NHL 26
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for NHL 26
NHL 26 is a fine take on the sport of hockey, but it largely fails to offer any significant jumps from last year’s game.
NHL 26 builds on last year's overhaul with improved gameplay and a revamped Be a Pro mode, but legacy problems still hold it back.
Reviews aren’t the place to weigh in on how to fix things, so I won’t do that here. Deep down I hope the developers who are making this are kicking down Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson's door asking for more time, budget, or anything really. Developers tend to be super fans who love making amazing games. I believe that about EA Vancouver, but this is not good enough and hasn’t been good enough for years. The players who return year after year deserve better.
NHL 26 isn't a massive overhaul by any means. The title fixates on a couple of key areas to improve upon, and unlike some previous entries, it succeeds. The new updates to Be A Pro, chiefly the World Juniors and voice acting, are incredibly welcome. Even more so, the tweaks to the hitting engine and especially goaltending are phenomenal. But that's a rather slight list of changes for a full-scale annual release. Pair that with poor online performance and difficulty of finding matches, and you have to ask yourself if the updates are worth it. Is this a better title than NHL 25? Absolutely. But are those changes enough to make this a good game? Well, that's a more complicated question.
NHL 26 is a game of ups and downs. It has its moments and can rely on a certain charm derived from a good pace and a fair amount of spectacle, but it continues to suffer from a whole series of more or less marked flaws that, especially for those who plan to play hundreds of games between skates and sticks, can become quite annoying in the long run.
Review in Italian | Read full review
NHL 26 doesn’t come close to reaching the heights of the series, but it isn’t terrible by any means.
'NHL 26' is a revamp and refresh. However, to me, it's an incredibly hard game to justify buying from last year's installment...I do feel like we are a goalie that's been left out to dry in the third period late.
Hockey is family. Hockey is life. Hockey is a source of joy. NHL 26, less so. For all the good it does, this is an off year; this is certainly no NHL 17. I hoped for more.
