Despelote Reviews
Despelote is a reminder that video games are so important to the medium of storytelling. Through gorgeous visuals and a story is elation and excitement, this unique experiences manages to keep you engaged and uplifted throughout. It won't be for everyone, but if you're a player that loves to find greatness in independent games, you're going to feel like you've scored a hat-trick with this one.
Despelote is a very unique narrative that appropriates the language of the video game world to write a poem to childhood. Personally, I believe that those of us who grew up playing video games are gradually connecting much more with this type of narrative that puts us in a contemplative place. A place that invites us to rediscover ourselves and be amazed by the encounter with those things that we had long since given up for lost.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Despelote tells a familiar story that is the reality for a lot of South American countries: economic unrest, unstable governments, political coups and violent grabs for power. But you still keep going. You still go to school, go to work, meet friends, walk your dog, scream for your favourite sports team. What Despelote highlights is that sports are about national pride, banding together with other people, and allowing yourself to experience joy, hope. They’re important muscles to flex in what is becoming a more complex, violent, and oppressive world. We need to practice feeling joy, remind ourselves a better world is always possible. This game won’t be for everyone, but you’ve got little to lose from a less than two-hour game. So why not give it a try? Shoot your shot. You might even score.
A very simple and short game that features a highly nostalgic and creative visual style, along with a storyline that, while rooted in its country of origin, captures the essence of childhood and the magic of football in an almost universal way.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Despelote is, above all, the struggle of a people. Of people who, even in the face of adversity, carry on with pride in their country. Who found refuge in football, and who over the years embraced not only the British sport, but many other passions. Even though it took place in Ecuador, the game brought me nostalgia. Latin American experiences are shared – after all, who has never heard an old man complain that you are playing football in the street? Although it is not a perfect experience, Despelote was certainly one of the most memorable I have had in recent times, leaving me slightly emotional at the end. Long live football!
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Despelote is a fascinating experience. It plays like an interactive documentary, and it feels like a true depiction of a place and time I've never experienced but feel like I can somewhat understand now. As I look back on that day in my acrid garage, or as I remember two years later when I sat in a dark room crying because the Padres lost their playoffs spot on the last possible day, I'll also remember this game. I'll remember me in 2025 crying at 2 a.m. with a controller in my hand alongside the people of Ecuador who were no doubt crying as their team went for glory in 2001. Because that's what sports (and video games) are all about.
despelote is a work with a strong cultural identity, which aims to tell a personal and meaningful story through video games. However, by prioritizing its documentary aesthetic, the title compromises the gameplay and doesn't deliver a satisfactory interactive experience.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Warning: despelote may cause unexpected feelings… from a soccer game. Yes, seriously. It’s like Field of Dreams had a baby with a soccer ball and a warm empanada.
despelote is a chill experience, and chill can mean a lot of things. It can be good, it can be bad, and it can be boring. There’ll be plenty of times in life you’ll be chilling with people you don’t know, doing things you don’t care about, but they’ll still be memorable. That’s exactly what despelote is.
“Despelote” is a wonderful game that can convey in just a couple of hours what triple-A titles with mammoth developments are incapable of offering. Ultimately, “Despelote” is like the soccer in this story it tells so well: an island of tranquility in a sea of hopelessness, where you can take refuge from terrifying reality for at least 120 minutes.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Despelote is a title with a sure aesthetic feel but which, in other areas, is too uncertain, imprecise, and directionless. The lack of an incisive narrative and a central mechanic that is scarcely enjoyable even in the short term are the two most obvious shortcomings of a production that I really do not understand who it is for. In its totality, Despelote gives me the idea of a work intended for a museum and not a console, a pixel canvas too ephemeral in its goals to claim real pleasure in interacting with it on a videogame level. As a non-interacting audiovisual work, I am convinced, Despelote would be much more impactful.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despelote is far from being a title that draws attention for its gameplay or challenge. It comes with a very different proposal for a very specific audience, but that does not diminish the credit of its experience. For those who enjoy curious excerpts from parallel realities to ours, which were previously only possible through television documentaries, you will be quite surprised by this game, even if it doesn't last long.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A beautiful portrait of a 2001 neighborhood in Quito, Ecuador, taking advantage of the deep personal connections the gaming medium is best for, despelote seamlessly imprints itself on the player's mind.
It is a story full of love and poetry, which brings into play the point of view of an inanimate object, that ball which is the true protagonist of the story , to which we constantly return throughout the story. It is also a story that teaches us how unimportant winning is.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despelote is one of the year’s most fascinating indie games, one I can recommend without much hesitation.
Despelote is a game that offers a piece of life to the player. And as a player we become aware that the only game in Despelote is the “Fifa” that we sometimes play on the family TV (and the only thing that has achievements). It is a Walking simulator of a child but it is not childish. In two hours it offers impressive narrative class that is not for everyone, because it moves away from what is traditionally considered a video game. But there can't be a better medium to express what it intends.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Despelote's story might not sound appealing to anyone who doesn't like footy, but the themes and messages make it well worth checking out.
Despelote is not awful… it’s just very confusing. I appreciate the interesting premise and presentation, but it’s just somewhat devoid of elements that make it a proper “game”. Even the football-related gameplay (or what little of it is present) feels clunky and shallow. I also think the story could have been more focused on the innocence and lack of urgency in the life of a child – it would have made it a lot more relatable.
despelote is more than just a simple game, it's a beautiful and interactive presentation of a people who have been incorporating football into their culture. With a great pace and extremely well done dialogues, the game keeps your attention and curiosity as it introduces the player to Ecuador. All this from the point of view of an 8-year-old kid with a passion for soccer.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Despelote will extend its hand to the player and invite them on a Virgil-like walk through the ever-increasing tension that permeated Ecuador in 2001. While the gameplay is not adrenaline-fuelled, its earnestness serves to be equally captivating and the primary motivation to see the game through.