Content warning: this article discusses graphic violence, disturbing imagery, and mature themes in an 18+ game.
As World Cup 2026 officially kicks off between host nations the USA, Mexico and Canada, I'm getting nostalgic for the World Cup football game that was most memorable to me when growing up: FIFA 98, or FIFA: Road to World Cup 98, if you're to go by its full title. Funnily, I never actually played it myself (as a Sega Saturn owner, that version was also notoriously inferior), but the game's licensed soundtrack, notably Blur's 'Song 2' as its theme song, and David Beckham as the cover star on the UK box art are still burned into memory.
That's perhaps why I couldn't help but be intrigued by Fear FA 98, which had a Kickstarter campaign with box art mimicking that classic cover, except that instead of Becks, it's an axe-wielding maniac covered in blood, kicking a severed head.
This retro-inspired indie game pitches itself as Silent Hill mixed with FIFA 98, a hybrid of arcade football and classic survival horror gameplay, though it's perhaps important not to stress too hard about those influences. Speaking to its creator, the Madrid-based solo developer Jacob Jazz, he tells me, "I don't really like sports games; in fact, I don't really like sports in general. But people will always say FIFA 98 is their favourite one, so that's why I want to put that retro weight on it so that people remember FIFA 98 with this game."
If John Carpenter made a World Cup movie
Based on the games he's released in the past few years – 8-bit narrative adventure Baobabs Mausoleum, surreal 'platform-hell' Mezmeratu that he also describes as a "gorey Donkey Kong", and first-person adventure Tamarindos Freaking Dinner featuring a Majora's Mask-like time loop, Jazz's influences are something of a messy smorgasbord. In Fear FA 98, he reckons, "there's like hundreds of movies put in this game."
I try to narrow down some of these influences nonetheless. He's a fan of John Carpenter's Halloween, as well as other 80s slasher movies: "I really love B-movies that are very cool because they're so bad that they're incredible." That said, I'm also sure Nike's iconic 'Good vs Evil' ad from 30 years ago, which featured footballing legend Eric Cantona shooting a literal fireball through a demon's stomach, was probably also on his mind.
But it's when we sit down for a quick play of Fear FA 98's football matches that it becomes clearer, even as I'm overwhelmed by the grindhouse horror imagery. You could compare it to Mario Strikers: it's football with quirky gimmicks layered on top. But since horror is the theme, that means you're kicking around a severed head that's leaving big splashing trails of blood all over the pitch, which seems to resemble the gratified concrete of a town that's already been beset by a zombie apocalypse.
Other players on the pitch range from humanoid serial killer butchers to demonspawn running around on all fours; horrific screams are part of the audio mix, and when you manage to score, you're greeted with a pixelly image of a grisly face screaming "Killer Goal!!!!" It's trashy, without a hint of subtlety, nd just like the kind of edgy censors-baiting games that tabloids used to seize on back in the day.
One such game Jazz references is Thrill Kill, a 3D fighting game originally made for PS1 that was cancelled over its graphic BDSM-themed content (bootlegs nevertheless exist online), though he then tells me that he ended up becoming more obsessed with the aesthetics of Rockstar's controversial PS2 game Manhunt, which you can see reflected in some of the nightmarish masked denizens or the grainy CRT video filter when you're playing the adventure sections of the game.
"I was trying to make something with PS1 graphics, but I think that it's becoming more of a PS2 graphical style," he says. "I don't know why. Maybe I'm improving the graphics so much that it's like the PS2!"
Having first dabbled with GameMaker, Jazz develops his games in Unity, a good fit for a solo developer, as it's also convenient for purchasing assets from the Unity Asset Store. "In fact, I also have programming tools from the store, like the physics system for the blood particles," he explains. "They're not cheap, but I'm picking a lot of things from everywhere to try to make the game. Since I'm not just creating the game but also publishing and promoting it, I just grab all the help that I can from everywhere.
Admitting that programming is also not his strong suit, It's also why he's reluctant to tear himself away from Unity, as it would mean "starting from zero", while issues with shaders mean he's still currently using an older version of the engine. But even if Jazz will find any tools to make his games, by hook or by crook, he's stopping short when it comes to AI.
"Right now, for a solo developer, it's impossible not to use; it's in everything. But I really want to try to keep myself out of AI because I think this is going to eat all of humanity."
Fear FA 98 is coming soon to PC and you can wishlist it on Steam.
