Get ready to hit the ice once more with EA Sports NHL 23, coming this October
EA Sports have announced NHL 23, their next version of the long running ice hockey series, which adds cross-platform play, refinements to puck control and oh year, women’s leagues are joining HUT as well.
First up, lets talk cover stars, while they were announced a day ago, there wasn’t anything else, so we held off on sharing. This year the game will feature two athletes Trevor Zegras and Sarah Nurse.
Trevor Zegras is from the Anaheim Ducks and is the youngest player to ever be on the cover of a game. Sarah Nurse on the other hand, is not the first Canadian, she is however the first female athlete to be on the cover.
“It is such a tremendous honor to be the first woman on the cover of the EA SPORTS NHLfranchise,” said Sarah Nurse of Team Canada. “Hockey is really for everybody and I’m excited that NHL 23 is celebrating the diversity and inclusivity of the sport. I hope that the increased representation of women in such a prominent game will inspire young girls everywhere to know that there is a place for them in hockey.”
“As someone who has played EA SPORTSNHLsince I was kid, it is a dream come true to be on the cover this year with Sarah,” said Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks. “I can’t wait to play this year’s version with my friends and teammates, and I am equally excited to see fans unleash my Michigan flip pass, which the team at EA SPORTS has managed to get into the game.”
The game is back on Frostbite, which most EA games are these days, but with it still using that engine, it has allowed the developers a chance to really get into the detail. A whole new series of Last Chance Puck Movement gameplay animations add even more excitement to the game, with over 500 new Stumble Action animations, loose puck plays and enhanced goalie AI.
If that wasn’t enough, there are electrifying new OT Winner, Hat Trick and Shootout celebrations that will hype you up, to raucous stadiums with overhauled levels of Crowd Awareness and Moment to Moment Reactions, NHL 23has the most authentic in-game atmosphere in franchise history. The series has also updated its presentation for the games themselves, bringing the on screen action closer to what you will see on the TV.
For the first time ever, IIHF Women’s National Team members can now play alongside men in a Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT) line-up, allowing players to make their dream team of the sport’s best players. The national teams are back again, after they made their debut last year and will have a prominent role in NHL 23, as national team players will have both base and master items incorporated into HUT events. In addition, players can now compete in a variety of new rotating game themes in HUT Rivals. NHL 23also introduces three additional tiers of HUT Rivals Rewards based on win or win streaks.
“With teamplay as its heartbeat, the NHL franchise has always been best when played with friends, and this year’s edition will bring players together in whole new ways,” said Mike Inglehart, Creative Director at EA Vancouver. “From the ever-growing presence of women players in the game to the coming introduction of cross-platform matchmaking, NHL 23 reflects hockey’s expanding fanbase and emphasizes that it is a sport best experienced together.”
Finally, let’s talk cross-play, something that EA are bringing to most of their games these days and playing on the ice is no different. Much like FIFA 23, cross-play will work on multiple modes, but NOT generations, so if you have a PlayStation 4 and your mate has an Xbox One, you are good. If your mate gets a Xbox Series X and you still want to play together, that is a no.
There is a full breakdown of the dos and donts of the cross-play function, which you can read here.
The game is coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on October 14.
