Launch (EA1) Feedback

[KreepstaTV]

Tried the game and it just feels horrendous. The players cant tackle someone who’s touching them and trying to pass is horrid. I don’t understand why the passing changed from Rugby 22. The passing is just really really bad, along with that, trying to even get the ball going feels impossible. The players will create a ruck (I haven’t won a opposition ruck despite playing for hours) and they just hold on. It doesn’t matter if I don’t put anyone in the ruck or all three (Which I don’t understand why it is limited to). Along with that YOU CANT SELECT YOUR SCRUM HALF in your own rucks. You end up giving away a penalty after not passing the ball in 5 milliseconds and then proceed to get battered by a opposing scrum that you cant compete with, unlike Rugby 20 and Rugby 22.

Another thing I would like to mention is that the graphics aren’t as good as I anticipated or as good as the reveal trailer. The grass has no options to change, it looks like moss and is just a fluffy green carpet. The hair textures is similar as well, it makes some of the players look like they are balding. The stadiums look incredible however, playing in Stade De France really feels incredible and the way the camera pans to the fans looks great, I’d say on a similar level to FC24. The kits look very clean, however they often collide with the legs of the players, especially in the scrums. For early access the game performs as smooth as butter, even on the highest settings my pc can run at a good 240fps with around 40% GPU Usage and 50% CPU Usage. I’d say that if the game could get hair texture streaming and grass texture streaming as an option in the settings not only would the game look so much more realistic but also optimise the system a lot more. I’m generally really happy with the graphics, although I’d love to see more physics on the players, especially on the shirts and shorts.

The home menu is just, mwah! Its perfect, perfect, down to the very last minute detail. Flicking across the menus and hearing a “click” followed with text that slowly rolls out just feels so aesthetically pleasing. The general menus just feel great. I love the font that’s been used and the geometric patterns. It makes the game feel really high end. Opening this game alone feels like its a bargain, its genuinely got better menus than a lot of other sports games. Its simple, down to the point and classy.

I think the most irritating part is that the game has so much potential, it generally feels like Madden 24 with its physics engine, however the dive tackles just don’t work. You just see your player fly off into the grass like a wannabee superman. Along with this its impossible to tackle. Unlike in Rugby 22 where you can press Circle or B to tackle you just seem to have to run at them. Even when you do run at them they often run through you and my AI team will make the tackle for me. I used to play on the highest difficulty on Rugby 22, I can’t compete on easy on this game. The general feel is terrible due to the players tiny little hitboxes and how the players have absolutely no momentum, they just seem to be able to switch directions freely unless they have the ball. I would love to see something like FC24 or Madden 24 where the players carry much more momentum and its a lot harder to slow down and swap directions. I want to be able to fake someone and see them struggling to turn around, along with a bug that allows some players to walk through the whole pitch unphased.

I’ve been waiting for ages for this game to release. Yes, I understand its in early access and the early access launch definitely came as an earlier than thought surprise. I think this game needs to bring more aspects from Rugby 22. It seems so ambitious that it completely leaves the actual fans of the Rugby franchise unsatisfied. This game has so much potential, seeing Uruguay and Brazil in a rugby game generally made my day. Seeing all the licensed teams in the full game is something I’m going to be dreaming about. The game just really needs to work on making the game fun. Rugby 22, ill admit, was (graphically and physically) a terrible game, with players walking through other players and half the team looking like they belonged in a mobile game, but it was fun. Whether it was a challenging line-out throw or a winning scrum to secure a win in the final minutes, the arcade-like feel just made the game so much fun, allowing me to sink many hours and weekends into the game. At the moment the gameplay in general feels quite, well, hollow. It feels like a tree with no wood, just a hollow shell of bark.

I really hope that Big Ant see this comment as I’ve generally put my honest opinions and thoughts into words. Everything I’ve said is completely 100% my honest opinion and it isn’t done to criticize how much hard work has gone into this project. As a big rugby fan and a huge fan of sports in video games I can see so much in this game, I’d be so annoyed if it didn’t live up to its potential.

P.S: The soundtrack absolutely SLAPS!

