NHL 26 arrives just one month before the start of the upcoming season. A mainstay in sports video games for years now, the series is always a hit with diehard hockey fans, but will this year’s entry keep casual or moderate players interested in what’s shaping up to be a great year of games? Here’s our review of NHL 26 for Xbox Series X!

One addition to this year’s game is the integration of real-life analytics data into the way each player controls and performs in-game. Dubbed Ice-Q 2.0, everything from skating speed, shot power, behaviors, and even signature moves is meant to make the process of playing NHL 26 more authentic. During gameplay, I found no groundbreaking changes to be evident in how players handled, but that’s not to say the data isn’t reflected in their attributes. It just doesn’t feel like a significant boost to the player experience.

That’s sort of the story for NHL 26 and what it brings to the table. There are no major standout features or additions this year, and after over 25 hours of gameplay, I’m sort of ready to put this one down for the year. As someone who spends a lot of time playing sports games, I think it’s unfortunate but true that this is the least fun I’ve had with one of the major EA sports games in 2025. Whereas EA College Football 26 felt like a small step of growth from last year, NHL 26 feels like standing in place.

Fans of HUT will be happy to see new team-building mechanics in the card-collecting game mode, but not much has changed here either. The same goes for “Be a Pro” mode, which adds new stories and cutscenes but lacks the punch of an NBA 2K26 MyCareer mode. I think for a time where new superstars are making their name in the real NHL, and the fact that major markets like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Boston aren’t as present in the playoff mix, this game feels like it’s coming during a league transition that isn’t ready to do anything substantial.

There are good presentation enhancements for the pre-game, such as tunnel shots for your Be a Pro mode character and new in-game cutaway shots to the audience or bench. NHL 26 and the games that came before it in the series have always been solid in terms of presentation. Other franchises in major sports, however, have caught up, leaving this series feeling a bit left behind a decade without major upgrades or changes to show for the time passed.

So if I’m not loving this year’s entry, where does the franchise go from here? For starters, I’d work to refine World of Chel, the other live-service mode, from Ultimate Team. Both feel like they’re essentially looking to incentivize as much play as possible, but without much of the pull to reward players for their time. Yes, HUT gives you chances at better cards, but the competitive nature of NHL 26 is its strong suit as a sports game, and the fast-paced action of actually playing the game doesn’t feel better thanks to either live-service mode’s form or function.

Then, there’s Be a Pro, which is essentially stuck in place and somewhat the same as it has always been. I think a disappointing aspect of the game is simply that it’s more fun to play as every player on ice than it is one, so there are disadvantages to a Career mode for such a team-centric sport. Plus, Be a Pro mode is repetitive, like any Career Mode, once you get to the big leagues. With gameplay feeling a bit stale this time out, nothing is pulling me back into NHL 26 for just one more matchup.

Overall, NHL 26 does too little to separate itself from past entries, making it fine by default thanks to the core experience we all know and love. The issue is that not much feels new, fresh, or extra fun this time out, making it tough to imagine this in my regular gaming rotation by the time the real NHL drops the puck for the season open on October 7th. NHL 26 is available for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

An Xbox Series X review copy of NHL 26 was provided by EA for this review.

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NHL 26

69.99

5.5

Score

5.5/10

Pros

• Upgrades to presentation are nice
• Still a good time at its core

Cons

• Disappointing lack of real upgrades to gameplay
• Data-driven player attributes don't feel all that different
• Be a Pro and live-service modes need a refresh