Football Manager 26 Review – A Game of Two Halves

Football Manager 26 Review

Football manager made the bold decision to skip the season in favor of a complete tactical overhaul. While this meant that many fans had to stick with FM 24 for another year, it gave Sports Interactive time to move to the Unity engine, update the user interface and introduce a host of new features, making FM 26 the most ambitious release in the franchise's history. But was it a perfectly weighted pass that led to a stunning finish, or was it a defensive mistake that led to an own goal?

For those unfamiliar, Football Manager is the most comprehensive tactical simulation of the sport. Unlike other iterations In a beautiful game, your focus is solely on the controls. FM 26 gives you complete control over tactics, formations and systems to create the perfect setup for your team. While the sheer number of options may seem overwhelming, quick guides can help you get through many of your responsibilities quickly. These lessons are short and to the point, ensuring that you don't overdo it and that full control is handed to you early on. While the game doesn't fully explain some of the systems, most of the tactical options are fairly intuitive. You can also delegate certain responsibilities to your employees, allowing you to tailor the experience to your preferred level of involvement. The result is a truly immersive management simulator that is unmatched by any other game.

New beginning

While most sports releases consist of updates to the latest teams and a few improvements, Sports Interactive has completely redesigned the game for the new engine. While many aspects feel familiar, many noticeable changes change the experience. The user interface has undergone a number of changes aimed at reducing the amount of information displayed on the screen at once. While this makes navigation easier for controller users and those playing on a Steam Deck, the traditional setup suffers as a result. Previously available features are now hidden in submenus, leading to frustration when you need key information quickly.

New tactical options allow you to choose your formations in and out of possession. This opens up a number of strategic opportunities, allowing for a more flexible and dynamic structure. Since most modern coaches don't rely on a single formation, this addition helps better reflect the sport by giving you complete control over how your team plays both offensively and defensively. You can also choose from a long list of player roles to ensure each member of your squad contributes the way you want. This leads to situations where small changes can make a big difference, providing the kind of deep, satisfying feedback that captures the essence of true football management.

Signing this key player can completely change your team. This is not only the cornerstone of good controls, but also one of the most addictive aspects of the game. This area of ​​the game has been completely redesigned, adding new elements to improve the experience. Thanks to TransferRoom, you can now communicate directly with clubs to acquire players that meet your requirements. The developers have integrated exploration and negotiation, making this key element easier to navigate.

View from the outside

Other additions, such as the inclusion of women's football, expanded tools for creating managers and new licensing agreements, help flesh out this experience. The real highlight, however, is the game day presentation. One of the most requested features in the franchise's history has been a reimagining of the matches themselves, and Sports Interactive has finally delivered, offering a significant leap over previous iterations. In addition to live lineup previews and other pre-game details, you can now view games in multiple ways. While the traditional top-down method remains, the new in-game engine allows you to watch full matches or highlights. While the visuals are reminiscent of the PS3/360 era, the update greatly improves immersion and makes it easier to react to events on the field in real time.

Even though the game has been in development for a considerable time, bugs and glitches pop up from time to time and interfere with the game's performance. Sometimes tooltips are missing or don't work, and loading times can make the whole experience clunky. Although Sports Interactive is already working on updates, they should have arrived a long time ago.

Football Manager 26 succeeds in many areas, but falls short in others. The match presentation is the best it has ever been, helping to strengthen your connection with your players as a coach, while new tactical options, including improved player roles and formations in and out of possession, add greater depth on the pitch. The UI, while improved for controller use, hides too many menus and the overall performance still needs work, making the game feel a little unfinished. Despite these issues, FM 26 remains the best management simulator available, and it's easy to lose hours with its deep and endlessly rewarding gameplay loop.

***PC code provided by publisher for review***