Need For Speed Unbound features an all-new, unique visual style blending elements of street art with the most realistic looking cars in the franchise’s history. The innovative single player campaign delivers thrills and consequences through an immersive narrative that engages players in the city of Lakeshore as they race, collect, upgrade, and customize the world's hottest performance cars on their way to the top of the scene.

Need For Speed Unbound challenges the conventions of the racing genre and ups the ante by introducing true consequence with impactful risk and reward for every race, decision and side bet made. Players uncover the world of Lakeshore when a robbery at a family auto-shop tears two friends apart and sets a rookie racer on a journey to win the ultimate street race and reclaim the priceless car that was stolen from them.

Need For Speed Unbound is built for the new generation of technology and will feature 4K resolution at 60 FPS for the first time in the series.

The race doesn’t end when the game launches! The world of Lakeshore never stands still through a series of free content updates that will be made available after launch and include new features, experiences, content drops and more. Additional details on post-launch content will be revealed soon.

Need for Speed Unbound features an all-new, unique visual style blending elements of street art with the most realistic looking cars in the franchise’s history. As players ride through the city, they’ll bring graffiti to life as part of this new art style using a brand-new toolkit of high-energy gameplay, visuals and sound effects. Criterion’s art director Darren White recently shared a deeper look and insight on the game’s art style and how it’s weaved into gameplay.

Need for Speed Unbound is everything like past Need for Speed titles, and yet, nothing like them at all. The game is like a classic, generation-defining muscle car that gets resurrected and redesigned with the style and bravado of tomorrow, and the same growling engine (or new humming battery) that peeled out in your parent’s and your grandparent’s dreams. 

Need for Speed Unbound fulfills your need for speed, but in a way that’s unique and tailored to you.

Let’s be clear, you can still whip around hyper-realistic cars in breathtaking locales. In Need for Speed Unbound your self-exploration goes beyond the garage and expands your canvas, exposing you to all of the vast elements that make your need for speed an adventure, a lifestyle and an artform. With this new addition to the Need For Speed universe, your avenues and boulevards to self-expression are unbound – from the cars and clothes, to the streets and the tire marks your car leaves behind. 

“We wanted to deliver an art style that matters for gameplay, one that clearly celebrates player actions, enhances the player experience, and rewards them along the way,” explains Darren White, Need for Speed Unbound’s art director at Criterion Games. “We wanted to take players to that next level in Need for Speed Unbound with our driving VFX, which we call ‘Tags.’”

Just like the street artists who creatively subvert the cityscapes around them, you will be able to tag the world and leave everyone in your dust. Tags come to life when you deploy your boosting powers; which are earned through actions like drifting, jumps and near misses, and appear as dramatic, customizable effects that paint the surrounding world, including illustrative lines that etch around the curves of your car. Through Tags, you and your car become the artists, and the city is your canvas.

“Need for Speed Unbound’s realistic-looking world and cars really help ground the visuals,” describes White of the game’s art style. “Taking inspiration from street art and other media, we creatively subvert the characters and visual effects, turning them into expressionistic illustrations of ‘you’ and ‘your actions.’ It’s literally ‘graffiti-coming-to-life.’”

Street art has always been an important aspect of street culture, with an irreverence that has long inspired Need For Speed. “It is an incredibly creative form of self-expression, and like street racing, it represents an unruly freedom to express yourself against rules and restrictions,” adds White. 

Need for Speed Unbound features a diverse collection of street art styles from multiple artists across the world including Sentrock and JC Riviera. These revered artists are painting Need for Speed Unbound with their signature style, artworks that not only add to the backdrop of the game, but can also be collected and applied to your car in the form of wraps.

Alongside Tags, you can continue to express your personal style through your cars, in greater detail and grandeur. You will now have access to new wrap content and full kit selections, as well as exciting new ways of customization with part removal – where you can expose the mechanical guts of your car and intimidate competition before you even creep up to the starting line. 

And it doesn’t end with Tags, wraps and parts; the player's wardrobe will get an upgrade too! “Need for Speed Unbound’s characters are unapologetically expressive with new fashion collaborations,” reveals White. “Character self-expression in Need for Speed Unbound goes beyond just the clothes you wear; with additional cosmetic changes and customizable poses, you can truly show off in key moments, like race wins, creating characters that are brimming with attitude.”

The same goes for Need for Speed Unbound. It’s full of attitude, creativity, adventure, style and camaraderie.

Key Features:

• The World is Each Player's Canvas: Graffiti comes to life in a new art style as players ride through the city equipped with a brand-new toolkit of high-energy visual and sound effects, like Burst Nitrous, which rewards players with style-based boost, reflecting how they drive. 
• Run the Streets: The more players race, the more heat they build up. Choose to outdrive or outsmart cops using new escape mechanics to take control of the chase to earn big rewards or even bigger consequences for getting busted.
• Self-Expression and Style: Hundreds of cosmetic items including exclusive licensed gear from some of the world’s pioneering fashion innovators and custom automotive gear companies give players endless options to not only kit out their car but show off their personal style in game. 
• Find Freedom in the Flow: Ride to a genre-defying soundtrack of trailblazing artists from the world of hip-hop led by multi-hyphenated artist, entrepreneur, actor and fashion icon A$AP Rocky and his creative agency AWGE, including the world premiere of A$AP Rocky’s brand new track  “Sh*ttin’ Me,” also featured in the reveal trailer. 
• Takeover Scene featuring A$AP Rocky: A$AP Rocky will appear in-game as the leader of the Takeover Scene, a new replayable precision driving mode that brings together the community to take over parts of the city and celebrate driving with style over pure speed. AWGE also functioned as creative consultants on the game.

Need For Speed Unbound is available for pre-order through November 29, 2022. Players who pre-order now will receive an exclusive pack of Unbound content, including a driving effects pack, decals, license plate, banner artwork, stickers and $150,000 Bank in their wallet when they first join multiplayer and more. 

Need For Speed Unbound Palace Edition, a deluxe offering created in partnership with Palace Skateboards, will offer players exclusive content, including four stunning custom cars, a clothing pack, driving effect, decals and license plate, character pose and banner artwork for $79.99. More to be revealed at a later date.

EA Play members can also play Need For Speed Unbound early with a 10-hour trial starting November 29, and enjoy exclusive recurring in-game benefits. Additionally, EA Play Pro members on PC will enjoy unlimited access to the Need For Speed Unbound Palace Edition starting November 29, three days before the game officially launches. For more information on EA Play and EA Play Pro, see www.eaplay.com.

Need For Speed Unbound is coming to PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC (EA app, Origin, Steam and Epic Game Store) on December 2, 2022 at $69.99.