In a world where the dreams of youth are carried not just on their shoulders but on the soccer field, a single series did its absolute best to teach an entire generation that believing in miracles is not foolishness, it’s the only right choice you can make. Inazuma Eleven is a name that still echoes with those who played its many titles during their innocence years. Now, after so much time passed wandering in the chaos of delays, rumors, and a fanbase that refused to stop believing, Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road is finally ready to make its comeback — a thing all of us who still hum along to our favourite Hissatsus could only dream of for a long while.

A complicated history

For those of you who might have lost track during the drought (and really, who can blame you?)(´･ω･`), Victory Road started life as Inazuma Eleven Ares. Announced way back in the ancient past of 2016–2017, it was meant to be both a soft reboot and a rewriting of the fundamentals: once more a fresh team of dreamers, a new generation of soccer players to collect for all the moncolle enthusiasts in the audience (me! me! that’s me!)o(*°▽°*)o, and a game designed to stand strong as the next step for the franchise while also carrying the weight of everything that came before. But the world had other plans. Development hell, hardware leaps, staff shake-ups, a goshdarn pandemic even — you name it, Level-5 faced it. And yet, just like Mark, Arion and all the other characters we fell in love with, Inazuma Eleven stubbornly refused to just give up in silence. ( •̀ ω •́ )

Victory Road

Almost a full decade after its original announcement, in Victory Road, you step into the role of Destin Billows — a boy who, in true Inazuma style, drags himself and everyone around him into the inescapable gravitational pull of youth soccer’s wonder. But unlike past captains with so much fire in their hearts you fear they might combust at any moment, Unmei starts out a little broken, a little less moved by dreams and big ambitions — a protagonist for a generation that knows wins rarely come easy. Alongside him are a cast of new faces, one cooler than the last, from Briar to Sharla, there’s someone for anyone’s taste! (❁´◡`❁)

Gameplay-wise, Victory Road delivers exactly what the series does best — over-the-top action that wows our inner child like few things do anymore — but now wrapped in new systems that genuinely deepen the strategy behind each pass, dribble, and unstoppable Hissatsu shot. The new Tension Gauge, for example, turns every moment you control the ball into a power play: keep possession, win duels, and unleash cinematic moves that can flip the entire match in an instant. Focus Battles also bring a fresh layer to player duels, zooming you right into those tense 1-on-1 confrontations, while Zone Mode near the goal lets you slow time and get those perfect, highlight-reel finishes. (￣y▽￣)╭

And for those of us who still play online as if we were back in the school corridor Wi-Fi days, the revamped multiplayer is pure magic. Even in the Open Beta, playing with friends was chaotic, flashy, and ridiculously fun — exactly how Inazuma Eleven should be. On top of that, the sheer variety in team-building options already felt huge: so many characters, unique passive skills, and coach bonuses give players an incredible degree of freedom to craft their dream squad. I can’t wait to see what unstoppable lineups and wild metas the community will invent once everyone gets their hands on the full roster. Sure, dribbling and defensive positioning could use a touch more polish to feel smoother and fairer, but the foundation is so solid and entertaining that I have no doubt Level-5 will tune it up.

Of course, Inazuma Eleven has never just been about the matches. It’s about the moments between them: the half-time pep talks that sound suspiciously like life advice, the everyday drama of kids balancing dreams and doubts, and that delicious feeling when the screen freezes just as your striker’s foot connects with the ball for a hissatsu shot that you know, just know, can’t be stopped. Victory Road seems keenly aware of this. From what we’ve seen so far, the story leans hard into that mix of heartfelt and absurd that only Inazuma Eleven does so well, and I couldn’t be happier! \(￣︶￣*\))

August can’t come fast enough!

It’s wild, honestly, how many of us held on for this. How many fans learned Japanese just to follow scraps of trailers. How many doodled Raimon Eleven on homework margins or replayed Go Galaxy for the umpteenth time because Ares felt so far away. But after all this waiting, development updates in the past year have finally felt like actual progress instead of more “please wait a bit longer.” Demos, system breakdowns, and behind-the-scenes peeks have started showing their heads in earnest. Level-5’s CEO, Akihiro Hino, has been refreshingly candid about wanting this to be not just a revival but a statement that Level-5 is still here — still dreaming big, still telling stories where kids and soccer save the world.

And we are here, waiting on the finish line — August 21st feels so close and yet so far. This time, the goal is in sight, the pitch is clear, and all that’s left is for us to show up and play to our heart’s content when that game finishes downloading on our console of choice.

And I will be there, for my inner child that always wanted to be able to summon penguins by whistling, and for the adult me that still relishes in such a wonderful and fun world.

Stay tuned, new and more in-depth blog posts on Level-5 and Inazuma Eleven are coming soon, and I’ll see you on the field this August! (please Hino, no more delays!)

—Elligeist φ(゜▽゜*)⚡️✨