What's New With eFootball 2023 and the V2.4 Update

Konami’s eFootball has been in a state of disarray for quite some time now. The once proud franchise hit the reset button back in 2021, yet here we are in 2023 with not much to show. Updates have been slow — to be fair to Konami this has been their overall style since as far back as I can remember — and eFootball has lagged behind FIFA when it comes to an overall product. While you can argue about the actual gameplay on the pitch, the lack of modes, unstable online connectivity, and the graphics being shambolic compared to even eFootball 2021 Season Update are rough parts of the experience.

So now that we’re nearly two years into the making of eFootball, let’s see what’s new with this massive V2.4 update.

What’s New With eFootball 2023 And the V2.4 Update

Dribbling

Let’s start with gameplay as it’s been the only semi-redeeming quality about this game. There’s been a lot of gameplay tweaks since eFootball has been released to varying degrees of success. No gameplay mechanic has seen more fluctuations than dribbling and here’s the latest tweak by Konami:

• Significantly improved dribbling response, especially in slow-moving situations such as immediately after controlling a pass or after a big turn.
• Implemented adjustments to mid-dribble Shield command inputs so that a Shield can only be performed when the player has the ball under control, as previously, a Shield could be performed even if the ball is not fully under control, which could ultimately lead to losses of possession.

In my experience, dribbling and player movement are the two standout qualities in eFootball 2023. The players have a solid weight about them that, when combined with the dribbling mechanics, allow you maneuver freely across the park without having to rely on skills. This new tweak to dribbling helps to alleviate some of the sluggishness that plagues dribblers when you first control a pass and the feeling that your player can’t burst out of tight space or standstill.

Passing

Passing is one of the most difficult aspects of gameplay to get right. There’s a fine line in balancing the amount of assistance one has or needs and for the most part eFootball gets that right. Where it all goes wrong for this game is the responsiveness or lack there of in eFootball 2023. From the patch notes, you can tell Konami realizes this and accordingly have attempted to address it with these fixes:

• Implemented adjustments so that mid-dribble kicking inputs are more responsively reflected.
• Implemented adjustments so that when a kick input is performed just before the ball is controlled, the subsequent kick will be more responsive.

In addition to these changes aimed at allowing your player to pass more responsively with the ball at your feet, Konami has also tweaked through balls (everyone’s favorite) so that balls are now played into space, which they should be, as opposed to locking them onto a player that slows the attack up and minimizes the impact of pacy players playing on the back shoulder of a defender looking to run in behind.

• Implemented adjustments so that through passes will now be played towards a more appropriate position, as previously, they would sometimes be played too close towards the receiving player.

Shooting

Like passing and dribbling, shooting is about finding the right balance and ensuring that you have the ability to select the correct shooting command in the situation. Both responsiveness and shot type see an update here:

• Implemented adjustments so that when inputting a “Shoot” or “Clear” command within close proximity to an opponent, players will make contact with the ball in a more hasty manner, as previously, more time-consuming animations would sometimes be selected, which could ultimately lead to losses of possession.
• Implemented adjustments so that the appropriate shooting motions will be selected with regard to distance and other in-match circumstances, as previously, headers would sometimes be triggered in areas that are too far away from the goal.

If you’re counting, that’s an increase in responsiveness across the board for passing, dribbling, and shooting that should benefit online play (if your connection is stable), and those who migrated over from FIFA yet struggle with how Konami’s animations play out.

Traps/First Touch

Responsiveness seems to be the theme of this update and rightfully so as the game online is much clunkier when compared to offline where the experience is smooth. Traps aka “First Touch” is always an area of debate. How much of this should be user-based vs. how much automation and/or how ratings should come into play. How much should the weight of the incoming pass, an area that was also addressed, factor into trapping the ball?

• Implemented adjustments to some ball control motions, as previously, players would sometimes move in a slow manner after taking a touch.
• Implemented adjustments to alleviate the issue of when controlling a sudden oncoming ball, players may take an excessively heavy touch even if a Dash command is not performed.

Defense

Say it with me folks…BALANCE! For every attacking (shoot, pass, dribble) update, Konami must ensure that the defensive side of the game is appropriately tweaked so that the scales aren’t tipped in favor of attacking. One of the ways Konami has attempted to resolve this was by addressing the issue of your player not reacting to passes near/in your area.

• Implemented adjustments to the player movement speed in defense to ensure a proper game balance in response to other attacking-related adjustments.
• Fixed the issue regarding Match-up where players may move towards the ball even if the directional input is performed in a different direction.
• Fixed the issue where possession cannot be retrieved adequately despite the player having their body in line between the ball and the opponent.

