Handball 17

Handball 17 is a sports simulation from Eko Software covering one of Europe's most physically demanding team sports. You get 82 officially licensed clubs pulled from the top European leagues, a career mode to grind through seasons, and both single-player and multiplayer match options. For a genre that sees almost zero competition on PC, that licensed roster is the headline feature, full stop. On the pitch, the controls are designed to be approachable, and for the most part they deliver short onboarding time before you are running fast breaks and setting up wing shots. The match pacing moves quickly, which suits handball's real-world tempo. If you have watched a Bundesliga or VELUX EHF match and wanted to replicate that rhythm in a game, this gets closer than anything else on the platform. Positional play, shot placement, and goalkeeper read-outs give you just enough tactical texture to think about. The problems stack up once the initial novelty fades. The AI opposition is inconsistent, alternating between passive defending and superhuman reflexes with no clear logic. Career mode has the structural bones of a long-term save, but depth of decision-making is thin. You are not adjusting pressing schemes or managing player fatigue across fixture congestion the way a strategy-minded player would want. The presentation layer is serviceable at best, with commentary that loops quickly and animations that clip more often than they should. A 66 percent positive rating on Steam with under 200 reviews tells you this is a game with a committed niche audience rather than broad satisfaction. For whom does this actually make sense? Handball fans who have exhausted every YouTube highlight reel and want interactive control over their favourite clubs. Casual sports gamers looking for a 20-minute match rather than a 90-minute football sim session. The learning curve for the sport's rules is low if you already follow handball, and the controls respect that with a short ramp-up. What it does not offer is the simulation depth a spreadsheet-minded player would want from a career or manager mode. There is no mod ecosystem to speak of, no post-launch content pipeline that meaningfully expanded the game, and the PC version shows its console-first development roots in the UI navigation. If handball on PC is your only option, Handball 17 fills that gap acceptably. Go in expecting a competent arcade-adjacent sports game with official licenses rather than a deep management or simulation experience, and you will calibrate your expectations correctly.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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