EA Sports has revealed the long-awaited gameplay trailer for EA FC 26, highlighting the main technical and mechanical evolutions that will shape the player experience in the next edition of the franchise. With a focus on realism and competitiveness, the video shows how the title will split experiences into two distinct branches, optimizing gameplay for different styles and game modes. This approach aims to refine how each type of player interacts with the game, whether in intense online matches or more immersive offline games. Additionally, several improvements have been announced for the core systems, including movement, shooting, defense, passing, and goalkeeper performance.
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EA FC 26 Presents Two Distinct Gameplay Styles
EA FC 26 proposes a clear division between two gameplay approaches, providing experiences tailored to the type of match and player profile:
Competitive Gameplay
Focused on online modes like Ultimate Team, Clubs, Online Seasons, and Friendlies, this branch prioritizes quick responses, precise controls, and a faster pace to reflect the demands of multiplayer confrontations.
Authentic Gameplay:
Directed towards offline modes like Career Mode, this option prioritizes fidelity to the real football experience, with a slower pace, greater involvement of artificial intelligence, and automatically activated weather effects to enhance immersion.
Each category will feature its own adjustments in elements such as ball physics, defensive artificial intelligence, dribbling speed, crossing accuracy, goalkeeper behavior, and other aspects, ensuring an experience aligned with the game context.
Main Improvements in Gameplay for EA FC 26
Goalkeepers
A new deflection system has been implemented, prioritizing safe ball clearance.
Improvements in reading shots and decision-making in one-on-one situations.
The positioning and consistency of goalkeepers have been optimized for greater realism.
Defense
Defensive tactics now influence the game in a more realistic manner.
Poorly executed tackles will have more severe consequences.
A new Tacklebacks system reduces situations where the ball immediately returns to the opponent after a tackle.
Adjustments to animations of opponents after losing possession.
Passing
The response of passes, especially first-time passes, has been improved.
New animations have been added for passes at complex angles.
Short and quick passes are now more effective.
In competitive gameplay, the accuracy of first-time passes has been reduced to maintain balance.
Shooting
Shooting is more responsive, especially from short distances.
Low Driven Shots return, now activated with a double tap on the shoot button.
Trivelas are now exclusive to players with the new PlayStyle Gamechanger.
Dribbling and Movement
Player movement is more fluid, with greater agility in ball control.
Intervals between touches during dribbling have been adjusted.
Dribbling animations have been redesigned to provide greater responsiveness to commands.
Players of different heights now exhibit more balanced performance when dribbling.
Moves like Jog Dribble and Effort Dribble Touches have been refined.
The Agile Dribble command (L2 + R2) has been discontinued.
Enhancements in Competitive Gameplay
In online modes, EA has introduced specific changes to reinforce balance and performance in intense matches:
Reduction in automatic actions of defensive AI.
Increased speed in passing and dribbling.
Lower incidence of goals from rebounds and repetitive crosses.
Revised fatigue system.
New "UT Competitive" camera in Ultimate Team, with wider and more predictable angles for better game reading.