Despelote review — Life’s a pitch

Video games have always been a valuable mode of storytelling; they can tell tales of far-off worlds and put you in the shoes of somewhere completely detached from your own identity. But they can also be used as a means to tell a personal story, and one of Despelote’s developers, Julián Cordero, takes that next step further in making his indie title semi-autobiographical. At first, the premise of a game about football wasn’t entirely enticing, but what are Indie games for if not to try something new. And I’m grateful I decided to, because this game is an endearing and personal journey through the developer’s most cherished memory. Even if you don’t understand why people love sports, by the end you can’t help but feel that infectious energy from Ecuador and the impact this event had on its citizens.

I’ve never been a fan of sport, but I know what it’s like to grow up in a country whose main personality is their national sport. I lived in Wales for 99% of my life and was surrounded by a family that worshipped Rugby. My dad would watch every single game, he would take me, my sister and our cousins to big matches in the capital city and drag us along to meet them in their nearby hotel. I’ve been to many Rugby matches and despite not loving the sport, it’s hard not to get caught up in it all. The patriotism and passion are electric with fans blaring anthems that echo across the stadium, and the instant screaming and yelling as a try is scored. Rugby is part of my national identity without my input or choice, and it’s the same for Julián Cordero as he retells when Ecuador qualified for the World Cup in 2001.

Each chapter jumps in time across each pivotal match Ecuador has so they can qualify, during each time we take the perspective of young Julián. The world is a hazy filtered 3D scan of where Cortado actually grew up, creating a feeling that we are a witness to this snapshot of time. The people and key items of the world are contrasted with the background by being very cartoonish and basic, mirroring the way a child would pinpoint certain items like toys and football posters, and seeing other people as basic images. Despite the style seeming simplistic, it matches the game perfectly and has a lot of meaning packed behind it. Later in the game Cortado actually narrates his experience obtaining the 3D scan and the dangers of walking around with his camera equipment. Cortado doesn’t shy away from the authenticity of Ecuador within his game and whilst commenting on it.

Julián is your typical kid whose focus is entirely football, you spend brief moments of time in school and in a video store, but Julian always finds a way to kick a ball around. He often meets up with his friends to simply kick a ball around in a circle in the neighborhood or park whilst chatting about silly shenanigans or commenting on what’s happening around them. Often, he gets into trouble for not looking after his little sister, or promising his mother that he’ll sit on the bench and wait for her so he can sneak away and go play football. It’s mundane, but it’s supposed to be and there’s a child-like peace in simply kicking a ball around.

The gameplay of Despelote is simply being able to kick objects around, mainly a football. You can walk and kick at the same time and you can pull the left stick back to shoot the ball with your foot. Julián plays football in real life, but also in the virtual world in his Fifa inspired video game. I actually found this the most fun as you verse against teams, taking control of different players and scoring goals. But don’t tell anyone I kept scoring in my own goal, I don’t know how football works! Its super easy and addictive gameplay to follow. Other gameplay features just include interacting with items that show a cute animation, thematically only the things a child would be interested in, like his toys and a football poster. Overall, Despelote isn’t a mechanical genius, but shooting footballs across spaces is pretty much all boys do as kids right?

Despelote is a brief experience, clocking in at around an hour and a half of playtime, but it’s woven with so much sentiment. I could talk about many instances in the story that had my heart pang and make me say, yeah I totally understand, but that would be robbing you of your experience. Meaning is packed into the littlest details, as we find out that Cortado aged up in-game Julián to 8, as he actually didn’t remember much of what happened during this event as he was only 4. This in itself shows a person’s desire to preserve memories and make them grander than they seem. I don’t doubt this wasn’t a grand moment for our protagonist, but there’s something so touching in how we as people feel connected to something that isn’t necessarily linked to us or something we pinpoint remember, we are all pulled in by our sense of patriotism and its even more so for our small countries that don’t get a lot of recognition. Wales qualified for the football world cup for the first time since 1950 in 2022 and we were the second smallest country to take part. And despite not even liking football, you’re damn right I watched its game against Ukraine and the subsequent matches, because it’s my home! I want to see it get recognized. And the creators of Despelote want that too.

It was so melancholic when towards the end of the game we found out Ecuador failed to qualify for the next world cup, Julián is older now and hanging out with his friends passing a football around. But instead of a feeling of devastation, they laugh and shrug it off, making jokes about it. Football isn’t the center of Julián’s universe anymore, but that’s fine.

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