Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition

Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road marks a triumphant return for one of Level-5's most beloved series. With excellent presentation, a robust story mode, and content for hundreds of hours of gameplay across its other modes.

Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road marks a bold return for Level-5's beloved soccer RPG franchise, blending heartfelt storytelling with ambitious gameplay depth. Newcomers and long-time fans alike will find something to appreciate in its dual-mode structure and massive character roster, though the game is held back by uneven pacing and clunky side systems.

Inazuma Eleven - Victory Road marks a welcome return of the popular but long absent sports RPG series, and it's a new take that brings Inazuma Eleven to our day without compromising on what made it fun in the first place. The plot is more ambitious and interesting, the team management is more in depth and complex, and there's plenty of content to explore. Not only that, but its DLC is free, and very engaging as well. Fans of the previous games and newcomers alike will find plenty to wrap themselves with in this new step for the Inazuma Eleven series.

Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road is a lot, and it feels like an installment that attempts to cover almost every possible aspect of the series. It doesn’t top the earliest Mamoru Endo DS entries for me. However, there’s so much here that it feels like a mode exists for every possible player. Not to mention that it is admirable to see it not only released, but is genuinely good. There are some minor issues, such as balancing and NPC intelligence in matches. The CPU isn’t great about making decisions. However, the fact that we are seeing rebalancing and substantial updates like Re-Story make me wonder if this could eventually turn into a 9 out of 10 game in a few weeks or months with additional patches and fixes to things like online multiplayer.

Having more content does not necessarily equal a better game, but there’s no denying that Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road’s massive wealth of modes, options, and gameplay variety make it feel like the franchise’s most premium experience yet. Between a fun and heartfelt story mode, a second story mode that includes the highlights of all previous games, and a bunch of additional side content along with robust PvP systems for longevity, it really does feel like you could play Victory Road forever. At the end of the day, though, it all comes down to that core loop of teambuilding and playing football matches, and Victory Road’s take on the series’ trademark RPG-esque customisability and intuitive action on the pitch feels just as fresh and stylish as ever. Perhaps all those delays really were worth it.

Heroes' Victory Road marks a truly solid return thanks to its numerous modes, a compelling story, and a fun, customizable gameplay system. While some modes lose their appeal over time or are simply insurmountable from the start, its wealth of content and infectious football spirit make it one of the most complete and enjoyable installments in the series.