Pro Cycling Manager 2021

When my friends and myself did read ALL the changes you anounced, we where very happy to start this new edition... BUT... Where are ALL those so called 'more realism bringing' changes, the only 'real' change is that there now are European Championship rides ? What you mostley did (for +- 98%) = copy/paste 2020 and ask AGAIN 40 Euro's to have it !!! It's more an insult and showing no respect to the players that support you for years... *** We give this year (for the first time in all those years we play this game) a negative revieuw : Not for the game itself, but for making all those announcements & promissing changes not come true : because there is NOT more realism in the game as before... and it's bad we need to say that for a game that gives us a lot of playing time but could give us sooooooo much more... promissing words don't change a game ! (for example; get rid of the pointless 'point' system to look for new riders for the next season, make realism as the 'real' cycling world showing us the way things go... Thanks in advance for looking & making real changes in the future).

They bring out the same game very year and yet it feels buggy / unfinished. The training plan was easier to manage in PCM 2018. That was the last version i owned. The menu looks more modern but it is too complicated and unintuitive in handling. Another frustrating point is the peleton movements. Once PCM Daily give us their update it hopefully will be enjoyable but right now it wasn't for me. Whar does it say about a developer that for YEARS the game needs community modding to be good?

The first version I've bought since 2016. It is a great game, career mode very addictive if you're into that sort of thing. I like the new interface (although I don't know how new it is!), the way the races run is different but just as enjoyable and I think more realistic, and if there were no bugs then I'd be over the moon with the game in general. However... I always play career mode and start with a custom team, and there are always bugs that come in after a few seasons that make the game incredibly frustrating (riders you've signed get double-signed by another team so you end up a few riders short in your squad, team sponsorship just stops working after a few seasons, change in nationality of team sponsors not accounted for in objectives, training schedules of lesser riders no longer editable etc etc). I am interested to see whether any of these have been fixed for this new edition, as they don't become apparent straight away and I'm only 2 seasons into my game. So far in PCM21, the main bug I have found is that the European and World Championships (TT & road races) do not run, you click for a 3D race but it a) runs a quick simulation and b) excludes all the riders in my team. Judging by some other (slightly more argumentative!) comments on here, it doesn't look like I'm alone in finding that. Especially frustrating since this was happening in the Worlds TT race in the 2016 game, so I'd have hoped in 5 years this would have been sorted... If you love road cycling and management sims like Football Manager etc, then I'm pretty sure this is the best option out there. There are aspects of it that aren't realistic, but that's OK - its a game. However there are also bugs that are really poor (certainly in career mode with a custom team - the only mode I've really tried). Ideally it would be great if there was an easy, transparent way of reporting these so they could be fixed quickly. Would appreciate a reply from Team PCM on the above, and I will certainly be posting back on here if any of the other bugs I've found in previous versions of the game start rearing their ugly heads again in 2021!

I think since the release of Pro Cycling Manager 2011. A decade ago "10 years" to be exact. Cyanide Studio with the help of PUBLISHER: Nacon has been selling the same product year after year to its fans with a minimal patch, updates here and there in the graphics looks too. What a petty thing to do. You should be ashamed to resell the same game to us. But that is exactly what happens, when there is no others companies interested in making these types of games for a specific group of fans of international & national cycling modalities. I'm ashamed of this company for not having even a serious game developer "High scale" with discipline in what he or she does. Investing in a new software platform. Develop a game seriously from now on Cyanide Studio. When you invest, return comes back it makes the company grow bigger more money in your pockets. And by doing debt you get goods. You guys look like you're living in the last century. Get out of the stone age. Cyanide Studio If you think small! It will always be a small company. Go bigger in the investments!!! Learn from others big gamer developers. This is my favorite game since 2010. Every year I buy it. because i love cycling. But I have to not recommend this game with my thumb down sadly.

My last PCM was the 19. And the 21 is the same game -Same music -Same menu -Same carrer What a shame. [i][b]It's like if you give money to a guy who insult you[/b][/i] It's been how many year , the game is 95% like the previous version ?

Cyanide is the worst company of all time. Year after year they are abusing the fact, that hardcore PCM-fans will buy the game no matter what. Even if it literally contains no changes from the previous year. Every new version could simply be a DLC. At this rate of development, there has been no point making new gameversions since 2015. Charging money for the new versions is just pure evil capitalism.

