Football Manager 2024 Review (PC)

Liverpool is due for a rebuild, which, as the new manager, I start by selling both Salah and Van Dijk to rich clubs in Saudi Arabia for fees of more than 150 million Euro each. The fans aren’t happy, but the board isn’t that concerned and only one player, Alisson, wants a promise to bring in replacements. We’re playing with a clean slate for the season, and I now have a ton of money to spend on younger players that can have an immediate impact while also carrying us to trophies for years.

Kudus comes into the team and delivers two goals during our first Anfield game when we trash Newcastle 4 – 0. We’re playing offensively at Manchester City, and we are defeated by a late, late goal from Haaland. Guehi reinforces the defensive line before the end of the transfer window when we also ship Matip out on loan to OM, and Jota moves, via intermediary, to Barcelona.

Liverpool stays in third or second until the all-important holiday period when matches come hard and fast. Unfortunately, injuries have meant that I’ve rarely fielded the best starting eleven. In a win against Manchester United, both Alisson and Kelleher got injured, which means I have to rely on Adrian or a youth keeper for a full month. At least the transfer market is opening soon.

Football Manager 2024 is developed by Sports Interactive and published by SEGA. I played the PC version using Steam. The game is also offered on the Nintendo Switch, the Xbox Series X and S (also featured on Game Pass), and the PlayStation 5. A mobile version is delivered via Netflix. This is a simulation that allows players to engage with all aspects of running a football club.

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The game offers a ton of potential clubs to manage. You can go to South Korea or Japan and play using teams that rarely make the news in Europe, in competitions that have different rules and pose new challenges. One can choose an ailing European superpower and try to restore it to its former glory.

There’s always the option of choosing a small team in the lower leagues and then pushing for fast promotions. I play Liverpool first because I support them and then see what suggestions the community has for interesting campaigns. There’s a lot of text in Football Manager 2024 and the writing is informative and easy to understand as long as one knows the beautiful game’s lingo.

Football Manager 2024 allows players to import saves from last year’s version, which by itself is a great feature. The game also offers three potential setups for a career, giving players the option to stick close to reality or explore alternate scenarios related to transfers and player evolution. The wordiest features, the player talks and the press conferences, have not been tweaked. It still feels like they don’t have enough of an impact, especially when it comes to the biggest clubs and their stars.

When it comes to gameplay, there are some significant tweaks that will appeal to fans, but the core elements are familiar. Most of the actions associated with running a modern football club become mechanics. Gamers get to pick the players who feature and the tactics they use on the pitch. They handle training and scouting and decide what staff to hire. As the manager, players also engage with finances, interact with agents, speak to the press, and oversee the youth system.

Football Manager 2024’s big tactical addition is the inverted fullback. Players can now try to emulate Guardiola’s all-conquering approach but it’s more fun to test new approaches and find new ways to win. I like Gegenpressen as much as any coach, but I want my version of Liverpool to feel unique. It can be hard to try out ideas when the board is breathing down your neck but it’s worth it.

The set piece system also gets a revamp, rewarding players ready to fiddle with positioning and delivery. The new specialized coaches tend to handle this aspect well when delegated. Computer-controlled clubs also adapt faster and come up with solutions to counter player-created strategies.

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FM 2024 brings the transfer market closer to real life. Agents have more of a say in what a player chooses to do. Intermediaries are now available to deal with situations where the manager doesn’t want to directly handle a transfer and unwanted players can also be used via Transfer Room.

Matches are shown in full 3D, using an improved match engine that better captures the subtleties of modern football. As players pace the virtual sidelines, they get a lot of customizable feedback on their team’s performance to help them make good decisions when it comes to substitutions and tactical changes.

There aren’t a ton of new ideas in Football Manager 2024, but they make an already good sim even better. Yes, it still takes a long time to get through a season when engaging with all its systems. The transfer market can be a little weird, especially given the newfound financial power of Saudi Arabia. Players still sometimes move in weird ways on the pitch. But these are small problems for a great football experience.

Football Manager 2024 adopts a new color scheme but otherwise, there’s no significant improvement to the interface. The upside is that the familiarity makes it easy for fans to get to the options they need. But it can still take a little while for newcomers to discover where everything is.

The match engine is better looking than ever, with a slew of small improvements, but it still has moments that break immersion. I tend to only watch extended highlights for a game and rely on statistics to get a clear idea of how my players performed. The sound design isn’t impressive. Matches are a little lifeless and I tend to turn off the effects associated with them quickly. Football Manager is a perfect podcast game and for many players that limits the level of immersion.

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The Good

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