Thank you for the game Big Ant,

Kreepsta,

[ZerackRex]

Hello there,

As much as I didn’t buy it, I watched the gameplays videos, reviews… And honestly, due to the game current states, my feedback only consist on suggesting you to pick one of the two way for the game:

-First is to keep the gameplay and improving it, which is honestly not the best idea because there is way too many flaws (Glitch, Rugby League in Union, passing, ruck…) and solving one risk to create new ones. If you want to continue with this engine, pay very attention to every single main problems that players found out.

-The other path is to start over by taking gameplay from a previously existed rugby game that did worked and adapting it if needed. (EA Rugby 08 is likely the most candidate to use as blueprints for Rugby 15) However, if you do agree to start over… Please forget about the licenses.

And lastly, I think you should try to play Jonah Lomu Rugby, EA Rugby 08 and Rugby Champions (And even Rugby 22). I don’t tell that for putting Rugby 25 down and comparing. I tell you to play these games because playing them will become your source of inspiration for improving Rugby 25, seeing what you should do, what you should add and what you should fix. A lot of independent studios played past AAA games and used them as source of inspiration for creating their games (Like Shovel Knight with Duck Tales, Hat in Time for Super Mario 64) and the result turned great. I’m sure doing that will truly help you to find out how to improve Rugby 25.

That’s the feedback I could find out. Rugby 25 does have potential but it needs the minimum playability for making it enjoyable.

Have a nice day.

[KreepstaTV]

Completely agree with you here!

[HappySniperFace]

Good day,

First of all thank you for releasing the game into EA.

I do believe the game is fun it is just some getting used to but, even then there are some core gameplay missing or not yet implemented as I do believe we have an earlier version then what is currently being tested and that hopefully many of the concerns even though we are mentioning them now, that they have been discussed inside the dev team already before releasing this version for the EA debut.

I actually love the game and can see the potential that it has and it makes me happy.

I am also just wondering is the graphics fully implemented as yet too as it seems there can be some work done aswell? Especially around some characters eyes but please note that the graphics have stepped up a lot from older rugby games and looks amazing at times.

There is however some concers aswell as many have mentioned above.

• Problem 1 - Rucks :

The rucks feel sloppy and sometimes feel like pressing or mashing a button has no difference as nothing happens anyway. It looks like a scrum instead of a ruck.

The three players that join the ruck looks so silly and seems to not be enough as in many games there can be up to 5+ players joining a ruck.

The other issue is that the Y/Triangle button is binded to the Fullback and it messes with the backline as you press it in the ruck and then it changes to the 15 player.

It is unclear what is happening sometimes in the rucks as the ball is lost and leads to a free kick, I do understand that it happens in real rugby aswell but I would just like to know that I can see I am losing it to either a power issue or too little people in the ruck or something in that line.

• Solution 1:

Be able to add more players to the ruck and perhaps even add ruck formations as it is used more in todays rugby especially to help with box kicks.

Make it more clear what is happening in the rucks.

Remove the bind button to fullback and either make it a combination of pressing the LB/L1 and RB/R1 button simultaneously or remove it completely. It messes up with the rucks on Y and then you think you’re doing something in the rucks then 15 just appears there and is so far out of position that the forwards try acting as a fullback.

• Problem 2 - Tackling :

The tackling is difficult. It feels slow at times and misses a lot as it looks like it should have a closer proximity or sometimes just pure luck that I make the tackle with the stick. Timing feels off a lot and again sometimes just feel lucky that I made the tackle.

• Solution 2:

The tackling on the stick is a good idea, (I originally wanted it to be a button but have gotten used to it and it would intervene with the change player button which is a good one *for me though)., it just needs more work, perhaps, different type tackles need to be added more as I do sometimes hear the commentator say something in the line of a ankle tap that clearly is not an ankle tap leaves me to believe that there is more tackles but has not been implemented yet. But the tackling definitely needs to be calibrated.

• Problem 3 - Player movement:

The running does not feel smooth, it feels rough and I do know that it is experimental. I do understand that real life is not as smooth as just turning around like in rugby 08 but this feels a bit harder than realistic.

There is also no collision to the goal posts, you can run through them.

There is also an unlimited amount of stamina players can run forever it seems.

All players seem to have the same speed, I have scored with a prop from over 70 meters and he was running everyone away.

