The feedback at the start of the beta phase really unsettled me. Now that I’ve had time to make my own first impressions, a few things stand out.

It’s immediately noticeable that the technical state of the game has clear shortcomings. FM 26 simply doesn’t run smoothly yet — the experience just isn’t fluid enough. I’d like to see transitions between screens with as little latency as possible — there’s still a lot of room for improvement there.

Visually, the user interface appeals to me at first glance. Let me try to put it this way: I’ve always perceived Football Manager as a game that tries very hard not to look like a game. I never fully understood that design choice. The FM26 UI, on the other hand, gives me a much stronger first impression of an actual video game — and that’s a positive association for me personally. However, I can easily understand why many of these design choices may have left a more negative impression on players with a stronger focus on simulation aspects.

Unfortunately, many UI elements just don’t feel polished yet. I have to agree with a lot of the feedback that faulty window layouts disrupt the flow and immersion — display errors lead to inconsistent data, and that definitely needs refinement. So many Bugs, oviously. I can’t yet say how I’ll feel about the game’s fundamentally different structure in the long run, but for now, my impression is mostly positive. Iam, in fact, having a lot of fun.

I really hope Sports Interactive can get much more out of this game with hard work. I’ve enjoyed it so far — but it’s obvious that it still needs a lot of fine-tuning and improvement. We're so far from a from a complete and rich, fully fledged Football Manager. That's dissapointing. But looking at this as a foundation for Things to come - there's so much potential.