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‘NUTMEG!’ promises a mixture of football management, sticker books, and ‘Balatro’, so kiss goodbye to your free time.<\/p>\n
Secret Mode<\/p>\n
Most football supporters of a certain age \u2014 those in their mid-30s and older \u2014 know the thrills of two things: collecting stickers, and losing years to football management games. NUTMEG!, landing on PC in 2026, promises a mixture of the two and elements of Balatro, so they can once again kiss goodbye to their free time.<\/p>\n
Developer Sumo Sheffield and publisher Secret Mode have pitched NUTMEG! as a card-based football management game that draws on the heady days of English league football from the 1980s and 1990s, long before the Premier League was even a thing \u2014 when you could park your car on the touchline, have a cigarette or five during the game, and don a replica of some of the most questionable kits in history. Who doesn\u2019t want WANG on their bright yellow shirt<\/a>?<\/p>\n NUTMEG! puts players in charge of a Fourth Division team, and you need to guide them through two decades of competition as you play for promotion to the top level, while securing legendary players before anyone realizes just how good they are.<\/p>\n Success is a balancing act: management duties unsurprisingly include transfers, training, ticket pricing, and PR, but the meat on NUTMEG!\u2019s bones is with its deck-building mechanics. Cards are earned through training and deployed in fast-paced, strategic battles at key moments on the pitch.<\/p>\n Along the way, NUTMEG! promises to keep things exciting in the longer term, unlocking new teams, tactics, and abilities along the way. All the while, both die-hard football fans and newcomers alike will get the chance to relive the game\u2019s most iconic eras through classic kits. Who doesn\u2019t want PLEASURE ISLAND on their fever dream shirt<\/a>?<\/p>\n Battles play out using collectable cards.<\/p>\n Secret Mode<\/p>\n NUTMEG! also proudly follows in the footsteps of classic International Superstar Soccer games with its evident lack of licensing. All teams that aren\u2019t straightforward place names (e.g. Newcastle, Oxford) are a little more creative, meaning that Arsenal become Artillery, Nottingham Forest are Sherwood FC, Tottenham Hotspur transform into North London, and Everton are Mersey Blues. If anything, it gives it even more retro charm.<\/p>\n