• Solution 3:

Small tweaks are needed to just smoothen it out a bit. I do know that it is experimental and believe the team have already addressed this issue aswell as with the collision on the goal posts.

The speed of players need to be tweaked but I believe this will be properly implemented when ratings come out.

• Problem 4 - Scrums:

I do like the scrums but it just needs to be more clear what to do as I sometimes collapse the scrum and a penalty is given away. I love the fact that there is penalties for that don’t understand me wrong.

There is no movement in the scrums and I can’t see properly what is happening below the scrum.

• Solution 4

Make a scrum tutorial so that we can get the fundamentals down. Add power meters and to show the scrums pushing instead of just going with an up and down movement. Make it just more clear.

• Problem 5 - General rules:

There is a lack of penalties, Offsides aren’t being called and most likely other things too.

• Solution 5

Add the rules to the game.

I also believe the team is aware of this and is most likely just testing all other aspects of movement before implementing it.

• Problem 6 - Mauls:

There is no mauls. I can’t seem to do mauls from line-outs as it does not show in game but does on controller.

• Solution 6:

Add mauls. I believe the team is busy with movement and tackles before they can add the mauls.

• Problem 7 - Passing:

I do like the passing a lot and the controls are used wisely for them the only issues is that there is at most times no momentum going into a pass and players just stand still. I do understand that if you pass really far there is no momentum but, only if I stand still and pass to a other player that is standing still. If the other player is running into that ball with speed and catches it the player stands still. It keeps breaking momentum.

There seems to be no button for a dummy pass. Also seems to lack offload passes.

• Solution 7:

As I said above, I love the pass mechanic it works nice to where I want to pass it momentum needs to be considered and other types of passes need to be added, pop pass, fast pass, loop pass. Add offload passes just not as crazy as Rugby Challenge series where you can do it all the time, it needs to be more focused on in some aspects and be realistic.

• Problem 8 - Tries :

The tries just look awful at times and does not look real as a player just like plops down on the ground.

• Solution 8:

Add better animations for the tries, nice ground sliding dives, normal dives normal press downs just take into account that when you dive you slide and don’t just hop down on the ground in place. It does seems that there is some variation as I will talk about one specifically in the next problem.

• Problem 9 - TMO:

I do love the fact that there is TMO it just happened that when I scored a try it went to TMO and the TMO made the wrong call. The try I scored the player dived with like both hands in the air like a 90 degree bend and scored the try, the only problem was that it looked like the ball was out of his hands while trying to ground the ball which should have been no try and scrum to opposition. I just wish I recorded it as it looked so good and real like it was accidently knocked on and not grounded but it was still a try .

Solution 9:

Love the TMO but I just want it to be real as it is in real life like if the ball is not touching the hands while grounded it must be a knock on. REALLY REALLY wish I recorded it.

---

Overall I do love the game and can see all the potential, it is going to be a good game if all is implemented correctly.

I do have some questions too.

1. Will rules also be updated as we go along ie. Scrums being removed from marks etc.

2. Will there be a tutorial and a free play mode.

3. Is goal kicking going to be changed/made harder, as it seems very easy to get each one over ie. just hold the power button down, aim properly, release get 2 points. Also 3 when the penalty kicks are added.

4. What graphical changes are still to be made like for instance camera equipment added, ad boards etc.

---

What I will love to see.

I would love to see better cutscenes in game when there is stop plays ie. waterboys coming on when there is a break like after there was a big hit or medical cutscenes. Some tension cutscenes ref speaking to captains when there is continuous penalties or faults, subs being made to make it feel like I’m watching the game like on TV. Home sponsor ads like on boards. Crowd cinematics with random props (like goofy fans are always fun to see at matches) and just fans with merch like when they stop play or walk to the lineouts all that we see on TV and perhaps a slider to choose how often it happens from none to full experience.
Team Chants etc.

[leo_morts]

Hey Ross, super excited about the new game. Graphics are great, just needs some gameplay improvements, as you know. My question is, how often can we expect updates in early access?

[TechnoDoggy]

Hey HappySniperFace,

I found a way to Dummy Pass. Holding in LB then pressing RB while still holding LB does a Dummy pass (And same for the other way around). I scored a few tries like that.

