Longtime friends of mine and those who like me due to Stockholm Syndrome know that I love soccer. I have been a season ticket holder for MLS side Columbus Crew since 2021 and have put hundreds of hours into Football Manager 2023 and Football Manager 2024. This time, I got to join a different side of the pitch with Strikers Club.
Strikers Club is a free-to-play multiplayer soccer title from Oddshot Games that is currently in Early Access on Steam. It features five-on-five matches with four field players and one goalkeeper on each side. Every player on the field is controlled by a real person, so the experience is built around teamwork, positioning, passing, shooting, and trying to read the match in real time.
I want to start with the positives because the idea of this title is great. Also, please know that Strikers Club is in Early Access, so things may change as development continues. The basic idea of being randomly dropped into a position and playing quick five-minute matches (with extra time if the match is tied) is a fun loop. It kind of makes me think of popular eSports games like Rocket League in the drop-in-and-play sense, where the concept is easy to understand but the ceiling depends heavily on skill, timing, and team coordination.
The soccer structure is also more complete than I expected. Matches include positions, goalkeeping, passing, shooting, dribbling, fouls, and other rules tied to the sport. Players can choose where they prefer to play at the start of a match, and goalkeepers have their own mechanics. That is smart because playing keeper should feel different from playing on the wing or in midfield.
The controls make sense, though I found them clunky in the heat of a match. Part of that may be that I am not the most proficient with PC titles like this, and part of it may be that Strikers Club is asking players to make quick decisions while also relying on teammates who may or may not be where they should be. When everyone is moving properly, I can see how this could become exciting. When they are not, things get messy fast.
Another thing I liked was that Strikers Club is completely free to play. There are cosmetics that can be purchased, including special jerseys and shoes. These enhance your look but provide no actual gameplay benefit, which is good. The electric jersey, or kit in soccer speak, reminded me of the Columbus Crew Goosebumps kit they did in collaboration with Columbus native and author R.L. Stine. The customization options are nice because they let you change up your player and leave a little bit of an impression on the pitch without affecting competitive balance.
There is also a lot of value here with Strikers Club simply because the entry cost is zero. If you are curious about a multiplayer soccer title where every player has a specific role, there is not much risk in trying it. That is especially true while Strikers Club is in Early Access because the developers are still gathering feedback and shaping the experience.
The problem I ran into is one that is pretty common with this type of online multiplayer title: the other players.
There are four field positions: Left Wing, Right Wing, Center Midfielder, and Center Back. My time was split between Right Wing and goalkeeper, and my experience got worse as I kept playing. In some matches, I had players berating me for not scoring a goal even when the ball was never passed to me. I also had a Left Wing standing next to me on the right side, apparently not understanding that the L in his position name stood for left. Our Center Back, who is supposed to be a defender, would sometimes act like a striker, which meant no one was back to deal with a counterattack.
To be fair, that is the risk with any title built around random teammates. Someone else might log in with a group of friends or find a much better set of players and have a completely different experience. A title like Strikers Club is going to live or die based on teamwork, and when the teamwork is there, the concept makes a lot of sense. When it is not, the whole thing can fall apart.
Unfortunately, my matches leaned heavily toward the second outcome. Each match seemed to get more frustrating, with players getting meaner, complaining more, and acting like winning a five-minute Early Access match was going to earn them a pro contract. I played quite a few matches, but after that I couldn’t take it anymore.
That is not entirely the fault of the developers, but it is a part of the experience right now. A free online team-based title is always going to attract some players who take things too far, and Strikers Club may need stronger community tools, moderation options, or onboarding systems to help new and casual players settle into their roles without getting roasted by strangers immediately.
The audio and visuals are fine. Nothing about the presentation blew me away, but Strikers Club looks clean enough to follow the action, and that matters more here than flashy graphics. The field is readable, the players are distinct enough, and the soccer action is easy to understand even when the match itself gets chaotic. The audio does what it needs to do, though it was not especially memorable.
Overall, Strikers Club is a mixed bag for me. The core idea is good, the price is excellent, and there is real promise in a free-to-play soccer title where every player takes a specific position on the pitch. I can see how a coordinated team or a group of friends could get a lot more out of this than I did.
But as someone playing with random people, my experience quickly became frustrating and toxic. It offered a firm reminder of why I often avoid multiplayer titles with strangers. I have very few rules about video games, but one of the most important is that the experience should not actively make me miserable.
So, Strikers Club may be worth checking out, especially because the free entry cost makes it easy to try. Just understand that your enjoyment of it may depend heavily on who you end up playing with. If you find a good group, this could be a fun soccer title with real potential. If not, caveat emptor before you pick up the soccer ball and try to score an epic goal.
