NHL 24 Gets a Release Date, Cover Athlete, and Its Official Reveal

NHL 24 has received its official reveal and EA confirmed it will skate onto PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One on October 6, 2023.

Colorado Avalanche superstar defenseman Cale Makar will be serving as NHL 24’s cover athlete, and one of the biggest selling points in this year’s game is the brand-new Exhaust Engine. This new engine, which is powered by Frostbite, aims to “let players experience concentrated moments of intensity that hocket is known for.”

To help make that come true, the Exhaust Engine includes the Sustained Pressure System and the Goalie Fatigue System. The first one rewards offensive players who are playing aggressively in the attack zone and sets up some truly big plays. It does so by lowering your opponent’s attributes temporarily and “creating more space for movement and setting up plays.”

The Goalie Fatigue system, on the other hand, impacts goalies more as more shots are sent their way. They won’t be able to protect the goal as much as more shots are taken and there will be 75 new animations that help sell this change.

There will also be a new Physics-Based Contact system that “will revolutionize physical contact and deliver realistic body checks like never before.” Alongside creating some big moments that have never been seen before in-game, players will now be able to give bigger checks to create turnovers, break glass, and even send their opponent to the bench.

Furthermore, NHL 24 boasts an improved version of cross-play that will let players play many modes with their friends across either PS5 and Xbox Series X/S or PS4 and Xbox One, including Hockey Ultimate Team and World of Chel.

There is so much more to NHL 24 as it also introduces HUT Moments that let players play out some of hockey’s most incredible moments, improved presentation that makes the biggest plays and victories feel more epic, an update to how goalies control, more intuitive and accessible controls that allow for even more spectacular moves, and more.

For more, be sure to check out our NHL 23 review, in which we said, ‘A long-overdue audio-visual upgrade finally lets NHL 23 take full advantage of the PS5 and Xbox Series X so that the revamped franchise mode can look as good as it plays.”

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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.