Hero image: Rematch x Blue Lock. Image: Sloclap
Of all the crossovers a football game could do, I think a Blue Lock one is about the most sensible, because Sloclap itself describes the new mode as built around “breaking your own limits”, which it calls “core to Blue Lock”. So Sloclap’s Season 5, which started on 24 September and runs through 23 October, feels less like a licence slapped on top and more like two things that were already halfway there. The centrepiece is a limited-time 3v3 mode called Aura Striker, and according to Sloclap’s patch notes every player has an aura gauge that fills over time (and faster when you intercept the ball). Once it is full you get a few seconds of Aura Mode with powerful shots, infinite stamina and faster movement, which is about as close to an anime power-up as a football game can get without anyone actually shouting the name of their move.
The part I find most interesting is that nobody plays goalkeeper in Aura Striker. Sloclap says an automatic dummy protects the goalposts, and if you shoot at it hard enough you can stun it and score while it recovers, which as far as I can tell turns the whole mode into a race to fill your gauge and hammer the keeper. There is a free Event Pass running all season that you progress through Aura Striker, Casual or Ranked, with profile cosmetics, a Blue Lock-themed ball and a VR arena along the way, and everyone who logs in gets a free Ego Boost Bundle with a full set of cosmetics. None of that costs anything extra if you already own the game. The paid side is four character bundles, for Yoichi Isagi, Meguru Bachira, Seishiro Nagi and Rin Itoshi, each with a full skin, a signature celebration and a matching player card, plus one bundle with all four.
The honest caveat is that this is a cosmetic and mode season more than anything else. Sloclap has also changed goalkeeping in the regular game, with a new long range dive on the modifier and dive buttons that always deflects, while the regular dive now always catches ( unless the ball hits your legs or feet, ) which I’d say matters more to the people who play in goal every week than any skin does. If you already own Rematch, the Blue Lock Training Pack is A$6.95 on the Australian Steam store, and if you don’t, Rematch itself is A$17.58 there at the moment in Sloclap’s Fall sale, which the studio says runs across all platforms with discounts of up to 60%.
Source: Sloclap – What you need to know before REMATCH x BLUE LOCK, Sloclap – S5.0 Patch Notes, Steam – REMATCH