“Popular game, but you do this instead,” is a tale as old as time, birthing efforts that range from rote to deliciously fresh. Making comparisons like that is always a gamble, as you’re immediately pointing towards the gold standard that your game has to at least be almost on par with, perhaps even better, to make any real headway. And while I haven’t played Eye of the Match, it being billed as Papers, Please, but you’re a virtual referee for football matches is certainly a pitch I can get behind.

In Eye of the Match, you, as a virtual referee, must sit at your computer and watch various football matches. In front of you is a keyboard with a slider that lets you fast forward and rewind the tape recordings of the matches, and four buttons that let you zoom in or spin the camera around, the camera itself always affixed to the ball. Similar to Papers, Please where you have a document that lets you spot fake identification documents, here you have a folder filled with various, real football rules. It’s then up to you to determine if any of those rules have been broken, which you do so by placing relevant stickers on the tape which then get analysed.

There’s a simplicity here that I just love. You’re simply a referee trying to call fouls! And a neat, tiny sort of dev vlog touches on how it got to this point. Apparently it started with developer Mix and Jam wanting to make a football game where you play as a referee in a football match, running around chasing players to give them red or yellow cards, but the complicated nature of simulating entire matches felt too big. Watching real world football matches reminded them of the now commonly used video assistant referee, and in turn the Papers, Please influence came in, shaping the game into what it is now.

Aesthetically inspirations range from Severance to Pro Evolution Soccer which is a wonderfully unique combination that I imagine hasn’t been put together before. There’s even a story about the company you work for, so it’s not just mechanics focused, though details are slightly lighter there.

No release date attached to this one just yet, but if it takes your fancy you can wishlist Eye of the Match on Steam here.