Is It Worth It? The Launch-Week Verdict

The scores, captured 29 August 2026

Source	Score	Sample
OpenCritic	78 · “Strong”	23 critics, 61% recommend, top 29% of games
Metacritic — PS5	76 · “Generally Favorable”	17 critic reviews: 11 positive, 6 mixed, 0 negative
Metacritic — PC, Switch, Xbox Series X	no score yet	Fewer than four reviews each
Steam players	Mixed · 53% positive	132 user reviews

Every number is a launch-week snapshot. The critic pool is small and skewed to outlets that review anime sports games; the big generalist sites that scored the 2020 game in the 60s have not reviewed this one.

Where the top and bottom scores disagree

PlayStation LifeStyle gave it 9/10 and called it “one of the most unique and fun soccer games ever made, blending the real-life sport with the over-the-top anime it’s based on.” Noisy Pixel gave it 6/10: “Story and Online make up most of the package, leaving the game feeling surprisingly small for a sequel.”

They do not disagree about the football. Both say the matches are better than the last game’s. They disagree about whether that is enough — and every review in the 70s lands on the same question. Areajugones’ subhead was “many characters, few modes”; Hobby Consolas wrote that a game “so based on the World Cup was crying out for a tournament mode, both local and online.”

What critics agree on

The matches improved. WayTooManyGames: “undoubtedly an upgrade over its predecessor.” Everyeye: the new systems make it “far deeper than its predecessor.” Oyungezer: “meaningful improvements that add more strategic depth compared to the first game.” The chain system, the stamina duels and the six-direction keeper battle are the reasons — the beginner guide covers them.

It looks like the anime. Twisted Voxel: “Visually, it nails the aesthetics of the anime.” PlayStation LifeStyle’s first listed pro is simply “Anime action looks gorgeous.” The caveat comes from WayTooManyGames, which notes it “retains the same general animations, character models, and visual style” as 2020.

The story mode drags. This is the strongest consensus in the negative column. Twisted Voxel: “The frequent interruptions break the flow of the game.” Hobby Consolas lists “the constant interruptions in Story Mode” as a con; 3DJuegos calls the dialogue and cutscene breaks “painfully slow”; PCMag Middle East describes “an unhealthy obsession with loading screens.” Reviewers put a full story run at 15 to 20 hours.

The custom player is thin. Twisted Voxel found the New Star “quite bland”; PCMag “never became particularly attached” to theirs. MonsterVine and 3DJuegos liked building one, so this is the softest of the four themes.

What players are angry about

Steam’s most-helpful negative review, at 86 helpful votes, is the whole argument in one line: “Story Mode, online multiplayer… and that’s it? Seriously? No offline tournaments, no team creation — even RoNC had more options than this.”

The specific losses players list, against Rise of New Champions:

• Custom teams. The last game let you assemble a dream team from unlocked players. This one lets you create one player and put them into an existing team.
• Offline tournaments and a second custom-hero story. Neither exists.
• Mid-match tactics and formation changes. Players report both gone.
• Portuguese. Steam’s language list for the sequel has no Portuguese, and Brazilian players point out the first game had subtitles. For a franchise this big in Brazil, it is the single most-repeated complaint after the mode cuts.
• Steam Deck. The PC version’s kernel-level Easy Anti-Cheat does not run on Linux, so Deck owners cannot play at all.

The positive reviews do not dispute any of that. They argue the matches are worth it anyway: “while yes some features are missing, this is a clear improvement from the first game in terms of gameplay and quality.”

How it compares with Rise of New Champions

	Rise of New Champions (2020)	World Fighters (2026)
OpenCritic	72 · “Fair” · 59% recommend · 72 critics	78 · “Strong” · 61% recommend · 23 critics
Metacritic	69 (PS4) · 71 (Switch) · 75 (PC)	76 (PS5)
Modes	Story with two routes, custom teams, offline tournaments	Story with four strands, versus, practice
Teams	11 national teams	22 national teams plus 12 club, school and special sides

Better matches, more teams, fewer things to do with them. That trade is the review.

Who should buy it now

• You play for the matches — local versus, ranked, the story’s set-piece games. Buy it. The duel system is the best the series has had, and the roster is twice the size.
• You spent your hours in the last game building a dream team. Wait. That mode is not here, and Bandai Namco has not announced one.
• You wanted a tournament to run with friends on the couch. Wait, for the same reason.
• You are on Steam Deck. Do not buy it.
• You are on PC. Bandai Namco has acknowledged crashes and a red-screen bug and is collecting reports; the interim fixes are in the beginner guide.
• You are choosing an edition. Standard, unless you already want the six DLC characters — the editions page has the maths.

Verdict FAQ

What is the Metacritic score?

76 on PS5 from 17 critic reviews, as of 29 August 2026. PC, Switch and Xbox Series X have too few reviews for a score.

Is it better than Rise of New Champions?

The critics say yes — 78 against 72 on OpenCritic, 76 against 69 on Metacritic — and they are scoring the football. Players who valued the first game’s custom teams and tournaments say no.

Why are Steam reviews mixed if critics like it?

Because the two groups are grading different things. Critics grade the matches; the negative Steam reviews grade what was removed since 2020, the missing Portuguese subtitles, and the PC launch problems.

Does it have online ranked?

Yes. Regular Match toggles between ranked and free matches; Private Match hosts rooms for friends. There is no online tournament mode.