Since live sporting events are in short order these days, sports fans have turned to video games as a way to play and watch the sports they love. From NBA 2K20 to racing, sports games have seen a rise in popularity with the global shelter-in-place orders brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For soccer-lovers, your time is about to come as well, as Offside Legends - a new soccer-party game from indie game developer Team Serpico - will kick off its Kickstarter campaign next week on June 18th to help fund production and development of the game.
Offside Legends - which is heavily inspired by Mario Strikers Charged - will feature fantasy-themed soccer arcade matches that take place on various pitches inspired by classic literary works of art, such as Alice in Wonderland. Playable characters are also taken from the pages of classic novels, including King Arthur, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, and Dr. Jekyll. Each character appears to have their own special ability, but (just like in real-life soccer) teamwork appears to be the primary key to victory, with passing and bends highlighting much of the gameplay and goal-scoring tactics.
“The main reference for Offside Legends is Mario Strikers Charged”, said co-founder and developer at Team Serpico, Dmitry Minsky. “Some mechanics are being reinvented and some are being outright created from scratch - but we always keep in mind that the game should be fun, light-hearted, and thrilling.”
Based on the early footage, the game looks like it could be a great entry point for younger gamers, especially since many of the characters will be recognizable to a younger audience. While it might be more difficult to be highly-skilled at Offside Legends’ gameplay mechanics, it’s hard to imagine that the learning curve for jumping in and playing would be anything significant, speaking to the game’s overall accessibility.
While no release date has been confirmed yet, Office Legends is expected to launch sometime in 2021 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC.
