NHL 25: Release Date, Trailer And New Features

A hectic video game release month of October just got a bit heavier. EA announced that NHL 25 will be released on October 4.

Customers who pre-order will get seven days of early access. Here is a look at all of the pre-order bonuses.

EA also released the official reveal trailer for the game, highlighting the newest gameplay feature: Ice-Q. Here is a look at the trailer:

ICE-Q has an excellent ring to it.

The broad sweeping concept is said to cover three new gameplay features. A.I. behaviors have been designed to offer more reliability and accuracy for all CPU-controlled players.

There will be a plethora of new animations designed to make the action more seamless with fewer immersion-breaking scenarios.

According to the game’s official site: “A completely overhauled A.I. player system heightens CPU skaters’ awareness of other players and positioning on the ice, giving them more fluid and helpful reads to execute in a true-to-life fashion, keeping your tactics in motion during high-paced action.”

We’ve heard that sort of thing before and seen very little change in gameplay, but it’s been a good year for E.A., so we’ll see.

The game’s feature set also mentions “a revamped Franchise Mode experience,” a new World Of Chel Live Events structure, a new HUT Wildcard Mode, and a more simplified, single-path XP progression shared across HUT.

The last year’s version of NHL, which released in October 2023, received a modest 71 score from Metacritic.

Through the first eight months of the year, E.A. has delivered strong titles with E.A. College Football 25 and Madden 25. The developer/publisher is expected to keep the ball rolling with E.A. F.C. 25, which will drop on September 27.

There won’t be much time between the release of E.A. F.C. and NHL, so if you’re a fan of world football and hockey, you’ll either have to make a major decision or be forced to clear some space on your console’s hard drive.

Here is a look at some of the top releases scheduled for October 2024: