I'm simply not as strong as an Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road fan. I can barely wait 30 seconds to microwave something and these people have been waiting for a new entry in their favorite anime soccer RPG series for nine entire years.
Level-5 announced the game in 2016 and then forced fans to endure eight delays, including two this year, for it to finally come out. Despite all the extra development time, though, it didn't forget about the people who won a giveaway for the game seven years ago. The winners received letters with their prizes this month.
"My daughter won it in 4th grade, and she's now in 10th grade lol," an X user wrote (translated via DeepL).
Inazuma Eleven started as a sports RPG in 2008 and grew into a whole franchise that includes a manga and anime series. While there are plenty of spin-off games, the main series only had three entries by 2010. Victory Road was supposed to be released in 2018, but suffered delays—as you can probably infer by the fact that this is extremely not 2018.
The good news is that Victory Road's long road to release hasn't ended in disappointment for most players. On Steam, it's at an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating with over 600 reviews. Most of those users are in love with it and fully believe the wait was worth it.
"You know that scene from Ratatouille where Ego eats the food and gets a flashback to his childhood?" writes Steam user Tobithecomic in their positive review. "Yeah that was me playing this."
Another Steam reviewer, Cuddly_alex, says it's an "absolute goalkeeper of a game, nothing gets past it." They praise the gameplay, the characters, the music, and say the delays were worth it. "This game didn't just score, it hit my soul with a Fire Tornado of nostalgia."
Reddit users echo the same sentiment, highlighting Level-5's commitment to finishing such an ambitious game that incorporates aspects from the entire series. Many players specifically point out how it adapts the previous games' campaigns into visual novel-like sequences and recreates the old matches.
"The last Inazuma Eleven mainline game released in 2013," Reddit user Buttobi says in a comment pitching the game to newcomers. "This might be the magnum opus of Level-5 to be honest."
The only complaints I see are for its price in some regions, which is really just a good example of how inflated things have gotten since 2013. Victory Road is $69.99 ($79.99 for the deluxe edition)—a considerable jump for a series that used to be on the Nintendo DS, where games would usually cost about half that.
Price aside, everyone seems happy that the series is back and that the new game actually exceeds their expectations. That means both Inazuma Eleven fans and Hollow Knight: Silksong fans were rewarded for their patience this year. It's always great when things work out like that.
Now it's time for Unbeatable to do the same for the rhythm game fans who are having to endure one more month of waiting after seven years.
