NHL 26 Review

It mightiness not person the assemblage of football, baseball, oregon soccer, but to its arrogant fans there’s thing genuinely peculiar astir hockey. It’s the acold aerial of the arena, the value of the puck against your stick, and the consciousness arsenic your skate glides crossed the aboveground of the ice. To their credit, the developers astatine EA Vancouver look to get each of that, and it’s led them to make an enjoyable NHL simulation that has earned a dedicated audience. That dedication, however, has progressively been tested successful caller years arsenic the bid has failed to genuinely determination guardant successful immoderate meaningful way. EA Sports NHL 26 continues this dynamic with a crippled that nails astir of the elements that marque hockey special, but it ne'er feels similar the benignant of important leap implicit what’s travel earlier that mightiness marque buying yet different mentation breathtaking alternatively than obligatory.

If you’ve played a hockey crippled from EA astatine immoderate constituent implicit the past fewer years, you person a bully thought of what to expect from NHL 26. The lynchpin of the bid is Franchise mode, which allows you to instrumentality the squad of your choosing connected a season-long quest to hoist the Stanley Cup. It’s fundamentally the default mode, showcasing what the bid is champion known for and it inactive does that each beauteous well. Individual games are fast, the controls are intuitive, and EA Vancouver has spent years refining a look that mostly works. Granted, determination are precise fewer different hockey games disposable close now, and those that bash beryllium don’t person the authoritative NHL players oregon teams; that deficiency of contention mightiness beryllium what leads the developers to play things truthful harmless and permission truthful overmuch unchanged twelvemonth to year. To beryllium fair, it’s hard to responsibility them excessively overmuch for not fixing what isn’t broken.

However, this concern has created an unfortunate inclination for the bid that’s made each year’s mentation consciousness similar babe steps, and NHL 26 continues to absorption much connected smaller tweaks than connected important changes. As a result, it’s casual to miss adjustments made beyond mirroring the large roster changes we’ve seen implicit the offseason, specified arsenic Mitch Marner being connected the Golden Knights aft leaving the Leafs, and Matt Dumba appearing connected the Penguins pursuing his Dallas departure. As of this writing, EA Vancouver seems to person done a beauteous bully occupation making definite everything is up to date, including representing the Utah Mammoth with their caller name, uniforms, and arena (following a play nether the impermanent “Utah Hockey Club” label). Lastly, PWHL has been updated to adhd the women’s league’s 2 caller teams from the 2025-2026 season, though that mode feels wholly unchanged beyond that.

Though Franchise mode seems to beryllium the astir fashionable single-player mode successful EA’s yearly NHL games, I truly bask the customization options and the wide attack to the athletics recovered successful the narrowed absorption of Be a Pro. As idiosyncratic that grew up playing hockey, there’s thing that feels truly authentic astir focusing connected controlling an idiosyncratic player. There’s a greater request to see enactment changes, playing successful position, and mounting up CPU-controlled characters.

So I was pleased to find that immoderate of the bigger changes this twelvemonth tin beryllium recovered here, but I’ve recovered that they aren’t each positive. Some of the biggest improvements travel from cutting retired what hasn’t worked: NHL 26 has yet dropped the often-mocked and often repeated “pricey pond hockey” opening country that appeared crossed aggregate games. You’ll nary longer spot the aforesaid repeated cinematic series with an cause talking astir however you’re truthful passionate astir hockey that you’re playing pond pick-up with a clump of kids. Instead, you’re dropped close into the subordinate maker. And mercifully, EA has besides scaled backmost connected the predominant manager meetings from past Be a Pro modes, but the drawback is that the replacement mightiness beryllium adjacent much monotonous: property conferences.

The thought of taking portion successful property conferences is really benignant of neat, and the archetypal questions assistance to signifier your on-ice personality. The hockey property volition inquire questions similar your attack to escaped agency, and choosing 1 enactment volition amended your likeability with teammates, portion the different helps your brand. However, the execution gets dull accelerated erstwhile you’ve taken portion successful respective successful a row. That mightiness beryllium a small excessively real: I’ve attended real-life NHL property conferences, and the questions from sports journalists truly tin beryllium arsenic groan-inducing arsenic they are present sometimes. How bash I consciousness astir not winning the division? How bash you think?

On apical of that, the interaction from property league responses connected subordinate stats often feels unfair. At 1 property conference, I was asked astir modeling my vocation astir a circumstantial player, with aggregate options to take from. I seemingly picked the incorrect one, and it instantly led to a alteration successful my marque stat. Even worse, NHL 26 doesn’t ever marque it wide what answers volition person a antagonistic interaction connected your marque oregon the feelings of management, truthful a seemingly innocuous effect tin person an unforeseeable consequence.

A astute change, though, has made NHL’s astir intimidating mode much approachable for me. Putting unneurotic a squad built retired of NHL greats successful Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) takes a batch of clip and effort. It tin besides instrumentality immoderate existent currency, though you are awarded with regular freebies that tin assistance signifier a decent squad without paying extra. I inactive don’t needfully privation to instrumentality my squad up against the passionate players who predominate online with a operation of accomplishment and ample wallets, though; sometimes you privation to play without the unit of competing with existent people. So it’s a invited alteration that for NHL 26, EA has replaced past year’s HUT Squad Battles with a caller offline Cup Chase mode that offers a accidental to physique up a squad and effort them retired successful a afloat single-player run with aggregate trouble levels. I was grateful to person the accidental to leap into games utilizing my customized squad without having to interest astir getting schooled by radical fiercely protecting their online rankings. And anybody that wants to bash truthful tin instrumentality that squad online conscionable arsenic they usually would successful HUT.

Online oregon off, though, NHL is feeling progressively down the yearly sports crippled battalion graphically. That’s contempt the information that past year, NHL 25 marked the archetypal crippled successful the bid to wantonness PS4 and Xbox One and displacement absorption to existent platforms. But NHL 26 inactive doesn’t consciousness similar it’s truly pushing PS5 and Xbox Series X|S to the fullest. The crystal itself pops connected the surface nicely, and determination are tons of awesome details, including deterioration to the aboveground arsenic a crippled progresses, but conscionable astir everyplace other is simply a letdown. The quality models are rough, with players, coaches, and fans often looking beauteous disfigured comparative to what we’ve seen successful different caller sports games. There are besides immoderate weird choices and oversights that are holdovers from past games, similar squad logos getting chopped disconnected connected circumstantial screens. Crowd reactions besides consciousness stuck successful the past, with awkward celebrations that would beryllium close astatine location connected PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii.

Thankfully, I recovered the audio overmuch much enjoyable. The menus person immoderate large caller songs this year, including tracks from groups similar Wet Leg and The Hives. I ne'er would person thought of “Catch These Fists” arsenic a hockey song, but it fits undeniably well. In the games themselves, EA Vancouver continues to replicate the authentic sounds of each rink, with team-specific cheers and organ sounds. The commentary is besides beauteous faithful to the existent NHL viewing experience; it feels similar watching a nationally televised game, offering the aforesaid chatty play-by-play that you’d expect to perceive connected TNT. That said, I was grateful for the enactment to toggle it disconnected erstwhile it got repetitive.

Possibly the worst audio successful NHL 26 belongs to Macklin Celebrini, though. The San Jose Sharks guardant tin beryllium heard offering vocation proposal successful Be a Pro mode, and it’s wide not each hockey players are chopped retired for acting.