Review: NHL 26

Since EA’s latest hockey sim is offering Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers a no-cost trial today (through EA Play), I figured I’d lace up for the newest instalment—courtesy of a review key from EA Sports—and the outcome is an entertaining ride on the rink.

Still, the franchise feels stranded in an odd spot lately, with longtime players convinced the publisher is giving it short shrift, and that suspicion is hard to shake while booting NHL 26. On-ice action is genuinely solid, this year’s tweaks are mostly welcome, yet you can’t escape the sense that so much more remains on the table.

Look at the on-ice product, for instance. NHL 26 delivers slick, fast hockey, but if you logged serious hours in NHL 25 (or even 24), the moment-to-moment loop will ring immediate bells. The headline addition is “ICE-Q 2.0,” marketed so skaters now “read, skate and behave like their real-world counterparts,” yet the leap is quieter than the sizzle suggests. Sure, stars such as Quinn Hughes and Alex Ovechkin mirror their actual selves more closely, and the match flow does feel truer to life (I also appreciate that every athlete’s X-Factors now pop up mid-play), but the payoff arrives only after extended sessions.

My favourite upgrade is easily the netminders’ AI overhaul. A raft of fresh animations has been stitched in to keep puck-stoppers sharper, and they’re noticeably better at snuffing one-timers or breakaway chances. Flukes still sneak through—especially when the biscuit flutters sky-high and the keeper loses the plot—but, across the board, goalie logic feels several strides ahead.

All told, I’m loving my time on the ice, even if it echoes last season. The avenue I keep returning to is the overhauled Be A Pro, finally yanked out of purgatory after ages of neglect. Core structure hasn’t been reinvented—you still claw from World Juniors to the big league—but a slick UI, tiered challenges, plus meatier cut-scenes and dialogue give the journey fresh legs. Your GM tosses targets your way, and climbing the ladder stays satisfying, even if the depth isn’t quite Where The Wild Things Are. We’ll see whether the objectives stay sensible deep into future campaigns.

On the collectible side, Ultimate Team gobbled most of my pre-release hours thanks to the solo “Cup Chase” campaign. It’s a clever spin: battle the CPU through an 18-game season, finish top-four in your division, then dive into a micro-playoff bracket dangling tasty rewards. Elsewhere, HUT scores a rejigged Ranked ladder and a streamlined Edit Lines panel. Menu sluggishness continues to grate, though, when you’re clicking tabs hundreds of times.

Presentation deserves a word, too. For a while now the series has bled broadcast flavour—ripped out intros, trimmed replays—pushing a seamless online flow where whistles restart instantly. NHL 26 doesn’t fully reverse that trend, yet it sprinkles in more highlight packages, on-brand tunes, and bespoke Be A Pro openers that future instalments ought to expand upon.

So, is it worth a spin? Absolutely—I must hammer that home. The rub is déjà vu: launch the game and the front end looks untouched, roster screens mirror 25, most opening cinematics repeat… you catch the drift. When you fire up something like EA Sports FC, you can bank on at least a cosmetic facelift to justify the outlay; NHL no longer supplies that jolt. Mechanics shuffle, yet the overall atmosphere hardly budges.

I don’t pin that on the dev crew—this year they’ve sneaked in legitimate upgrades—but it screams of a franchise operating on a shoestring. The Be A Pro refresh is the lone blockbuster addition in 26, and you sense the team would empty the playbook given the chance; purse strings appear cinched.

Would I fork out day-one dollars? As a puck-head who thrives on Be A Pro and adores the smarter keepers, yeah, probably. If you merely dabble in NHL titles and Be A Pro isn’t your jam, consider staying aboard NHL 25 on Game Pass until a discount appears.

Conclusion

NHL 26 finally nudges Be A Pro forward and equips goalies with badly needed brain cells, yielding the strongest entry of the generation. The $69.99 sticker still stings when the annual delta stays modest, yet the developers wring plenty from what resources they clearly have.