I don't know how to say it in english, but in french we call this "foutage de gueule". Same game as always. Some little changes but not worth 40 €. It is at best a DLC. I love how they didn't even bother to change the tutorial telling you how to adjust training intensity with +, ++, +++ or 0 while this function is no longer present. Edit, : after two patches, the game is still full of game-breaking bugs. DO NOT BUY THIS SCAM!

The base game is fine and, if you are a die-hard pro-cycling fan, can give you many hours of entertainment. But with bugs that have been persisting for various iterations of the game, the deaf ears of Cyanide for what kind of new features fans would like to see, and the minimal updates from PCM20, I just cannot recommend this game!

Its only good cycling game what i found. And i play it for more than 10 years. For new players its good, but for old players its basicaly just DLC or update. They could sold it for 10 bucks every years. but no. I hope they will not add ultimate team bullsh..... or something like that. For cycling fans --- yes

I want to start off by saying that I’m a big fan of pro cycling in general. I’ve been playing it for years although I don’t always buy the latest instalment because this series is infamous for its lack of updates. Although I’m aware of this, I’m still very disappointed about this years instalment. Nothing new and what’s worse is that the career is riddled with bugs: - blank screen when selecting your helpers - world and European championships are unplayable and keep having the same cyclist year after year - unable to change rest period days -… Not having new features is one thing but braking year old features is just unforgivable. Don’t buy this

Third time buying a game from the franchise. Every time they introduce some new features but also more glitches. This game came out broken and the developers seriously should be ashamed. World and European championships do not work, time trials are glitches and team time trials are just completely unplayable. Very disappointing.

It's unplayable. I have a PC that can run the maximum graphics easily, but yet I get only 15 fps and the game feels very laggy and buggy. It's not my PC cause my friend also has it. Please fix your game.

SAME GAME as always. If you have PCM then don't get this one, but if you are new its actually a good game to play.

This game must have the worst AI ever, in pro career mode you will never be able to breakaway because the AI thinks you are dangerous thus you can't achieve any personal objective and gain xp to progress. I have even tried to finish 30 min behind everyone at the start of a Tour so I would be less menacing. Next race : no way to get out, the AI still rushes behind...

I've been playing PCM since 2017. but this one, is the WORST. Stupid ass game. so many bugs. the worst is occured in transfer season. i can't sign a rider from another team. the game keeps canceling my signing. what a shit-ass buggy game. also, FYI, the game crashed in career mode season 2026. fucking shit scam game. Stop buying this game, people.

This new objectives system is an absolute joke. Horrible! - First, the AI is now doing everything for you, (and a terrible job at it), so not only are your riders not perfectly fit for their big races, you can´t even micro-manage your way out of it! Secondly, there isn´t really any new obejctives system, although thats what they call it. It´s still exactly the same, where you have have to "get ready" for a fitness peak, collecting the 100 fitness points as in last years game. This time however, you can´t time it yourself, and because it takes 1,5-2 months to get the 100 fitness points, it is still not possible to have more than 3 (max 4, if your first is Jan-early feb), so basically no significant difference. Thirdly, it takes forever to set op. You can´t do it in an easy way. You have to go through each rider, one at a time, and they are listed alphabetically. Not even by rider-type, or overall level, which would make it a lot easier. It takes 1,5-2 hours to set up, what took you 1 hour earlier, and now you have less micro-management! So you use more time, on a poorer result. 0/10 stars!! This new objectives system needs to be changed ASAP! - It is ruining the game, and I will only be playing pro-cyclist this year, and then career in 2020.

I've played a few PCM games but this one feels even buggier than ever. The game is not finished. A big clue to that is little things such as the rider name box when you start the Pro Cyclist mode. I can't actually get into a game as it just crashes when setting rider objectives. Given up and asked for refund. Will reconsider if they ever finish the game but based on other reviews of the patches, it's actually just getting worse.

Last PCM I owned was PCM 19. And this feels like the exact same game. They have not implemented any good or needed changes

The same game as last year,with little improvements but a great game nonetheless.

