[REVIEW] NHL 26 Review (PS5) – The Ice Men Cometh

NHL 26 is the best version of this game in years. There, I said it. I wouldn’t normally begin a review with such an outlandish proclamation, yet I don’t really know how else to start a review about an ice hockey video game. The simple fact is I’ve had a super fun time playing this one and there’s plenty of joy to be had if you’re a fan of the ol’ puck-person-shooters. 

Coming right off the heels of NBA 2K26, I felt like my sports game quota had been sufficiently filled this year (until FC 26 arrives, anyway) and I may not have had enough space in my mental arsenal for another. Ergo, after tracking NHL 26 in the last few weeks and keeping up to date with its updates, it felt like it was worth jumping into and whilst it may not give me the same amounts of unparalleled joy that NHL 94 did way back on the Mega Drive / Genesis, there’s plenty here to appreciate. 

NHL 26 is shouting from the rooftops about the new ICE-Q iteration, ICE-Q 2.0, an AI system that allows each player and opponent to feel and play much like their real life counterparts. Collecting data from players like hungry hungry hippos and fed into this algorithm, allowing EA Sports to create perhaps the most realistic depiction of ice hockey there may have ever been, and it’s to their credit that they just might have pulled it off. 

It’s obviously a world away from the joy of NHL 94 (seriously my only real comparison to this behemoth), but of course the sport is also entirely different now. When EA Sports famously shout out loud that ‘it’s in the game’, they really bloody mean it and the ICE-Q 2.0 demonstrates just how serious they are about bringing you a cutting edge ice-hockey escapade. It’s responsive, it’s blisteringly fast, it’s tactical and not at all easy. It feels like a challenge to even get a hold of the puck if you’re not starting on the most basic of difficulties and allows you to get better by simply just wanting to get a single damn point on the scoreboard. Ice-Q 2.0, your goalkeepers are annoyingly good. I need more Onana, less De Gea, thanks (ah yeah, those famous Man United ice hockey players – Ed)

NHL 26’s terrific balancing act of offense and defence has always been an admirable aspect of the series and it’s no different here. Whilst I mentioned above that it’s not an easy game to get your head around at first, you’re never against a team that feels particularly overpowered, for me they just knew where the goal was a little better than I did at the beginning, and the power of the shots were difficult to stop.

You get used to defending a fair bit, particularly in a quickfire sport like the NHL because it’s so back and forth the entire time as the ice rink you’re playing on is so small in comparison to, say, a football field. In FC and Madden you have time to think about what you’re doing to do next whilst you have the ball at your feet or in your hands, with NHL by the time you’ve realised how much space you have you’re already one on one with the keeper and its fight or flight in that moment, you may as well have a shot and see what happens but there were fewer times I didn’t feel completely surrounded by the opposition in moments where I could have probably done better. Again, I never felt this was the fault of the AI but rather me not quite getting to grips with the tactics of the game immediately. This improved tenfold the more I played and I was able to circumvent those initial worries with a few games and some wins under my belt. Ice hockey it turns out is far more tactical than I perhaps gave it credit for.

Away from the actual playing of ice hockey, naturally NHL 26 has a variety of modes which you can find yourself in. I would argue and say 2K have probably took over in terms of the sheer amount to do in each game from EA, but it’s not like they’re slacking, there’s still a myriad of modes that stretch across EA Sports entire sports range, and NHL 26 is no exception, with Ultimate Team, which has been buffed with FUT Seasons this year, a mode I hugely enjoy in the FC series, , Franchise – which has seen precisely zero updates and Be A Pro, where I spent the majority of my time during my review period and thoroughly enjoyed the drafting nonsense of it all. 

‘Drafting’ isn’t something we do in sport in the UK, so it took me a minute to understand its importance in NHL 26. By the time I was in it though, I was hooked. Going from amateur to pro in a matter of hours was really quite fun, with enjoyable storylines, teams I had never heard of suddenly knocking on my door and essentially turning me into a product to be purchased by some owners of ice rinks. I did get a little lost in the drama of it all and it became something I really wanted for my player, as dumb as that sounds. You end up leaving the Junior World Championships and suddenly you’re touring around playing for the cream of the crop in the hopes that they’ll pick you for their new season and finally, end up in the NHL playing for the masses. My player was a cocky, arrogant idiot who knew how good he was, as it didn’t seem like all that fun playing a humble fan-favourite, much like NBA and WWE this year, I took the villain role to get to the top and had a blast doing so. 

One aspect of the mode I’m surprised I enjoyed so much was the press conferences or ‘media scrum’. Weirdly it felt to me like the game was a bit of a TellTale mode, with decisions on what to say affecting the mood of fans, fellow players and your coach. Now this isn’t anything new in the EA Sports series, but the impact your answers have certainly felt like they made a huge difference in how I was perceived as Be A Pro continued. Like I said, my player was cocky and looked out for number one and this obviously never went down all that well, fortunately balancing that out with solid performances on the ice. The presentation of this mode is solid and looks exactly how you imagine it would on your TV, and that’s testament to EA Sports for always being ahead of the game in this regard. Even if it’s not in the game, it’s in the game.

So there’s plenty to love in NHL 26 and is a solid entry in this year’s sports catalogue for EA. It plays smooth as silk, looks terrific and has enough modes to keep any NHL superfan happy until the NHL 27 rolls around. As an NHL rookie, I had a great time and it gave me a new appreciation for a sport I’ve never really paid enough attention to. 

I’m gonna end on a quote from a legendary ice hockey player, talking about Wayne Gretzsky

‘’You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ – Wayne Gretzky’ – Michael Scott. 

NHL 26 is available on September 12th on PS5 (review platform) and Xbox Series X|S

Developer: EA Sports
Publisher: EA Sports

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the DLC. For our full review policy, please go here.

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