Kick, the cozy soccer game about beating the school bell, finally sets its kick-off date

Most soccer games dream of the stadium: floodlights, a roaring crowd, a trophy at the end of the season. Kick dreams of the pavement. Its whole premise is the ball a child dribbles on the way to school, the shortcut through the park, the train that must not leave without you and, waiting at the end of every route, the school bell. It is the debut of nospacelost, a solo developer from Switzerland, published by the independent label Shoreline Games, and it finally has a launch date, revealed with a new trailer at the Convergence Showcase.

The design idea is disarmingly small. You play as The Kid, a schoolboy in a neighborhood with an unmistakably Japanese feel, and the ball never leaves your feet. Each side-scrolling level is a commute turned into an obstacle course, where pedestrians, crossings and stacked crates become hazards, and a kick is a decision about angle and timing rather than a button that scores goals. In the announcement, Shoreline Games frames the whole thing as a journey through fleeting moments of childhood, and the screenshots released alongside the trailer lean into that mood: sunlit streets, cherry blossoms, a dog trotting past the delivery man.

The Kid sprints across a zebra crossing beneath an overpass chasing a soccer ball in Kick — Image: nospacelost / Shoreline Games

The routes widen as the game goes on. The release promises bustling streets and scenic beaches, shaded underpasses and sprawling parks, with The Kid practicing in the park, running for the train and taking well-worn shortcuts to shave off precious seconds. The clock is the antagonist, but a forgiving one. Some levels are timed, and the timers can be switched off entirely for a slower stroll, an unusual admission for a game built around being late: the point is the walk, not the stopwatch.

nospacelost describes Kick as being about the small, overlooked moments of childhood, and says the response to the game and its demo has meant a great deal. Keith Kawamura, CEO of Shoreline Games, explains that the publisher chose the Convergence Showcase for the reveal because the game’s previous trailer premiered at the showcase’s last edition.

The Kid kicks a soccer ball along the sand past a volleyball net in a beach level of Kick — Image: nospacelost / Shoreline Games

Kick has had a busy year. It appeared at IGN Live, offered its first playable demo during Steam Next Fest and, after originally being slated for a late-July release, was pushed back to November. For Shoreline Games, it sits in a catalogue of narrative-driven indies that runs from Sanatorium: A Mental Asylum Simulator and the early-2000s-flavored action-adventure Onirism to the cyberpunk-noir RPG Celestial Return.

The full game spans 23 levels, each with its own hazards and opportunities, plus in-game challenges that test ball skills. Coins collected along the way unlock skins for the ball and a set of flags that can be displayed in The Kid’s room. Kick launches on PC via Steam on November 3, 2026.

Tags: cozy games, Shoreline Games, Convergence Showcase, Keith Kawamura, Kick (video game), nospacelost