Clawball is a 3v3 feline soccer game inspired by Gorilla Tag. We've had the chance to go hands-on with the alpha build, and here's what we thought:
Following on from ARVORE's Pixel Ripped and YUKI productions, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Brazil-based studio announce Clawball, an inventive take on arm-swinging, multiplayer soccer that feels like a mash-up of Gorilla Tag and Rocket League. As someone who's played Rocket League for years, I was eager to get involved.
Clawball is no different from soccer in that two teams compete to score the most goals by hitting a pufferfish, used as a football, with their front paws before time runs out. The goal cannot be left completely unattended, so team rotation is important to ensure everyone gets a fair try when appropriate. Time limits are reasonable and matches are never too short or too long. In Clawball, ties go into overtime.
Clawball's arm-swinging movements set it apart from other VR “soccer” games. While Ultimechs opts for teleportation between different pads, and Sky Strikers employs a similar approach, Clawball doesn't use floating platforms. While you can move around the arena, the controls took some getting used to. It was hard to gauge how much force you needed to use when swinging your arms to jump, but this issue will likely go away with more practice.
There are no special moves or “ultimate” abilities like some games have, and the movement feels rather basic since there isn't much else you can do on the field. I like games with stick-based movement, so using my arms to move and quickly hit the ball felt a little awkward at times. Still, scoring goals as a team was ultimately satisfying.
This playtest was fun, and while we didn't get to explore Clawball's social playground, there's a great foundation that ARVORE can build on. I also enjoyed the humorous celebrations that followed each match, where winning teams sprayed milk bottles with water like F1 drivers spray champagne on the podium, and losing (sorrowful?) teams had tomatoes thrown at them.
As for Clawball's long-term roadmap, ARVORE is currently focused on polishing the gameplay before adding additional content. We've heard that power-ups and wall climbing are under consideration, but ranked online multiplayer won't be included in Early Access. Cat customization options will naturally be limited in the initial build, with cosmetics to be added periodically.
Clawball is set to launch in free-to-play early access on Quest this October, with the full release planned for 2025. You can also join the upcoming closed beta test via ARVORE's Discord server.
