During the NHL Awards earlier this week in Las Vegas, EA Sports officially announced the latest installment of its NHL franchise, NHL 20. Alongside the announcement by EA Sports was the official and confirmed release date for NHL 20, in addition to some surprising bits of information about the game, particularly its new Battle Royale-inspired game mode.
There are a ton of new changes to NHL 20 – brought about by improved technology, new partnerships, and more, but the most interesting change is probably the new Eliminator game mode, inspired heavily by the Battle Royale genre. In Eliminator, players compete against each other in a “survival tournament” as EA Sports calls it, until a champion is crowned. Eliminator will feature two different sub-game modes, Ones and Threes, similar to Solo Play and Squad Play in many different Battle Royale games.
While NHL 20’s new Battle Royale mode is definitely interesting to say the least, it was hardly surprising. Last year, EA Sports’ soccer title FIFA 19 came out with its own Battle Royale, mode which features concepts similar to NHL 20’s Eliminator game mode.
This time around, NHL 20’s cover star is Auston Matthews. Matthews is a career NHL player and three-time All Star playing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 2016, Matthews was the number one Overall Draft Pick and is currently an icon in the sport. In his debut season, Mattthews scored 40 goals and took home the Calder Memorial Trophy for Best Rookie.
Other things that players can expect from NHL 20 is the noticeable lack of Eddie and Doc, famed commentators that have been in the NHL games for years. Eddie Olczyk and Doc Emerick are no longer part of NHL 20, as their contract with NBC has probably been discontinued. Instead, players can look forward to 300 hours worth of new commentary, as well as some celebrity commentators like Snoop Dogg and Will Ferrel as his Anchorman character Ron Burgundy.
NHL 20 officially releases on September 13, 2019 for Xbox One and PS4. With the NHL 20 Deluxe Edition or Ultimate Edition, players will be able to enjoy three days early-access starting on September 10, with EA Access subscribers given Trial Access starting on September 5.