[TechnoDoggy]

For an Early Access Game, this is not half bad. Yes there are some flaws which is to be expected. But once you get the hang of everything, then the game runs actually not too bad. This has GREAT potential to become an amazing rugby game.

Devs, PLEASE DO NOT GIVE UP ON THIS GAME! It can become something GREAT!

Bugs/Issues I have encountered:

• Not being able to play the ball once ruck has been formed (found a way to work around this to basically never happen anymore. Just hit B once the menu pops for the Ruck, then immediately hold in either LB/RB and spam any of the pass buttons. Get good line speed like this too.)
• Once you attempt a tackle and you ankle tap the opposing player but he does not fall, (failed tackle). That player sometimes becomes immortal and cant be tackled, which is kind of funny.
• Game crashed when I kicked conversion and the ball hit the middle pole
• Offside is not a thing. So you can stand next to the players and attempt to tackle them.
• Scrums are awarded even after the final/half time whistle blows.

Features I like:

• The fact that the South African team has the crowd singing Shoza Loza is amazing
• The jackals are cool so far. Been getting a lot of jackals in the rucks after getting a good way to do it (Once ruck starts as defending side, tap X quickly, then B quickly so you can add a player, then hold X at the end. This seems to work well so far)

Recommendations for future Updates:

• More Variety and MUCH improved Tackle Animations. Most of the current ones are High Tackles like 90% of the time anyway. And not Penalties for it.
• Knock on’s don’t really exist yet. So to be added.
• Improvements on the AI. They are pretty dumb. Defending and Attacking. But Attacking AI needs to be improved especially. When I pass the ball at Speed to a support player, they stand dead for a second then starts running again, breaking the momentum
• Having set plays (which I am assuming will come later). If I want to do a drop goal, I need to have a kicker in the Pocket.
• Improving collisions between players. If I run at full speed and try to bump someone, I need to bump him.
• Better Line breaks for immersion.

All in all, not bad for an Early Access.

[FreshJzzle]

A mechanic I think could be reworked.

The sidestep mechanic. I’m not a huge fan of the way sidestep has been implemented into rugby games, how an animation just happens and stats determine whether the animation is successful. The madden games have mastered the sidestep. Flicking the stick left or right will make your character step that way, quickly flicking left then right will fake a step left resulting in your player going right. I feel like this could be used in rugby games. This could also help when running as a winger as a in real life when a winger is running with the ball, they will usually cut inside with a step do prevent being brought into touch. You cant do that in modern rugby games due to the sidestep mechanic. Utilising the madden sidestep would make this possible.

Also, the ability to ground the ball in your own try zone should be added.

[SportsGamingZone]

I want to add to the TMO issues. I know this is not something we should worry about now, but with time just look at these, as it might come by as unrealistic and glitchy. I had the same issue with TMO reviewing a try, clearly player loses the ball, but try gets awarded, if the ref refers it, and it is clear as day what happened, the right call should be made.

TMO Review 2

Second TMO issue I get, is whenever I score in the corners between the 5m and sidelines, it gets reviewed even when a player is clearly not close to the line, or anything. It shouldn’t be a major issue to get sorted, and it is definitely not priority. Gameplay first needs to be sorted.

TMO Review 1

TMO Review 1 1

TMO Review 1 2

[SportsGamingZone]

One more thing. It seems like there is no button to touch down the ball in my own in-goal area. Even the button to score a try does not work. Currently you can only run from there or try to kick it away.

[michaelmouse]

Right, I have an idea on how to sort out rucks.

Better animations in general
Players can start to join as soon as the tackle is made, not once the tackler stands up.

B to add players

If you have a 1v0, 2v0 or 3v0 and press X
65% steal ball
25% you win penalty
10% concede penalty (off feet animation)

Your opponent can release the ball by pressing a button, this leads to 100% chance of getting the ball for the other team.

