Despelote showed me the year's greatest intro sequence, a...

What’s Happening

So get this: I’m going to spoil the opening of Despelote here - an opening which I think, as you can probably tell, is pretty glorious.

It’s not a spoiler so much as a contaminator, a finger on the scales of something it’ll feel iconic to go into unweighted. So go away right now if you want to experience it for yourself. (wild, right?)

Read more Home Features Despelote Despelote showed me the year’s greatest intro sequence, and its greatest advert for video games full stop Screaner from outside the box.

The Details

Image credit: Eurogamer / Panic Feature by Chris Tapsell Deputy Editorial Director Dec. 28, 2025 Follow Despelote I’m going to spoil the opening of Despelote here - an opening which I think, as you can probably tell, is pretty glorious.

Despelote Developer: Juli n Cordero, Sebastian Valbuena Publisher: Panic Availability: Out now on PC ( Steam ), PS4 and PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , Switch and Switch 2. So, Despelote’s opening sequence.

Why This Matters

There have been other moments that hit me with more force this year - several of those in Despelote itself in fact, later on - but maybe none that some up my love for a game like this one. You begin in a game of football - specifically, video game football, retro video game football, a top-down, Subbuteo-like game on a deeply grainy, black-and-white TV screen, the thunk’s of each kick landing with a kind of analogue fuzz, the ball itself, a white speck, barely visible amongst all the artefacts and grain. Some dialogue, on-screen in speech bubbles but coming from off-screen, to the side, your periphery.

This is the kind of news that gets gamers talking across social media.

The Bottom Line

On-screen not in a deliberate way but a distracting way, like you can’t help but dial in to this conversation happening from all around you, can’t help but read, when you realise it’s you being talked about too, when you’re also trying not to get done over in retro FIFA by Peru. And then the screen moves, and you’re pulling back, gradual and continuous, the screen smaller, more distant, your childhood home pulling into view while the game itself continues in your hands.

What’s your take on this whole situation?