When we asked you to vote on your Pure Xbox Game of the Year a couple of weeks ago, the game that received the least votes out of everything was Despelote (with two). That's not a reflection of the game itself, but rather that not many people have come across it — on the Xbox Store, for example, it doesn't even have enough scores to generate an average rating, although every single review on there is five out of five stars.
So, what if I told you that Despelote is not only in my top five Xbox games of 2025, but is one of the most memorable games I've ever played? Yeah, I didn't expect to be saying that either.
The premise is that you play as an eight-year-old kid called Julián — who happens to be one of the two main developers of Despelote — reliving his childhood during a time when Ecuador was trying to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Throughout its two-hour running time (which feels like the perfect length), you'll find yourself playing football in the street with your friends, being dragged around by your mother to various outings, bickering with your sister, talking to the townspeople, and various other things.
It's simply a game that tells the perspective of a kid living in Ecuador during a very exciting time for its national team.
Despelote has so much creativity pouring out of it at every turn, and without wanting to spoil the big highlights, I'd love to give you a couple of minor examples. Firstly, throughout the story, you can choose to sit down in front of the family TV and play a well-designed retro-style football game based on the classic Dino Dini's Soccer. If your parents have told you to sit down for dinner and you choose to play the game instead, they'll call you from afar, before eventually standing in front of the TV and shutting it off themselves in frustration.
Another example is playing football in the park with your friends. If you decide to interrupt the grown-up kids across the street and blast their football into the next block, they'll run after you and push you to the ground, throwing insults your way in the process. You'll come across a bunch of these memorable little interactions as you go through the game.
As I say, this is very much a childhood simulator that uses football as its focus, and the story is told by Julián himself as the narrator, highlighting Ecuador's results in World Cup Qualifying as you progress. Both your family and the general public can be heard regularly engaging in football talk, but you'll also just eavesdrop on their general everyday conversations. The whole thing really makes you feel immersed in this Ecuadorian village and everyone who lives in it, and you can even watch real-life footage of Ecuador's qualifying campaign by running up to a television in the street.
The art direction of Desplelote is also just really impressive at times. I know it doesn't look like much, but you need to see the game in motion to truly appreciate it, and it offers up a bunch of ambitious twists along the way.
I mentioned earlier this year how the technical achievements in Split Fiction's final level left my jaw on the floor (if you've played it, you'll know what I mean), and the same thing happened here in Desplelote, albeit on an obviously different scale. The game has a few masterful transitions from scene-to-scene that truly blew me away like in Split Fiction, and I wish I could tell you more about them, but that would definitely be ruining it!
Meanwhile, the gameplay itself is just nice and simple. Most of your time is spent walking around and listening in on the townspeople and your family, while you can also wave to them and spark interactions that way. If a football arrives at your feet (or anything that you can kick like a football), you use the right stick to pass or shoot. Flick it forward for a quick pass, or hold it back to add power for a shot. The vibe here isn't competitive matches though — it's more about just kicking a ball around with your mates while talking and listening to them.
In all honesty, it's very hard to express what's so great about Despelote without playing it for yourself, so I highly encourage checking it out if you're intrigued - it's actually down to £8.39 / $10.49 on the Xbox Store right now.
It won't be for everyone though, and I think you need to go in with the right expectations. This is not a game that's going to satisfy competitive types and speedrunners. Instead, it's an artistic achievement to get fully immersed in, shut off all the distractions for, and embrace its wonderful ambience and creative ambition for two hours (ideally in one sitting).
Just to drive home how it "won't be for everyone", our sister site Nintendo Life recently gave Despelote an "Excellent" 9/10 score and described it as "mesmerising", while Push Square gave it a 5/10 and described it as "aimless". There's every chance you'll fall into one of these camps, and it could end up being the latter.
For me though, I'm going to put it in third place for my Xbox Games of the Year in 2025, finishing slightly below Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Split Fiction, but above South of Midnight and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2. I just really cherish the two hours I've spent with Despelote, and I hope it can reach many more players in 2026.