FM26 Hands-On: Forbes' Barry Collins Q&A

As part of a hands-on media session, journalist Barry Collins from Forbes spent a day with a pre-beta build of Football Manager 26. Invited by Sports Interactive to test the game ahead of release, Collins isn’t part of the development team and doesn’t speak on their behalf but his insights provide a genuine early look at how the next installment in the long-running series is shaping up.

Below are some of the answers he gave to the Reddit community about his experience, covering everything from gameplay and tactics to graphics, performance, and those all-important quality-of-life changes:

User Interface and First Impressions

Q: I mean - did you have fun? Did it feel “addictive” in the way that FM does…?

A: Yes, once I had found my bearings, I enjoyed playing it. Far too early to say whether it’s going to push my Steam counter into four figures, though.

Q: Over / under or just whelmed? I can’t say I’m too excited by the UI bugs and lack of back button described in the recent article.

A: Initially, it’s a big shock. Even though I knew the UI was being overhauled and I’d seen screenies in advance, it was genuinely disorientating for the first hour or two and I was struggling to warm to it. By lunch, it was growing on me, with some reservations. There’s still some sorting out to do with the UI and (obviously) bugs to fix, but by the end of the day I was starting to get that itch. I don’t want to draw any firm conclusion after only a day with pre-beta code, but I hope people give it a chance and don’t just write it off after an hour or so.

Q: There seem to be lots of examples of popup windows overlaying over the top of the main screen. Is there an option to expand these to make use of the full screen estate?

A: Yes, pop-ups or overlays are definitely a thing in FM26 and it takes some getting used to. Generally, I didn’t think they were too cramped on the desktop screen I played on, but there was the odd one or two that looked a bit odd (again, not final code). Don’t recall the ability to resize windows. However, the dashboards (Recruitment, Match Day etc) do seem to take good advantage of the available space.

Match Engine and Graphics

Q: How does the match engine from a realism standpoint? And how player stats affect it. Does it feel different?

A: Does it feel like an entirely new game? No. But there are definitely improvements. A big one I noticed was the dribbling animation. When Anthony Gordon (I keep mentioning him… I’m not obsessed with hairbands, honest) dribbled past players, it looked like he was cutting in and out, not just ghosting past them, as it felt like in FM24 and before. Keeper animations looked better. The women’s animations were really impressive, perhaps because they’ve had to do the motion capture from scratch and it’s more up-to-date, but that’s pure speculation on my part. So, yes, I think the new match engine is a definite plus, but not a groundbreaking change, at least from what I saw.

Q: What you are talking about is the graphics engine handle the match engine though, not the actual match engine.

A: Apologies. Misread the question. It’s difficult to say, but I didn’t notice any huge difference to the match engine. At least, no more/less than you’d expect from version to version. Obviously, things like the in/out of possession tactics have an effect, but I’d want to spend longer with the game before drawing any firm conclusions.

Gameplay Details

Q: Can I throw waterbottles?

A: No! That’s gone. At least, in the version I played.

Q: How much of an issue did not having a ‘back’ button cause?

A: If I’m being brutally honest, I didn’t even notice there wasn’t a back button. So clearly not much of an issue for me.

Q: Is there any improvement to press conferences or player interactions? Or is it the same old few choices?

A: Not that I saw. It did feel like versions of the same old questions, I’m afraid.

Stadiums and 2D Match View

Q: How do the inside of stadiums differ stadium to stadium? From what I’ve seen, all the substitute benches etc all look identical and unrealistic.

A: They looked better, but still with boilerplate elements. You’re not getting recognisable stadia, as you might in a FIFA game, for example. At least, not in the version I saw, which wasn’t complete.

Q: Is 2D still available…?

A: So, this is my favourite feature. The 2D engine is now shown between highlights. So, basically the whole game is played out in tiddlywinks overhead view, and you cut to the 3D engine for highlights. That’s massive, as now you can see what’s happening in game, you’re not relying on possession bars/snippets of commentary. You can tell if you’re consistently getting done down one flank, or your midfield is being overloaded. Love that.

Difficulty and Tactics

Q: Did the game seem tougher to play than usual? Or were plug and play tactics effective?

A: Really hard to say, because I only played about ten games in total throughout the day (I’m a slow player and I was obviously trying to test as many different features as I could click a mouse at.) Newcastle did about as well as I’d expect Newcastle to do in the games I played.

Q: Were you able to tell if there had been significant changes to the way the match engine itself works?

A: The new in/out of possession system definitely adds a layer of sophistication to the game. You have to think a lot more about how players fit into both positions, if you’ve got different shapes for in/out. I was playing as Newcastle, for instance, and Anthony Gordon was fine going forward, but not so hot when I wanted him to drop deeper when out of possession. It also makes fiddling with formations mid-game a bit more complicated, as you might have to tweak both shapes. Overall, I think it’s a good addition, but would need to spend more time with it to judge long-term impact.

Transfers and the New TransferRoom

Q: Did you get to do transfers and if so, how did the new transferroom feature feel?

A: I did. And to also answer one of the questions above, I signed Mudryk for Newcastle! The transfers are definitely different, but I didn’t spend too long getting into the weeds of them. (There was a lot to cover in a day!). There are more clauses to offer players, from memory, and a bit more to-and-fro with agents etc.

Player Data and Surprises

Q: Any players you were surprised by how good/bad they were at the start of the game?

A: Only really played with Newcastle and Brighton (women). Nick Woltemade was banging in the goals for the Barcodes, but he’s scored a few in real life too!

International Football

Q: We can’t play international football but are they active in the background?

A: I didn’t get far enough through a season to see if international games were being played, but countries etc are active with squads visible etc, so I would assume they would play games in background, but can’t 100% confirm.

Newgens and Performance

Q: I know you had limited time but did you get to see any newgen faces?

A: Yes, I did. They are improved, but not massively…

Q: How is the performance? Does it sim fast? Are screens sluggish to move around?

A: We were playing on pretty high-end PCs, but performance was largely fine. You have to bear in mind this wasn’t even beta code, so performance glitches to be expected, but I had no great concerns.

Playing on the Steam Deck

Q: How do you think the game will feel on the Steamdeck (smaller screen and lots of information)?

A: I don’t know, but it definitely wouldn’t be my first choice of platform. To be honest, I’ve never really got on with the console version, so playing on a handheld has no appeal for the reasons you state.

Men’s and Women’s Teams

Q: How are the clubs that have fully integrated men’s and women’s teams set up — same club or separate clubs?

A: So, let’s take Brighton as an example, as I played with Brighton’s women’s team for a bit. The two universes co-exist. If you’re playing as a women’s manager, you can still see the men’s team, the men’s leagues are being simmed in the background. But when you click on the Brighton squad page, for example, you only see the women’s players as the women’s manager. It’s not confusing. If your worry is that everything is going to be jumbled together, relax.