EA Sports FC 26: What's new? Gameplay trailer shows off this year's 'FIFA'

EA Sports has officially unveiled FC 26, promising a significant overhaul focused on a simple yet impactful mantra: "make gameplay better." This commitment, detailed in a recent Gameplay Deep Dive, aims to deliver a more responsive, rewarding, and community-driven experience.

There’s no doubt that we as fans have heard this promise from EA before, even back when the game was FIFA, and despite some marginal improvements in previous years, it does feel like it’s been some time since we’ve seen a complete overhaul of the gameplay.

However, if EA are to be believed, FC 26 signals a fresh, back-to-basics approach. Gameplay producer Paul Parsons emphasised the core principle, stating, "Those three words summarise our full focus this year. An overhauled gameplay experience that’s responsive, rewarding, and powered by your feedback." To the developers' credit, the deep dive does highlight plenty of issues anyone who’s ever played the game has likely experienced and promises to improve on them – so fingers crossed for when the game launches later this year.

EA SPORTS FC 26 | Official Gameplay Deep Dive - YouTube

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To help personalise the gameplay experience, FC 26 will introduce two distinct presets: Competitive Gameplay and Authentic Gameplay. This addresses a long-standing community request, acknowledging the differing priorities of online and offline players.

Competitive Gameplay, designed for modes like Football Ultimate Team and Clubs, prioritises fast-paced, aggressive, and skill-rewarding action. Parsons described it as "more responsive overall," with quicker passing. This mode will be mandatory in online ranked play, including Online Seasons and Online Friendlies – this is where you’re going to want to go if you want to griddy after beating a 13-year-old.

On the flipside, Authentic Gameplay caters to offline modes such as Manager Career and Player Career. This preset aims to emulate real-world football with more realistic physics, animations, and match pacing. It emphasises strategy, immersion, and a slower, potentially more challenging experience, bringing the game more in line with what you may watch down your local on a Sunday.

While optional in Kick-Off and Career Mode, it will be enabled by default, encouraging players to embrace its nuanced approach. Authentic Gameplay will feature slower dribbling, more physics-based rebounds, improved tackle accuracy, and smarter AI defending. Players will also have the flexibility to adjust these settings via a dedicated Authentic slider menu, inviting players to tinker and figure out how best they want their game to feel.

FC 26's "Gameplay Fundamentals" have been refined based on community feedback, introducing more responsive dribbling with rebalanced animations and optimised touch timing. Movement is clearer with only three sprint types (Explosive, Controlled, Lengthy) to prevent unexpected speed boosts.

Maybe most importantly, goalkeepers are meant to be more consistent thanks to machine learning, improving deflection control, ball tracking, and countering finesse and trivela exploits, although we will have to wait and see on that front as goalkeepers in the game have often felt mindless and made of wotsits. Tackles are now more meaningful, designed to either retain possession or direct the ball to a teammate, eliminating frustrating ricochets to opponents, which, if you’ve ever played Clubs, you’ll certainly have experienced. Additionally, shooting mechanics have been reworked, removing timed finishing and finally bringing back the low-driven shot by tapping shoot twice.

FC 26 will also introduce five new PlayStyles, enhancing player individuality and tactical depth:

• Aerial Fortress
• Enforcer
• GameChanger
• Inventive
• Precision Header

These changes, alongside other community-inspired updates like Player Roles and a new High Contrast Mode for accessibility, signify EA's commitment to creating its "most community-driven title" to date.

While the full impact of these refinements will only be seen upon release, EA Sports FC 26 promises a significantly evolved gameplay experience for both competitive and authentic football enthusiasts. Between now and release, there will be plenty more deep dives, but so far, it feels like EA has listened to the community and will finally deliver issues that have existed in the game for some time.

The game is set to release on the 26th September, 2025, on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo consoles, and PC, with early access beginning on September 19 for anyone who has picked up the Ultimate Edition.

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