Still the best there is for cycling simulators. But that's also because they're the only ones. You can easiliy notice the lack of effort put in. One very straight forward example is the 'Objective' feature in Career mode. You have to manually add and search for the races you want as objective. If you use the planner first, all races for your riders are there, so it would be much easier if there were an option to click on races in the objective menu and they automatically become objectives or are turned off as objectives. Picking objectives now costs 20-30 minutes (or even more, I didn't time it but I definitely didn't enjoy it), while it could be a 5 minute thing with just a few simple clicks. The last PCM I owned was PCM18. Besides some lay-out changes and some small add-ons (like echelons, which was the selling point for me to buy a new version but they didn't even mention them in the description), nothing has changed. I'm still going to clock plenty of hours into this game, because I really enjoy playing a game like this. If there were a better alternative I would buy it. The only reason this game even manages to survive is thanks to the community that produces amazing content. Multiplayer is just still weird. I thought I would enjoy it more, but the menu feels clunky, not user-friendly. Perhaps it's also time to create some new music, because the main menu still has the same music as in PCM18. They say they listened to the community, but there is so much room for improvement. The AI does not know how to handle the echelons. It just goes on and on and on. I was really hyped to buy a new version, but turns out this is just barely a DLC for PCM18. I don't even want to know what I "missed" in PCM19 and 20. I'll probably buy a new version in 2024, because there is no use buying a version before that. Heck, maybe I'll even wait for 2025 or 2026. I'm doubting to go back to PCM18 and simply continue playing my Career I have there. It's just the same. I'm really disappointed. Perhaps I'll change my review later when I've been playing more, perhaps I've just been unlucky in my races so far with AI. Perhaps there's more new features I've overlooked and really enjoy. We'll see.

Awful awful game. Every time I try to start a race the game crashes. I tried to get a refund, but was told I couldn't get one due to having > 2 hours play time. The only reason I've 'played' more than 2 hours is because I left the game open while it froze. Whatever you do: avoid this game.

Caution – Bad English in this review. This is a good game with some flaws. I have not played a pro cycling magager game since 2005 and I am surprised by the lack of new features, but as someone who has not played the series for a long time I got more than my money’s worth. Pros: It is a simple but fun manager game - It is especially gratifying to try and get your small team/rider to the big leagues. Cons: -Some crashes, I have lost whole games to corrupted save files. -It is difficult to change sponsor, you can´t adapt you team to fit with the priorities of potential sponsors. When you get an offer from a sponsor you do not have much chance of attracting riders who appeal to the potential sponsors. -But the weirdest flaw in my opinion is that your teams ranking is based on the riders that you have on contact for the following season, which is realistic, however as far as I can tell it is not based on the riders performances in the season (wins ect.) but on the stat ratings of the riders, which does not make any sense!

*****Edited after 40 hours of gameplay******** We're definitely not there yet. This may be the worst release they've had yet. The selling features of this years version are broken from day 1, completely unplayable. The developers haven't released a fix nearly 10+ days on from release, and would have known they had a break on release date. The existing features from prior years are broken as well. Normally, I say (as I did in my original review) buy the crap pile they release and enjoy it while they slowly fix the major issues, but this year is hardly worth playing. I swear EA must have been involved with this waste of money. I will revisit this review after giving the developers a chance to patch this alpha quality piece of garbage. 3/10 for all modes other than single race. ******************************************************************* I have purchased every edition of PCM since 2006, and while Cyanide Studios has been plagued with a reputation of turning out the same game every year, 15 years on and the game is still very much enjoyable when I want to scratch that cycling itch. I had nearly 400 hours in PCM20, but as always, the game only provides a framework for the enjoyable experience that can be a PCM game. It is the community of dedicated players that make the experience one worth spending $40USD to have. Never has the game launched in my memory without a same-day real-name pack. I'm not sure why the steam launch this year is lacking the Workshop, but this will be needed before I'll play the game any further. There will be bugs, the game will feel incomplete at times. The Pro Cyclist mode has not changed at all, but the other new features seem at first glance to be an improvement overall. More freedom in selecting rider objectives, more national team options (with the inclusion of the EU Championships), and the inclusion of windy sections should make for a more interesting career. I recommend the game for any cycling fan, not just because its our only option, but because it is a uniquely entertaining experience which when combined with community databases, provides immersion into the pro peloton that you can't get elsewhere. If you're willing to forgive the developers like you'd forgive your crazy Uncle Joey for spiking the eggnog and then proceeding to get trashed and fall into the dining room table throwing your holiday meal all over the room completely ruining Christmas, then I suggest buying PCM21. If you would disown Uncle Joey, then I would wait a few months to allow the game to stabilize and the community to save this years edition, and buy then. Either way. Buy the game, keep the one cycling game alive, and enjoy what you can.

