I bought two copies of the game as well. Not something you do for a game you should be leaving a negative review for. Though to be fair, the flaws I was referring to did take time to manifest. We didn't start recognizing them as flaws until we had mastered the game play.

But regardless, what the developer pointed out made sense to me and I quickly deleted my negative review. They also said they appreciated me pointing out a specific flaw that my son and I noticed and pointed me to a place I could report things like that without leaving a negative review. I really appreciate this information and since then my son and I have continually gone back and played this game despite its flaws. This means we are still having fun and looking forward to playing it and my negative review was clearly not warranted. My sincerest apologies for it in the first place.

That being said, one of the reasons we have gone back was after setting the game to easy in the main menu, I'm not even sure what this accomplishes in head to head, It might all be psychosomatic because none of the auto help features are on but we have had much fewer instances of one team tanking and the other team being unstoppable. The developer assured me in response to my review there is no AI going on to facilitate what we are experiencing which I believe, but something was and sometimes is going on that cannot be attributed to our play. One team just cannot complete a pass, cannot make a shot, cannot catch a break with the refs. We have played long enough to understand how the game works and how to be successful. So when something is clearly not right, we notice. And when one of us is down 10-0 and can't score for the life of them, something isn't right.

So here is my honest review.

Positives.
Graphically stunning.
Animations are stellar.
Teams seem balanced.
Arcade aspects of play are really fun.
Controls are on point.
Incredibly fun when everything lines up.

Negatives.
Difficult to get used to how loose the play is.
Seems inconsistent with passing.
Skill of players doesn't seem consistent with on field play.
Issue with long shots. (Developer mentioned possible future fix)
Game seems to pick winners at times. (Developer stated there is no AI for this)

All of that to say, I clearly was far too negative in my first review. Hands down the most fun I've had playing a soccer game. Which is probably why I was so harsh up front. I felt like someone had needlessly hampered one of the best sports games I had played in a very long while. (Think Legend Bowl) The fact it's made by an Indie team makes it quite incredible. I stand corrected from my initial negative review. Definitely worth a shot. My son and I keep coming back regardless of how frustrated it makes us at times simply because it's really really fun to play.

Gameplay feels more realistic than FIFA...

my best and fav pixel/retro football game

so much fun with everything many teams many cups and career mode

you can create your team and players and coach and you can download team from workshop...

i am enjoying it so much as coop by remote play(career mode!!)

its even better than the old version its so nice and they keep update it every while ..

WORTH IT!

Enhanced 'Pixel Cup Soccer 17' which was already good enough. At least this one's still more fun & less irritating than EA FIFA series has ever dreamt to become.

Finally a game that puts the fun back in football!

I was admittedly reluctant to buy this one at first due to the cartoony visuals, but once I did, I found a game made with heart, soul, thought, courage and humor underneath the pixel art, something very much lacking from the serious, photo realistic, but incredibly sterile big budget titles.

Like probably most PCSUE players, I started my career in the player editor, adding all of my friends before the AI (unexpectedly) curb stomped my unexperienced (XP buys skills) and unskilled (skills make for good players) rookies in nearly every game on medium difficulty. Fortunately, PCSUE is pretty relaxed in terms of switching difficulty mid-season, so I managed to gain more XP by winning more often and now my moderately experienced and skilled guys and gals can keep up much better in the league and cup. But as soon as your team is the underdog in a match (prone to happen in the cup), things do get pretty exciting.

As with a every football game, playing with a gamepad is highly recommended. Keyboard just isn't as much fun.


The list of features I'd love to see in future versions is rather short. A slightly more complex budget management and a transfer market would spice things up a bit. I'd also like to have more statistics (e.g. number of appearances, goals, assists, cards per player, per game, season and all time), drag and drop support on the team management screen for more easily replacing players on the pitch and bigger league rosters (up to 20 teams or so?).


Although hardcore football game junkies may get bored by it rather quickly due to a comparative lack of complexity, PCSUE is worth every cent, even at full price, for the occasional silly fun match against the AI or friends.
Especially recommended to players with memories of football games from the 1990s and very early 2000s who may just get an extra kick out of this title.



P.S: Thanks for making PCSUE Linux native!

With far-zoom enabled, Pixel Cup Soccer gives me Sensible Soccer vibes - good vibes. It's the only soccer game I've bothered with for years.

Player control is simple, but not excessively so:
In Normal difficulty, there's 4 buttons for pass/shot choice, 1 for switching player and 1 for triggering a skill move, with the D-pad used for dynamic switching of tactics (defence, offence etc); Shot buttons can also be held for increased strength of pass/shot.

There's a lot of configuration possible, both for game, team and match setup:
For game settings, I play with game speed set to slow and far-zoom enabled, as I prefer to see more players/pitch than rely on the mini-map. Match environments can be customised as can teams, formation and default strategy.

There's different game modes: Friendly, Tournament and Career. The latter is where you bring up a squad of unskilled players by playing matches, earning XP and assigning skills to individual players; basically a light team management sim.

I've seen complaints about opponent and team mate AI. By choosing certain formations and dynamically switching team tactics in game, my AI team mates have been OK. Can't say I've noticed any serious issues yet.

An excellent game, being actively developed. Plays well on PC and Steam Deck.

I really appreciate that there was a free demo, and it was ultimately that which led me to purchase the game.

Overall, a really charming football game with an impressive amount of settings to make it play just the way you want it. I'm not very good at Pixel Cup Soccer, but I've been enjoying it a lot as a perfect little Steam Deck game.

This game does a lot right, and offers a unique experience worth at the very least trying out!

Why the hell should I play FIFA or PES (sorry eFootball) when this game is just so much fun and just plain better.

Anyone who knows the old days with SNES and "INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR SOCCER DELUXE" will love this game.

Simply great and a must for retro soccer fans.

Cheers to the developers and thanks for the nostalgia revival!

Spent several seasons struggling to get promoted from the bottom league while my scum of the earth fans descended into hooliganism and destroyed the pitch, and players moaned at me that they can't afford to quit their second jobs. Now I've been promoted and the stands are full of glory supporters.

10/10 most realistic football simulator on the market.

"Get insanely angry simulator 3000". The matches with established teams are ok, but career-mode makes me want to eat my gamepad in anger. There's a bunch of stats and skills, but if they make any difference I sure as hell don't know what it is. The enemy's goalie is an infallible demi-god while your own either dives wildly out of the way the second the ball comes near him, dilligently waits INSIDE the goal to catch it (WHY THE EFF CAN HE EVEN GO INSIDE THE GOAL IN THE FIRST PLACE, OMFG!), or does whatever the last player was doing, before the game switched to him out of nowhere. The career is full of annoying asshats, either telling you what ♥♥♥♥ you're missing out on because you're broke, or insessantly laughing in your face for whatever reason, none of which you can skip. Once you're team has lost a bunch, and you're in a hole there's no digging yourself out.

I've rarely tried to like a game as hard as I have this one, because the concept is great, but I don't think I've ever exited it any other way than smashing Alt-F4 in the middle of a match in a fit of rage. There's sucking at a game, because you just suck, and I'm happy to admit whenever that's the case, but this game does whatever the hell it wants and blames it on you afterwards. I hate the version of myself I become when I play it. My blood-pressure can't handle this crap.