Need for Speed Unbound Officially Revealed | First Details: Cars, Setting, Release Date and More
EA and Criterion Games have officially announced Need for Speed Unbound - the next mainline entry into the Need for Speed franchise and the first title developed by Criterion since 2012’s Need for Speed Most Wanted reboot.
After an almost 3 year wait since Ghost Games’ Need for Speed Heat, including an additional year delay due to assisting DICE with Battlefield 2042 in 2021, developer Criterion has finally revealed ‘the next evolution of Need for Speed’ coming December 2nd, 2022 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam, Origin and the Epic Games Store.
You can check out the official reveal trailer below in glorious 4K:
Need for Speed Unbound features an all-new signature art style that blends elements of the freshest street art with the most realistic looking cars in Need for Speed history, running at 4K 60fps on new gen consoles using the Frostbite engine with a brand new high-framerate physics system.
Unbound takes place in a fictionalized Chicago called Lakeshore City, featuring a dense downtown city with high-rise buildings and bridges connecting over the area’s many rivers running through the map. The outskirts are packed with unique locales including drift-heavy mountain roads, storm drains, a test track and a quarry playground.
The narrative single player campaign of NFS Unbound sees players rising from rookie to top racer on a journey to win the ultimate street race known as ‘The Grand’ as two friends are torn apart after a robbery at a family auto-shop, leaving the player to try reclaim a priceless car that was stolen from them.
During the campaign, players will participate in four intense weeks of racing with the objective to earn enough cash to enter weekly qualifiers and beat the competition to rise up the street racing ladder. The risk/reward gameplay of Heat returns with Unbound, with races requiring a buy-in to be able to play the event, which you can either win or lose that money depending on your performance. Every event gives heat, so doing lots of races in one session can be a huge gamble on the money you carry to enter the qualifier and need to bank.
Need for Speed Unbound’s single player will feature a mode called Takeover Scene, in which players work together under the leadership of A$AP Rocky to take over parts of Lakeshore, potentially akin to the district takeover’s once challenging and defeating a crew boss in Need for Speed Carbon. The game is also expected to have Pink Slips, however is unconfirmed if they feature in the multiplayer.
Side Bets also make a return since their last appearance in Need for Speed Payback, which will allow players to target individual characters during events. These bets won’t be as big as the buy-in and the rewards of the event, but will let you make extra bank if beating a targeted character you bet to beat.
Cops of course return in Need for Speed Unbound, with Criterion expanding on the tactical options introduced in Heat to allow players to counter them. Cop vehicles will have their own strengths and weaknesses, which players will be able to exploit during chases. Criterion has also added a police scanner and a spotting mechanic, giving players additional ways to avoid cops.
Unbound will feature 143 cars at launch, with various new cars including highly requested cars such as the Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX, Nissan Silvia S14, Mazda RX-8 and even the all-new Nissan 400Z and Lamborghini Countach. Toyota however will not be featured in Need for Speed Unbound, with Audi also being excluded despite being in the past two Ghost entries.
You can find the full car list from Need for Speed Unbound here.
Personalization is at the heart of Need for Speed, with Unbound featuring more ways than ever to express yourself; including fully customizable characters, body kits, and wraps, as well as the all new driving effects, tiered vehicle classes similar to Forza Horizon and tie-ins with “loads of really high-end prestige brands.”
Unbound will also feature a “deep driving system” and what Criterion are calling their “best handling they’ve ever put into one of its racing games”, augmented by a brand-new physics system referred to as “super sophisticated physical simulation” that’s “comparable to other big driving sims.”
Unbound will feature freeroam multiplayer at launch, with players able to connect online and connect in underground Meetups across Lakeshore. Meetups are powered by Autolog, first created by Criterion in Need for Speed Hot Pursuit (2010), which lets players host their own car meets, swap rides and place side bets in addition to viewing leaderboards for race times, high scores and shared content.
Multiplayer will also feature cross-play support across all platforms, in addition to a new Banner system that allows players to show off their in-game photos and achievements.
While no other details have been revealed on Need for Speed Unbound’s multiplayer mode, the game’s Pre-order bonuses seem to hint at a split Single Player and Multiplayer currency system. Pre-ordering the game offers bonus DLC items which include a driving effects pack, decals, license plate, banner artwork, stickers and $150,000 Bank which states can only be used in multiplayer.
Criterion have also confirmed Need for Speed Unbound will be supported post-launch with a series of free content updates, including new features, experiences, content drops and more, with plans to reveal more details on post-launch content “soon”.
Two editions of Need for Speed Unbound are available, with the standard edition starting at $69.99 and the Palace Edition at $79.99 including addition extras including: four stunningly intense new custom cars, new Gassy driving effects, Mashman Decals and License Plate, Exclusive character pose and banner artwork and a special clothing pack containing 20 unique items
Need for Speed Unbound launches on December 2nd, 2022 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, or November 29th for the Palace Edition and EA Play subscribers.
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