NHL 23, developed by EA Sports, promised to bring fresh air into the realm of chel games. They sought to offer the most connected experience to date. The game's gameplay is reviewed in detail below. A final grade is also shared.
NHL 23's gameplay featured a couple of new animations, including the last-chance puck movement designed to offer a series of desperation animations to get off a shot or pass. In HUT, 'Relentless' was touted as Sarah's Nurses X-Factor ability designed to give her and other players with this trait a significantly increased ability to pull off a shot or pass while off balance. Although Relentless presented an apparent strength in the gameplay, this trait was comparatively less popular.
Color Analyst of the EA Sports NHL World Championships, GrizGoal, shares, "While relentless offers a unique trait tailored to increase the functionality of the new in-game last chance puck movement mechanic, it was often passed over in the competitive scene. On the 6v6 side, players opted for traits more practical to high-end gameplay, such as Elite Edges, Close Quarters, and One Tee. In the 1v1 scene, players spent AP on the traits above and Truculence/Stick Em Up. Relentless was widely abandoned in the competitive scene this year as it was not considered a necessary x-factor/zone ability.
Another area of focus this year was to improve the passing system. In NHL 22, players repeatedly missed easy passes. In NHL 23, the passing system found a new balance. Accuracy improved, but one-touch passing still needed to be added. We will have to wait and see if EA will continue to refine passing for a better user experience in NHL 24.
Another critical focus was interceptions. In NHL 21, interceptions were nonexistent as players were forced to engage more aggressively by attacking the puck carrier or performing manual defensive plays such as crouching and diving. Although this increased the skill gap, there was also a lot of pushback from the community. Per community feedback, EA brought back interceptions in NHL 22. In NHL 23, the interception system appeared alright, but some passes would go through that left users with questions.
The most controversial aspect of the NHL 23 gameplay was the goal-scoring meta. Cross-crease goals were nerfed as a way to promote creativity. However, that goal must still be met because the meta players used differed. For instance, a go-to special was to go behind the net, swing back and forth to bait a defenseman, and quickly wrap back the other way for a goal: that or the usual shots from near the goalie's red line or mid-slot low blocker. Therefore, creativity was almost nonexistent as many players sought to abuse the same set of plays repeatedly. EA will have to respond to that meta in NHL 24.
Another critical issue is the feeling amongst some players that this year's game presented a lot of randomness, causing them to lose more games they should not have. Benny "Uninstall" Thompson says, "With the gameplay changes implemented by EA, the skill gap was tightened due to these changes, and competitive NHL suffered from this the most in big moments."
Part of the randomness and inconsistency Benny refers to is that regardless of how well players outplayed their opponents, close, one goal games were common. Thus, inconsistency in the gameplay sometimes caused confusion.
Although this opinion is likely not shared by everyone, and perhaps less so in the casual community, it is essential to discuss. Especially for competitive players, being rewarded for outplaying your opponent/s is particularly important.
Something to look forward to in NHL 24 is seeing whether the gameplay consistently rewards players for being creative and outplaying their opponents. Therefore, going beyond a set number of ways to score would go a long way in promoting unique playstyles.
NHL 23 Overall Grade for Gameplay: C+