Football Manager 2024 is right around the corner, as the long-running management simulation prepares for a 6th November release. But those who have preordered the iconic game from a participating retailer can actually play an Early Access version of the game already. Developer Sports Interactive have pivoted away from calling this a ‘beta’ version, with the team behind the award-winning franchise clearly pleased with what they have created.
The Sportsman have spent over 20 hours with the Early Access version of the game, getting to grips with new features and old favourites alike. SI have gone on record as saying the franchise will receive a full overhaul with FM25. So is the last of the old generation of Football Manager games worth playing? Read on and find out.
Despite the lack of a root-and-branch reboot, there is still plenty that has changed this year. One of the headline additions is a highly requested one. Set pieces have received a full overhaul with a view to making it less of a chore to perfect your routines. If you’re a head coach who likes to micro-manage in this area, doing so is now more intuitive. The routines you can build are more detailed, where in the past you were somewhat limited options wise. Corners are no longer a case of picking a post and hoping, for example.
If all that painstaking tactical work sounds a bit much, help is at hand. Set piece coaches are a growing phenomenon in the game, with most teams now employing a dead ball specialist. Now FM managers can do the same, handpicking a set piece coach and giving them varying levels of free rein. You can either use the coach to implement your own routines or leave it in their hands to devise them for you.
A somewhat surprising but extremely welcome overhaul this season comes in the form of the match engine. This might seem like the sort of thing a developer would leave until an upcoming reboot. But SI have worked tirelessly to bring matches to life in a more realistic way than ever. Graphically the game has never looked better and the match animations are smoother than before. Crucially, the action plays out more like a genuine football match too. Your players make less utterly baffling and unrealistic decisions. Even when they make mistakes, those missteps are far more plausible as something a footballer might do.
The visuals really come to life during the raft of fully licensed competitions the game offers. The UEFA tournaments are back and there really is nothing like the warm glow of a Champions League night. We spent the majority of our time with the Early Access as Birmingham City, which meant less glitzy European ties. But even the Championship was beautifully recognisable and well-rendered.
A big draw for players wanting to live out their management dreams is the transfer market. For many folks, making their dream signings is their favourite part of the game. This is another area where FM have taken a hearty leap forward, even with a rebooted game a year away. You can now hire intermediaries to sell your unwanted players, for a cut of the final transfer fee of course. Real-life football market TransferRoom is also in the game for the first time, allowing you to list players you wish to sell. Intermediaries will also occasionally come to you with players they want to sell. Make sure you do your due diligence here, the selling clubs are usually shifting them for a reason after all!
Other new features include added dialogue with players, which means you can now make them hate you in a variety of fresh ways. They have toned it down a little though, with your team less likely to stop speaking to you because you congratulated them on winning a first international cap.
Many pessimistic fans expected a rebadged FM23 this year, considering FM24 is the last title before the reboot. But that isn’t how SI operates. Instead, judging by this Early Access version, they have delivered a true sequel that is well worth a year of your time. The improvements from last year’s game are sizable enough to make this an essential purchase for fans of the franchise. The possibilities are endless for FM25, but FM24 plays a damn good game of football. To the dugout
