Despelote Review (XSX) – A Special Sports Story

There are very few events on the planet that have the global impact of a FIFA World Cup. Yes, at its core, it is merely a sports tournament with an evolving number of teams throughout its long and storied history. However, unlike the Olympics, where it is largely about individuals and overall medal counts, the World Cup gives countries an entire team to rally around for the month in which it is played. Due to its nature as a quadrennial tournament, making it to the event is an achievement in itself, especially if you live in a country where soccer or football is a big deal and your nation has never qualified before. Julian Cordero and Sebastian Valbuena’s Despelote captures not only the joy of that ultimate moment but also the emotional highs and lows leading up to it. What makes Despelote special is how it uniquely blends narrative and gameplay to tell that story.

Game Name: Despelote
Platform(s): PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed) & Switch (Later in 2025)
Publisher(s): Panic
Developer(s): Julian Cordero & Sebastian Valbuena
Release Date: May 1, 2025
Price: $14.99 (USD)

In Despelote, you play as eight-year-old Julian and experience the entire game through his eyes from a first-person perspective. He and his family are Ecuadorian, and the country’s soccer or football team is in the midst of attempting to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, set to take place in South Korea and Japan. The game begins on the day of Ecuador’s match against Peru, the thirteenth match of an arduous eighteen-match qualification process, where the top four teams in the region qualify automatically for the tournament.

Despelote actually begins with its own version of a PlayStation 1-style top-down FIFA game called “Tino Tini’s 99,” allowing you to become familiar with Despelote‘s passing and kicking mechanics, while also serving as a reflection of how the story evolves from dream to reality. As you continue playing, conversations take place around Julian, and the camera pans back to show him playing on the home television, while his family wants to watch the actual match. Highlights of the Ecuador versus Peru game then appear on the television, including Agustín Delgado’s last-minute goal that gives Ecuador a 2–1 lead and begins to inspire belief throughout the country that, after 60 years of failure, this year could finally be the one

Exploring Through Play

Despelote uses the remaining four qualifying matches as major set pieces for the narrative. While they are not the sole focus of the game, they remain in Julian’s view—as you would expect for the entire country. However, since the matches occur only once a month, this is where the “slice of life” aspect fills in the rest of the game.

Although the game has a short run-time of around two hours, nothing you do overstays its welcome. You move Julian from one interaction or memory to the next at a relatively brisk pace. Part of this is due to the game’s structure, but it also serves as a narrative device. Julian was actually four years old when these events took place, he made himself older in the game to help things make a bit more sense. This explains why some moments are left to you, the player, and why others seem to end abruptly or fade out in a hazy blur.

Many of the game’s interactive sections, most of which involve kicking a soccer ball, are open-ended. For instance, there is a moment where your ball gets stuck in a tree. You can choose how to handle it—perhaps by finding a stick or rock to knock it loose, or by taking another ball from a nearby group. You might also find the nearest building with a television and watch highlights of the real-life match associated with the date given at the start of that section. Since Julian does not remember every detail of what actually happened, you fill in the gaps. This gives the game replay value, allowing you to see different outcomes across multiple playthroughs.

Despelote Hits Close to Home

As a fellow South American (my family is from Venezuela), it is refreshing to see a game where the primary spoken language is Spanish, especially a form of Spanish that is close to my own. However, this should not be a barrier for anyone, as the game includes subtitles in many different languages, including English. Having the game be in Spanish adds to the authentic and autobiographical tone that runs throughout, lending greater weight to the casual conversations about cevicocho or the mention of Ecuador switching its currency to the dollar in an effort to boost the economy, even if it did not succeed.

Although Venezuela’s soccer or football team has yet to experience the euphoric moment of qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, the dream is still alive, perhaps in 2026 or another future year. This is what Despelote achieves so well. Whether or not you have experienced such a moment yourself, the game delivers its story in a way that feels accessible. It communicates its message through small anecdotes, whether or not they are directly related to the matches themselves. Presenting the story through the eyes of a child adds a layer of emotional weight when the reality of the moment finally arrives and makes the journey all the more heartfelt.

The Dream Becomes Reality

Despelote features a faded, reddish colour palette throughout most of its runtime, giving the game the feeling of a flashback. While it does shift to other colours in certain scenes, it is not limited to just one aesthetic. The PlayStation 1-style pre-rendered backgrounds help accentuate this, especially with the contrast of the plain white character models. This design choice allows the characters to remain the focus without relying on extra effects or exaggerated spectacle. The story is the core of the experience, and the characters are a vital part of it. However, because of the way the colour palette is used, there are times when the backgrounds can blend together. As a result, when the game requires you to return to the starting area to continue the story, it is possible to get a little lost. Fortunately, Julian’s mother is always there to guide you back with her voice.

Even with that minor issue, it all adds to the immersion that Despelote delivers so effectively. In one moment, Julian’s mother asks him to sit at a fountain for two hours, which passes by in minutes. Naturally, as any child might do when left alone, Julian wanders off—so long as he is back by 6:00 p.m. You are free to explore, kick the ball around, chat with passersby, watch match highlights outside a local electronics shop, or find something else to do.

Once I started doing all of these things, I found myself drawn in and eager to keep going. Even though I already knew the outcome of the matches, the way the game presents its story made me want to see it through to the end. I ended up being late to return to the fountain, and the reaction I got from Julian’s mother was both expected and genuinely funny.

Memories For a Lifetime

Similar to other narrative-heavy games, Despelote will be much more memorable if its story resonates with you. It certainly did for me, given my heritage, my love of soccer or football, and the fact that I am still waiting for that special moment to happen for my own country. I truly appreciate what Julian and Sebastian have created here.

What makes Despelote special is how it blends the joy of play with the childlike innocence we all once had—the kind that allows us to dream freely, and then shows how an entire nation, seen through those young eyes, became captivated by a single moment in time. Even if Julian himself did not fully grasp the weight of what it meant back then, we can all look back and appreciate it with him now, all these years later.

Review Disclosure Statement: A copy of Despelote was provided to us for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.

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