NHL 23 Reveals Details On Arena Atmosphere, Gameplay Improvements, And Cross-Platform Play

Every NHL team strives every year to field the most talented players. Sometimes that requires a complete offseason overhaul. Other years it means tweaking a team’s weaker areas. NHL 22 looked great, however the gameplay was too slow and needed some improvements. While NHL 23 doesn’t rebuild the gameplay from the ground up, it does offer several features, tweaks, and enhancements in hopes of being better than the last iteration.

NHL 23 represents the series’ second entry using EA’s Frostbite engine. As such, many refinements are coming online as the developer team continues to get familiar with Frostbite’s engine. EA Vancouver has also implemented several gameplay changes, such as last-chance puck movements. These new animations can be activated at any level of contact and include additional plays that convert any puck to either goal-scoring, or goal-clearing play. However, scoring won’t be easy, as goalies benefit from improved A.I. There are more than 350 additional save animations. With enhanced roles for certain players, teams have improved power play and penalty killing strategies.

NHL 23 offers many options for custom franchise mode. This should go hand in hand with NHL 22’s customizable roster options. Here, NHL 23 lets players create a Franchise experience catered more precisely to what they’re looking for. You can select the number of teams you want, from six to 48, and take full control over the conferences, teams, divisions, salaries caps, schedules and formats of regular season and playoffs.

NHL 22 took a page out of the Madden playbook and introduced Superstar X-Factor abilities for the league’s top players. NHL 23 adds new capabilities to existing X-Factors while updating some. The Truculence ability makes A.I. possible. players more aggressive when going for hits, while the all-new Relentless X-Factor plays into the puck-movement enhancements by improving a player’s ability to perform off-balance or desperation plays on the puck.

In another instance of taking ­further inspiration from the Madden franchise, NHL 23 emphasizes the atmosphere within the arena. People are more attentive and react faster to changes in momentum, score, time remaining, and missed power plays. Also, arenas have better lighting and projections on the ice. The presentation better captures the energy from big-win moments; you’ll know the difference between a blowout win and a walk-off goal in overtime. These improvements go hand in hand with better player models, faces, and worse degradation of the boards and ice throughout the game.

NHL 23 will finally allow cross-platform play. Players can now compete against other console players in EA Sports Hockey League or Hockey Ultimate Team. With this shift, there is a greater player pool. This means that matches are quicker and more enjoyable. The only catch is this feature isn’t cross-generational, meaning PlayStation 5 players can compete against Xbox Series X/S players, but not Xbox One players, and vice-versa.

NHL 23 includes many requested enhancements and new additions, as well as tuning the gameplay in many ways. Hopefully, these changes add up to something greater than the sum of their parts and prevent it from being another mediocre entry in EA Sports’ hockey franchise.