Beloved ’90s sports title Sensible Soccer is getting a (slightly) modern makeover as part of an expansive fan-made mod.
Before we dive into the mod, let’s do some old-fashioned historical housekeeping. Sensible Soccer debuted in 1992 for Amiga and Atari ST computers. It was an undeniably ambitious title for its time due to the way it combined surprisingly deep soccer management mechanics with simplified soccer gameplay that was accessible even to players who didn’t necessarily consider themselves to be fans of the sport.
Sensible Soccer enjoyed quite a few sequels, remakes, and ports over the years, but it’s been quite some time since we’ve gotten a game that properly utilizes the series’ best aspects.
That’s basically what this mod aims to offer. Dubbed Sensible World of Soccer 2020, it’s basically a re-imagining of the original title that updates many of the things you’d expect to be updated for 2020 (such as team names and rosters) while adding other features that are a bit more unexpected (though certainly welcome). For instance, you can actually customize the commentary in this version of the game and even bump the graphics up to 4K resolution. That last feature seems to be a bit cheeky as this game still utilizes the simple visuals of the original installments in the series.
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Part of the reason this whole thing feels so welcome is that sports games have become a bit…complacent over the years. With just a couple of companies holding the rights to every major sports league, many sports titles have devolved into yearly installments laden with microtransactions. Sensible Soccer is a throwback to the era of games like NBA Jam and Ice Hockey when it was ok for a sports game to emphasize simple fun.
Sensible World of Soccer 2020 can be downloaded for free right here, but you’ll need a copy of the original title (or an acceptable variant of it) in order to run it.
Matthew Byrd is a staff writer for Den of Geek. He spends most of his days trying to pitch deep-dive analytical pieces about Killer Klowns From Outer Space to an increasingly perturbed series of editors. You can read more of his work here or find him on Twitter at @SilverTuna014.
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