The rating reflects the game’s potential, as it’s still in the infancy of its development (as of writing, the very first inaugural season post-beta is just wrapping up this week). As an American, my principal area of interest is typically American style football, but what attracted me to this title was the developer’s commitment to never introducing any pay-to-win mechanics.
So many of the online GM games I have tried to get into have ultimately lost my interest as it became clear that the advantages players got from paying real money were obvious and significant. While I’m happy to pay for a subscription to a game I love playing (and I’ve happily paid for a year’s subscription to this), I resolutely refuse to play a game where doing so will favor me in any way versus those who are unable to afford a “premium” account. And I can absolutely confirm that the only benefits to paying for a premium account for Football Legacy are strictly cosmetic (customizing your uniforms, nicknaming players, etc) and geared more for supporting the continued existence of the game than for anything else.
As for the game itself, it has what you’d expect from a European football management game. Most important for me is a relegation/promotion system to maintain parity and keep teams paired with other players of commensurate skill. There are multiple avenues to build your team up, via scouting for undiscovered veteran talent at home or abroad, developing your own home grown players via a youth academy, or purchasing players from the open market. Depending on your chosen strategy, you’ll focus on building up your club’s infrastructure to promote the success of those different strategies (e.g. invest into higher levels of your scouting department, or your youth academy, or build up your stadium and marketing department to generate more income to purchase new players, etc).
Seasons at the moment last just over a month, with games happening daily (game results will play out via text descriptions, e.g. “Roman Jast reads Guy Rippin’s through ball and takes it cleanly.”). Time investment is pretty minimal once you get into the groove of things, as it’s pretty easy to set and adapt your line-up and tactics for each game, however, there’s still plenty to do if you really want to get into the weeds with it.
The developer is active on the discord and responsive to feedback, and while not all planned features are implemented yet (user created tournaments exist, for instance, but an actual international cup with prizes isn’t planned until at least next season), by joining now you’ll also be getting in on the ground floor and can help steer the game as it grows.