If you have a 1v1 and press Y,
20% chance to push them over and then whoever has a closer secondary player will pick up the ball.
15% chance of Penalty (animation of an illegal clearout ie. tip/high etc)
60% chance nothing happens and an animation plays of an attempted clear out (partial lift of attackers leg etc)
5% chance of holding on penalty in your favour

If you have a 2v1 and press Y,
30% chance to push them over and one of the 2 players will collect the ball and start a ruck in the opposite direction
10% chance of Penalty (animation of an illegal clearout ie. tip/high etc)
50% chance nothing happens and an animation plays of an attempted clear out (partial lift of attackers leg etc)
10% chance of holding on penalty in your favour

If you have a 3v1 and press Y,
60% chance to push them over and one of the 3 players will collect the ball and start a ruck in the opposite direction
10% chance of Penalty (animation of an illegal clearout ie. tip/high etc)
5% chance nothing happens and an animation plays of an attempted clear out (partial lift of attackers leg etc)
25% chance of holding on penalty in your favour

If you have a 3v2 and press Y,
22% chance to push them over and one of the 3 players will collect the ball and start a ruck in the opposite direction
10% chance of Penalty (animation of an illegal clearout ie. tip/high etc)
60% chance nothing happens and an animation plays of an attempted clear out (partial lift of attackers leg etc)
8% chance of holding on penalty in your favour

If you have a 3v3 or 2v2
5% chance to push them over and one of the 3 players will collect the ball and start a ruck in the opposite direction
5% chance of Penalty (animation of an illegal clearout ie. tip/high etc)
85% chance nothing happens and an animation plays of an attempted clear out (partial lift of attackers leg etc)
5% chance of holding on penalty in your favour

If you don’t press Y, committing players in defense just slows the ball down

In attack, as you approach the ruck you can make whoever is approaching just pass the ball (if it’s uncontested) by holding pass, otherwise the first player there will always commit to the ruck automatically. Press B to add more and hope no one steals the ball before you get there.

The key point is if you press a button, some kind of animation happens, this makes it clear you’re doing something. I think an issue with large parts is it’s very unclear if anything has been completed or achieved.

All the percentages are assuming players with the same attributes/sizes etc. they’re also plucked out my head, so won’t be perfect.

Sorry for the wall of text.

[Pinzonlop]

Hello everyone; I’m quite worried about the gameplay, this is really what makes a game fun and replayable, but in this case it’s clunky, it feels like you don’t fully control what’s happening on the field. The passing system bothered me, I feel it as a regress compared to previous games, also when selecting a player and trying to tackle the opponent is very confusing and difficult; also, obtaining possession of the ball is almost impossible autonomously, you just have to wait for everything to happen randomly and the opponent to punt kick. Unfortunately I feel that it is still very raw in this aspect and must improve considerably.
I hope that in the next update (hopefully we don’t have to wait several months again) these problems will be corrected.
On the other hand, I liked the graphics and sound even though some details remain to be improved and polished such as some player eyelashes, textures of the playing field and lighting.
I feel that this game has a lot of potential and I hope that the development team carefully reads all the comments that people are making.

[Tigersfan12]

To expand upon earlier points:

• Rugby 08 is a great place to start when it comes to looking at rugby Union animations. Several different types of tackle, some dominant, some not. Diving tackles and higher tackles all included which look slick and realistic, particularly when players slide off the higher tackles. The way the tackler remains in the bottom of the ruck is good too.

• Rugby 08 also successfully had players running onto the ball at pace with passes being floated in front of players - this made it fun getting the ball wide with momentum to beat defences.

[OCallaghan91]

I ve got lot of this bug. I cant tackle the guy …

[ET_1980]

Did Find the rucks in Rugby Challenge 2011 pretty good and simple yet effective as i play this a lot too because of the ITM cup.

i cannot link it but i clipped the Ruck that’s happing
But you can see when i add quick bind ruck fills up more or heavy bind add a lot more to the ruck.

• Also, Intro’s when players are getting to the field have a display of the line up’s

• and wind direction would be ace also Seem’s cannot see any as of yet.

• Also running slideway’s in game makes defender’s leave massive gaps open and they don’t even close the gap i can just run sideways and score easy try’s too

• Fend make it like RRL4, R3 stick up , sidestep R3 L&R as it it ATM but it is quite delayed in the input of it like trying to Bind ruck also i’ll smash the button yet very very input delay

• And last little thing for a tutorial (for people who don’t know rugger)

Basics

1. Scoring a Try

• Learn how to score a try by running into the try zone.

