Sloclap is an independent video game studio founded in 2015 and based in Paris, currently employing a multi-disciplinary team of over 100 professionals. Its IPs are third-person action games for PCs & consoles, mixing multiple genre inspirations and sharing deep and challenging gameplay systems, a stylized art direction, and hand-crafted animations.
After developing hit action games Absolver and Sifu, it might seem a bit out of left field for Paris-based indie studio Sloclap to focus their latest effort on the sport of football. However, when you consider the common components of motion, physicality, and the need for precise control, it feels organic to reimagine football in an original, unique way. The result is Rematch, which lets you control one player at a time as you compete alongside your teammates in fast-paced football matches from an immersive third-person perspective.
So, how did their previous work in Unreal Engine influence their latest project and what role did specific UE5's features such as Virtual Shadow Maps and Temporal Super Resolution play in crafting the experience? We caught up with Sloclap's Creative Director, Pierre Tarno and Technical Director, Benoit Jacquier to learn more about the project.
So, how did their previous work in Unreal Engine influence their latest project and what role did specific UE5's features such as Virtual Shadow Maps and Temporal Super Resolution play in crafting the experience? We caught up with Sloclap's Creative Director, Pierre Tarno and Technical Director, Benoit Jacquier to learn more about the project.
Thank you for joining us! Considering Sloclap’s previous work on action titles Absolver and Sifu, how did you decide that creating a multiplayer action football game was the next step for the studio?
Pierre Tarno, Creative Director and Benoit Jacquier, Technical Director at Sloclap: At first glance it might seem like a sharp turn, but for us there’s a clear thread connecting all our games: they’re about bodies in motion, with precise, reactive controls and a strong sense of physicality. After Absolver and Sifu, we wanted to explore that philosophy in a new setting. Football felt like a natural fit as it’s strategic, collective, emotional, and full of beautiful moments like a perfect volley or a last-second assist. As an indie team we have the creative freedom to take risks, and Rematch was born out of that desire to capture the essence of football in a fresh, immersive way.
As an indie team, what have you learned about using Unreal Engine on your previous projects that you were able to apply to the development of Rematch?
Sloclap: We’ve been working with Unreal since our very first project, so over the years we’ve developed a strong expertise with animation systems, online replication, and gameplay responsiveness. Absolver taught us a lot about network fairness and input replication, while Sifu pushed us to refine combat feel, timing, and fluidity. All of that carried directly into Rematch. At the same time, Rematch presented new challenges such as handling the ball and synchronizing complex interactions between ten players online. We had to expand our technical and design toolbox while relying on that foundation.
Image courtesy of Sloclap
How did you find the balance between delivering a credible football experience while offering fast-paced, arcade-like action?
Sloclap: It really came down to credibility versus realism. We weren’t aiming to simulate football by the rulebook. We wanted to capture its spirit. The game is fast, reactive, arcade-like, but the actions are grounded in what great athletes can actually do. You feel like you’re on the pitch, making quick decisions, alternating between careful positioning and bursts of intensity.
How do Unreal’s camera systems help convey a sense of being in the thick of the action, particularly with regards to fast-paced movement, aiming, and spatial awareness?
Sloclap: The third-person perspective was a core choice for us. It brings you closer to the action, keeps you immersed, and gives you the clarity you need to make smart plays. We leveraged Unreal’s camera tools to keep the action readable while maintaining intensity. Aiming a shot works like in a third-person shooter, while still letting you feel the weight and movement of your athlete. It’s about embodying the player, not just watching from above.
Image courtesy of Sloclap
How have Unreal Engine 5’s lighting, materials, and environment tools helped you achieve the game’s stylized and vibrant visual art style?
Sloclap: UE5’s lighting, material, and environment tools gave us a solid foundation to achieve the stylized, vibrant look we wanted. We adapted the lighting and rendering pipeline to match our art direction, while still allowing our artists to take advantage of the engine’s native tools.
Can you please speak to the character animations in Rematch and how UE5 helped you achieve them?
Sloclap: Animations are at the heart of our studio’s DNA. We come from an action game background, so we focused on fluid, hand-crafted animation that conveys weight, momentum, and physicality. UE5 allowed us to sync those animations across network conditions and blend them dynamically depending on context, whether you’re sliding, volleying, or colliding with another player. That level of reactivity is what makes the game satisfying.
Image courtesy of Sloclap
Can you talk about the introduction of crossplay and how it impacts the future of Rematch?
Sloclap: Crossplay is essential for us. Rematch is, at its heart, a social experience—you want to share it with your friends no matter the platform. The introduction of crossplay on September 5, 2025, was a huge step forward: it expanded the community, strengthened matchmaking, and set the stage for the game’s long-term future. More than a feature, crossplay is about ensuring Rematch continues to grow as a living, connected world where everyone can play together.
Are there any particular UE5 features that stood out to you during development?
Sloclap: Virtual Shadow Maps and Temporal Super Resolution really stood out. Both provided visually compelling results that fit perfectly with our needs, while also enabling us to ship at 60 fps across a wide variety of hardware.
Image courtesy of Sloclap
How did the use of Unreal Engine 5 accelerate development time? Were there any specific features of UE5 that helped the team work faster in bringing Rematch to players?
Sloclap: Having an engine designed with multiplayer in mind from the ground up was a huge advantage. On top of that, moving our production pipeline to Epic’s Horde infrastructure integrated seamlessly with UE’s build tools. It allowed us to build the game quickly across multiple configurations and platforms, which made iteration much faster.
Overall, why was Unreal Engine 5 the right fit for this project?
Sloclap: The Sloclap team already has strong expertise in building action games with Unreal Engine, so choosing UE5 for Rematch was a no-brainer.
Image courtesy of Sloclap
The game has developed quite a large community of passionate players. How are you gathering and applying their feedback as the game progresses?
Sloclap: From the earliest Betas, feedback has been at the center of our process. We’ve seen players organize tournaments, invent strategies we didn’t anticipate, and point out areas we could improve. We’re constantly monitoring, tweaking balance, and testing changes on public servers before pushing them live. It’s a live game, and the community is truly shaping it with us.
Where can people go to learn more about Rematch?
Sloclap: The best place is our website playrematch.com and our social channels (to note a few Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and Discord). And of course, the most important way to learn about Rematch is to jump in, play with friends, and feel it for yourself!
Rematch ©2025 Sloclap SAS. “Rematch”, “Sloclap” and the Sloclap logo are all brands of Sloclap SAS. Developed and published by Sloclap SAS, a member of the Kepler Interactive group. All rights reserved.