Buggy game Cyberpunk got a lot of grief for bugs, this game should as well, especially as cosmetically there is little difference to last year. Things I like: Being able to plan the season from day one. However this fails because I am unable to manually change objectives for riders in line with races that I have allocated to them. The in race simulation continues to be ok. There are flaws but the addition of crosswinds is a great addition. Wish there would be more thought given about time trials. For example being able to jump to a specific rider so you don't have to sit through all of the others. Things I dislike: Bugs - so far there have been blank emails. freezing games and the objectives issue I mentioned earlier. When you select a team sponsor the nations of importance are blank. Kind of important for transfers. Same flaws year on year - One of my bug bears is when the same flaw appears all of the time. An example of this is the coaching of players. I assign a traditional coach to a traditional cyclist and so on. However sometimes you get a cyclist lose confidence in their coach even though they are the right type. You change to another coach of the same type and it happens again. There is nothing when hiring a coach or looking at a cyclist to say what the issue is and how you fix this. Slowness of progression - The game does seem to take longer to move between days. Simplification of training camps - There needs to be the return of the different training camp types such as cobbles, and recuperation. Ability to filter emails. I would much prefer to filter out emails about other teams. There is no option to do so. All in all, if you like cycling there is some good stuff you can get out of this game. If I knew what I knew now when buying this game I'm not sure I would pay full price in its current state.

bugs bugs bugs. Bugs? bugs!

THERE IS STILL ALOT OF BUGS!! If you want a cycling manager game, Pro Cycling Manager 2020 is GOOD....go there instead. This one is so buggy, it looks like the devs have given up half way through and thought "this will do". your rider falls constantly, sometimes you get no XP for fullfilled objectives, your rider wins but loses rep with team, the rider protecting you is holding you back, it takes about 20 km to get water. DONT BUY THIS VERSION. GET THE 2020 VERSION.

A great example of a game that has no real backing by the studio. Over a decade of updating this game and stupid bugs still plague it. Pro cyclist mode alone has these bugs, some translate to career as well... - teamates don't help you when you fall as a leader. - You can't tell the teamates to attack/ get in the breakaway. - AI actually sprints downhill and you can't, making a 71 downhill catch a 81 downhill in a 99% effort battle. - When you are a favourite, the AI favourite contenders follow you at times. Sometimes all the way to the back of the pelaton - You can't sprint for mountain points but the AI can. - AI leaders don't cooperate even if it could give them 3min on the people ahead on GC. MY BIGGEST PEEVE...COLLISION SYSTEM - AI and some of your teamates pass through the pelaton riders to sprint or attack. Then somewhere in the sprint train/ attack follow train, the collision kicks in and now you can't follow the attack or follow your own sprint train. I mean are these really the bugs that should be plaguing a cycling game thats had this mode since 2016? Never getting this game again. Feels like you get the next game for different bugs, then they fix them in the game after that. You basically keep buying the games for bug fixes not new features

haven't played the game yet, still reading the tutorial since i have 0 clue how cycling works lol. but please get a native english speaker to re-write your tutorials. i see a few times where you don't translate french to english, some are VERY noticeable and feels like whoever wrote it was just lazy about translating, and a few times the english translations are confusing and not really sure what it means ex. "Don't people say that, above all, you need character to become a champion?" what?! it's under the "personality" section of the player career tutorial. "personality" is also not translated to english. and i have no clue what it means. i can guess, but i don't know for sure. also add more descriptions of stuff. like what's a "yellow shirt"? i think it's someone who needs to be in the front of the race but i got no clue. have a little description pop up with a sentence or two describing what the word means. also the pictures, could you not take an extra 5 minute to take screenshots of the game with english words? you're telling me about the page but i have no clue since it's basically as if there were no words since i don't speak french. honestly that on it's own almost made me change my review to a thumbs down. to me that just says you were, again, to lazy to perfect your game and just said "screw it just send it in" - but in french - that's one of the worst flaws of these manger games, they basically require you to understand most things about the sport before you start. it makes it really hard for people interested in these kinda games about sports they don't usually play to actually get into these games. i'm not saying you gotta baby us through ever little thing you can do, but let us get some understanding of the sport so we aren't totally lost giving it a thumbs up because, again, i haven't actually played the game and i'm not gonna leave a negative review about the game just because the tutorial wasn't the best.

