Today, EA Sports dropped a new gameplay trailer for NHL 24 featuring content creator, Nasher. In the trailer, Nasher covers several gameplay-related changes coming to NHL 24. It also features some topics covered in his interview with the creative director of the game, Mike Inglehart. You can catch the trailer above as well as the details below.
NHL 24 Official gameplay trailer & more!
According to Nasher, the biggest change coming to core gameplay lies within the new Exhaustion Engine. The new engine simulates moments where players are pinned in the offensive zone for extended periods of time. Players will notice as they maintain possession of the puck, an onscreen meter begins to fill. Filling this bar results in an adrenaline effect, improving passing, shooting, and speed on the ice. Of course, the pressure will also affect defenders, causing exhaustion and other debuffs.
While this may feel offensive-heavy, Inglehart notes all is not lost on defense and the game has ways for the defenders to defuse as well as turn the situation around. Ideally, the defending team will want to gain possession as soon as possible, effectively getting the puck beyond the blue line and out of the zone for 5 seconds. In addition, players will immediately notice fatigue bars are not situated beneath players for ease of access.
Exhaustion is not limited to players moving around the ice but goalies as well. As they become more fatigued, their stances change in addition to becoming slower when moving post to post. The biggest impact will undoubtedly be seen during rebound and desperation saves. The hope, according to Inglehart, is that players feel incentivized to take a variety of shots. This should mitigate some of the predictability of shots seen in NHL 23. The Exhaustion Engine plus Goalie Fatigue aims to make the gameplay feel refreshed as compared to previous years, adding new life to the franchise.
Physics-Based Contact
Similar to the Hist-Stick found in Madden, NHL 24 introduces a new feature giving players greater influence over controlling the body. Unlike NHL 23, players will not need to “hope for” specific results when moving in for contact. This year, by way of flicking the joystick, players can control whether they go in for a light bump, or close in for that high-impact, potentially game-changing check. The hitting decisions also affect stamina. Tired players stay down longer and have difficulty recovering. With the new control also comes the need for players to time their hits or risk being burned. Lastly, as the name implies, there is a bit of physics involved here. Hits come with several new animations, as well as the ability to slam players over the bench and break glass on very special occasions.
Vision Passing System
Vision passing allows players to hold a modifier and target specific players to pass to on the ice. This frees up players to pass to anyone on the ice at any time using the corresponding button above the target. Of course, passing stats still affect success rates. This system also plays very well with the new One-touch passing features. By pre-hitting a button before passing, players can screen one-touch passes at almost any time to whomever they wish.
Of course, that is not all, and I encourage you to watch the full video above as it dives into changes to control schemes as well as new systems meant to make it easier to learn how to play the Goalie position.
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