Keepers & Fouls

Goalkeepers are one area in eFootball where you’re at the mercy of the AI. Yes, you can control keepers to a certain extent by bringing them out or moving them during free kicks, but the decision as to whether they punch the ball or catch it when a cross comes in is left purely to chance. Konami have acknowledged the inconsistent behavior where they should be punching instead of catching and vice versa:

• Implemented adjustments to ensure that goalkeepers will make the appropriate decision to catch an oncoming ball in the air in appropriate scenarios, as previously, they would sometimes elect to punch the ball away.

Another area that keepers struggle comes via the contact they might receive when there are bodies in the box. Because of the awkward collision detection system, keepers could sometimes fall over after making contact with a player in his area, regardless of whether it was a teammate or opposition:

• Implemented adjustments to alleviate the issue where the goalkeeper may fall over after making contact with another player at the time of his saving attempt and cannot make the intended save.

These are really instances where a foul should be called as they are in real life to protect the keeper who may be vulnerable in these scenarios. While we’re on the subject of fouls:

• Implemented adjustments for fairer foul decisions with regard to the circumstances.

Largely attributed to the aforementioned poor collision system, fouls range from soft to English Premier League-ish in terms of how you can get away with some hellacious challenges. Before this update this was extremely frustrating because it allowed for people to rush in on tackles with no repercussions. While still not perfect or even up to PES 2021 standards, they are a lot better than before.

AI – CPU & Human-Controlled Teammates

The bulk of updates addressed by Konami this go-around center around the AI and rightfully so. At times, the AI in eFootball can be surprisingly good, while just only a few moments later it can be head-scratching. Some of this is down to tactics that have been stripped down to an almost criminal level compared to where we were in years past. This mobile-like version of tactics is extremely limiting for AI behavior, and you can tell by the patch notes that Konami knows this:

• Implemented adjustments to the positioning of players in defensive situations so that when increasing the Attack/Defense Level, players will start applying pressure to the opponent higher up the field.
• Implemented adjustments to Team Playstyle “Possession Game” and “Out Wide” so that there are more supporting players in position to receive passes from the ball holder, which contributes to smoother passing plays in attack.

The intelligence, or lack there of, in certain situations presents real issues for a game with only a few different styles of play. Perhaps this was a wise choice as the vintage PES tactics seemed to overlap and often cancel themselves out as Player ID/Styles battled with Coach Instructions. In certain situations, coaching instructions and/or tactics need to play a backseat to common sense, especially as it pertains to strikers:

• Implemented adjustments so that players who look to jump out behind the defensive line will run into spaces that are more effective to the circumstances.
• Implemented adjustments so that lone strikers who look to run behind the defense will search for open spaces in a wider area before making the run.
• Implemented adjustments so that players making runs behind the defenders in potential goal-scoring scenarios will smoothly run towards the intended spaces without decelerating unnaturally.
• Implemented adjustments so that players who make a run behind the defenders will move into spaces where opponents are less likely to be able to intercept passes towards them.
• Implemented adjustments so that in scenarios where multiple players are on the attack, the suitable players will make a run behind the defenders.
• Implemented adjustments so that fullbacks (with the exception of Defensive Fullbacks) will make overlapping runs in appropriate scenarios.

That’s six different scenarios mentioned by Konami in the patch notes where the striker and/or fullbacks weren’t making the correct runs or sometimes not making runs at all in the case of fullbacks. If you have a Roberto Carlos, there should be no need to place “Offensive” on him considering how attacking Roberto Carlos was as a player. He should be making those runs instinctively, and after this patch update you can certainly tell a difference.

All this attacking can leave you exposed at the back, and Konami recognizes this with these tweaks:

• Implemented adjustments so that when possession is lost near the team’s own penalty area, the whole team will switch back to defending in a quicker manner.
• Implemented adjustments to the positioning of players in defensive situations so that man-marking will be performed in a more adequate manner. Adjustments were also implemented to the triggering conditions, distance, and the speed of defensive line dropping, as previously, the defensive line would sometimes drop too far back or become uneven.

Now this isn’t quite the drop-back issue that plagued PES for years. The one where as soon as your team lost possession near your opponent’s box they would instantly turn around and run back to their defensive shape regardless of whether or not they could press high up the pitch and win it back. Thankfully, the “Deep Defensive Line” days are gone, but it still remains to be seen how Konami will flesh out their tactics system, that’s if they do it at all.

Bottom Line

In terms of gameplay, this update is a huge step in the right direction. While it won’t fix all of the issues that plague the series, the gameplay tweaks and increase in responsiveness are a positive step, something that’s been missing from Konami as they still try to find their feet with this new approach. So while they refine the gameplay, it’s up to the team that specializes on modes to deliver the final through ball.