don't know about the intermediate ones but PCM2021 is definitely a huge upgrade to the last one I played, much more realistic RDC and rider behaviour - still, only recommended if you can get it in a sale, otherwise stick with what you got Edit: there's but one thing I'd NEED to see in a future iteration to immediately buy it: communication in a breakaway... there's nothing more frustrating than to be caught by the peloton 300m in front of the finish line after being 4min ahead at 25km to go, because your fellow escapees keep attacking when you weren't even going for the win but merely for the two mountain sprints on the last 15kms...

A fantastic game for cycling fans. It helps if your a fan of the sport for the tactical side of things and game play. Graphically it looks neat and I'm having a blast playing it. The challenge factor is there and once you know the way it works, a whole lot of fun!!

Good game if its your first time playing PCM. But some bugs are still here after couple of months, like teammate request in pro cyclist.

Although I like the game a lot, it doesn't fit the name pro cycling manager. The stages are not realistic, they need to be made more realistic. For example, the last km of a stage is way to short in sprinting compared to real life. Also the cycling experience needs to be upgraded as drivers get stucked behind other drivers or take unrealistic lanes with switchting a lot across the road, mainly because segments are to short. Please make the stages more realistic, people can still use the fast forward buttons..

I am used to Pro Cycling Manager and the limited big changes. But I do enjoy the small additions. The 2 that stand out to me are the crosswind sections which create actual echelons and the individualized objectives (I think this last one can be changed a bit to make the peak levels more realistic but all in all I like it). The only big negative is the price of the game... I would wait until a sale to get it. But do get the game if you love cycling. Also, make sure to search the mods for the game which enhance the game to a greater level of enjoyment (I use PCM DB).

If you like management games en Bycicle racing, this is just fun. I think AI during racing could be much better and more intuitive, like being able to directly handle team roders or keep you position in third wheel, or go to the front quickly, but overall a fun wel playable game.

Fantastic game if you're interested in professional cycling. Very addictive.

I think as of right now this is the best PCM yet I love the addition of wind zones in races, makes the classics much more interesting

not intuitive, but fun when you get the hang of it. nice for a post-ride vegging out session

Bad game. IA is trash, bottle pick up is terrible and positioning is horrible.

Great game, was wondering if you will bring an update for the teams that have no sponsor/branding bikes?

Been a brilliant game, will miss my squad when I head over to the new game!

This was all fun an well (except quite a large amount of bugs or mysteriously missing features, like the possibility to apply for a wild card), until I started the INCREDIBLY tedious and boring process of "negociating" contracts with a stupid, irrational, incredibly punishing AI. Also I forgot: the UI is crappy. SO easy to misclick when issuing orders...

Always love it. But can you pleas make everything work??? team-mate request still bugged.

good game, nothing new for 11 years but still a good game.

Good game but please the water fetching needs some improvement.

The buggiest version of the game I have played so far

If you're a cycling fan and can look past some issues, you'll have fun.

This is a great new edition. The new race record page allows you to see the teams’ and riders’ history unfold. I love that add. The rider training schedules are more realistic by taking back the micro management that used to be there and creating season long consequences for bad planning (looking at you, Phil Gaimon). Yeah, the 3D race looks the same — but if it’s great, don’t mess with it too much. For years I played baseball games that would make the game graphics worse by trying to change them every year. Thankfully the pcm folks are keeping with what’s good and improving where it’s going to make the game better.

Big fan of pro cycling manager since 2013. Love the game no matter what year !

nice game nice cycling

Mild update, but still fun