NHL 24 trailer reveals gameplay overhaul, cover athlete, battle pass

EA Sports’ hockey franchise hasn’t been a critical darling since the early 2010s, and the series has been stuck in something of a rut for the past few years. EA Vancouver may have made this promise because it believes that major changes will be coming. NHL 24The trailer for the film was released on Wednesday.

First up is what EA described in a news release as a “complete revamp of the EA Sports NHL gameplay experience,” led by a feature that seeks to simulate the effects of sustained offensive-zone pressure. Billed as the Exhaust Engine, this system will offer twofold rewards to players who can maintain possession in their opponent’s defensive zone.

Keep cycling the puck, and you’ll eventually trigger a perk that will reduce the defending team’s attributes for a limited time — and ramp up the fatigue level for its goalie, whose effectiveness will wane if you can continue to pepper them with shots. In real life, puck possession is key to success. So if NHL 24 can successfully bring it to life — in a way that sounds like an appropriately gamified implementation of this element of the sport — it could have a big impact on gameplay this year.

Other gameplay updates include “overhauled physics and animations,” according to the news release, such as the ability to deliver a big hit that could send an opponent flying over the boards or even break the glass above them. EA also said that it’ll be easier to pull off highlight-reel moves on the sticks because the developers decided to “completely refresh the control setup” for those moves. The new passing controls should allow players to make more deliberate passes, as teammates are mapped onto the face buttons.

As usual, EA’s choice of cover athlete is meant to reflect the new features of this year’s game in some way. NHL 24’s cover will feature Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar, who, in just four NHL seasons — two of which were truncated due to the COVID-19 pandemic — has racked up quite the collection of awards and honors. Makar can handle the puck with ease and is also a physical player on defense.

Image: EA Vancouver/Electronic Arts

With such a focus on significant gameplay changes, there’s less to report when it comes to NHL 24’s suite of game modes. EA Vancouver upgraded the franchise mode last year with all kinds of customization options, but the single-player career mode, Be a Pro, hasn’t received much attention since its last (unsuccessful) overhaul three years ago — and neither mode is mentioned in EA’s news release.

Instead, the studio appears to have focused on the game’s online options, World of Chel and Hockey Ultimate Team. Cross-platform matchmaking — which debuted in NHL 23 via a post-launch patch — still doesn’t work across every platform, but it has been expanded to allow for co-op action, not just competitive play, for people on the same generation of consoles (i.e., PlayStation 5 with Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 4 with Xbox One).

EA has added a Battle Pass to World of Chel, bringing it up-to-date with the latest gaming technology. Until now, the online hub — which first appeared five years ago, in NHL 19, — has been completely free of microtransactions. By playing online, you earned experience points. Leveling up unlocks gameplay perks and loot box items to customise your character’s outfit. (Unlike in, say, Overwatch 2There was no way to purchase these lootboxes. The World of Chel Battle Pass is not well-known. NHL 24It will be a battle pass, with the typical seasonal framework that’s found in many games. There will also be rewards for both paid and free levels.

NHL 24The launch date for the game is set to be October 6th on PS4, PS5, Xbox One & Xbox Series X. As usual, the more expensive X-Factor Edition will offer three days’ early access, along with cross-generation copies of the game (i.e., both PlayStation consoles or both Xbox consoles) and a variety of digital bonus items.