2. Simple Conversion

• Practice basic kicking techniques to convert tries.

3. Passing

• Master passing the ball to teammates effectively.

4. Tackling

• Learn how to tackle opponents to regain possession.

5. Change Player

• Switch control between players during the game.

6. Loose Ball

• React to loose balls and gain control quickly.

7. Cut Out Pass

• Use cut-out passes to bypass multiple players.

Intermediate

1. Running

• Improve your running skills to navigate the field.

2. Aggressive Tackle

• Perform aggressive tackles to stop opponents.

3. Punt Kick

• Execute long-distance punt kicks.

4. Chip Kick

• Use chip kicks to pass the ball over opponents.

5. Bomb Kick

• Perform high kicks to challenge the defense.

6. Grubber Kick

• Use low kicks that bounce along the ground.

7. Drop Goal

• Practice scoring drop goals from different positions.

Professional

1. Kick for Touch

• Kick the ball out of bounds to gain territory.

2. Cancel Kicking

• Cancel a kick attempt to change strategy.

3. Offload

• Pass the ball while being tackled.

4. Side Step

• Use side steps to dodge opponents.

5. Fend

• Push away defenders while running.

6. Dummy Pass

• Fake a pass to confuse defenders.

7. Windy Conversion

• Practice conversions in windy conditions.

[Rohan1]

Congrats on getting the game out, having played a few games now, I think this is the most promising rugby game yet.

Having seen lots of comments about the rucks, passing and player and ball movement etc I won’t comment too much on that as I understand with rugby 25 being an early access game that this is something that will improve massively over the coming months.

One thing I think that can be included to add more realism to the game is improved player positioning. For example, every team in modern rugby uses a very simple pod of 3 forwards with the fly half behind when coming back infield from a ruck in the 15 metre channel. Adding this would work perfectly with the passing mechanics as holding down RB/LB and pressing A, B or X will allow the 9 to pick which player of the pod to pass to. Normally, the 9 would pass to the middle man of the pod, therefore I think using RB/LB should by default pass to the middle of the pod. Following this, the outside player of the pod normally runs a “tip” line, with the flyhalf/play maker arcing “out the back”. Using RB/LB to pass to the “tip”, or RB/LB+B to pass to the flyhalf would be good for this.

Adding this feature and features similar would allow for the user to feel as though he is making the same decisions that rugby players make in actual games - therefore adding to the realism aspect of rugby 25. I’ve created some images of what I’m explaining to help.

Thanks for reading and I look forward for the updates to come.

[Rohan1]

The above 2 pictures are what the improved player positioning could look like

[ET_1980]

That does happen ATM you have to hold down the i think L1 or R1 and then it show’s up but i do get what you pointed out as it does that in RRL4

[Charl93]

Helo first thing is graphics needs to improve its rugby 25 cant look the same as the older rugby games. Second need more camera angles and players need to respond faster to run with ball in hand when they catch the ball from a kick. the carmera needs to move with the ball not change when the ball is in the players hand. Players movements also needs to loosen up when tackling passing running and kicking. Lots of bugs to fix like in the ruck when u cant pass it turns into a scrum loop passes. Line dept also need to use put players deep and wide. Try to keep the passes from ruck and movement from player receiving the ball ballnaced so that the runner can have running space and not receive the ball and the the deff is already on him especially if the line is set deep. If player gets into space the support runners stays behind they need to respond quicker. Hope u guys can sort this out focus on the gameplay thats the most important face scans can come later. Last thing put the players in order forwards for pods backs to run the ball like rugby is played here and there there wil be a forward in the backline thats normal.

[Rugbygamer40]

Hi guys ,

Just some feedback on player bodies. Is it possible to please consider having some good variations with creation tools to make players look like their body type for their positions ?
I got some screenshots here from Rugby League Live 4 and Rugby Challenge 4.

The different aspects to adjust such as stomach , arms, chest , being able to make them look large, muscly , skin or skinny etc. Weight size by Kg could adjust the body appearance the more or less that figure is.

Some Locks can have a bit of weight on them and others look slim. Props can look large and bulky.