NHL 20 Beta is Coming Soon... Here's What to Expect

The NHL 20 beta is coming soon… While no exact release date has been given, the team has put together a new blog discussing what to expect from the NHL 20 beta.

SHOOTING

As part of the shooting overhaul, players will see all-new shot animations in the beta, including greater shot variety and animation coverage in all different context across the ice.

However, players may also notice inconsistencies in areas like ideal shot selection (e.g. reaching shots/getting jammed up unnecessarily/odd rotations), shot power, and shot release angles. The area where inconsistencies may be most noticeable is one-timers since all these factors come into play to deliver a clean shot.

These top priority issues are being addressed for the full game to unlock responsive shooting that will look and feel more powerful and precise.

EXPLOSIVE TRANSITIONS

Pickups add a new element of speed and creativity to the game. Whether you are receiving a pass in stride or performing a turning pick up to avoid a check, skaters will maintain speed and control, while not losing momentum. This will create more moments where you can use speed to your advantage to beat defenders wide or allow to take a advantage of an opening to get a shot off in the slot.

Since the Beta we have fixed minor issues that further improve the visual quality of pickup animations and blends.

GOALIE INTELLIGENCE

Players will see new goalie animations for controlled saves, covers, and redirects in the beta. With new goalie intelligence updates, goalies will have also more tools at their disposal to eliminate threats

While the visual variety will be evident in the beta experience, players will notice that some areas have less predictability and polish than we’d like. This could lead to situations where the goalie may redirect the puck into a high danger area, allow soft rebounds off blocker deflections, and not triggering auto covers or getting stuck when attempting to cover.

Positioning and movement improvements have made great progress since the Beta for both AI and user controlled goalies, meaning players will see new animations and goalie intelligence, resulting in more controlled saves, covers, and redirects.

The team also listed a ton of improvements, fixes and features that are not present in the beta build. Read all of the details here.