Need for Speed Unbound was finally revealed last week after a number of recent leaks. However, publisher Electronic Arts and developer Criterion Games unveiled the racing title last Thursday, showing off a unique new visual style to longstanding Need for Speed fans. It seems as though new visuals are a hot topic, as the game’s most recent gameplay teaser has brought to light.
In a tweet on the official Need for Speed Twitter account earlier today, a brand new teaser clip shared details of one aspect of the game’s new visual effects. “Driving effects” will be a customisable set of visual styles that players can use in their gameplay, if they wish to. The clip is shared below and gives players a few more details as to how exactly they’ll be able to choose and equip different driving effects.
In a follow-up tweet, it’s also confirmed that players who aren’t into the flashy style of the new driving effects, or simply aren’t interested that much in vehicle customisation can disable them entirely if they want to. However, Basic Tail Smoke and Trail Lights cannot be disabled, just the additional, more advanced-looking driving effects.
Need for Speed Unbound looks set to make creative visual expression a real focal point of the upcoming racing game. As the newest evolution of the long-running Need for Speed series, the game has been developed in the Frostbite engine and will run on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, skipping past the previous console generation entirely.
According to the game’s new website, Need for Speed Unbound will see that “graffiti comes to life,” as players will be equipped with a range of expressive visual and sound-based effects to enhance the driving experience and street racing vibes. This is definitely clear from the short teaser we’ve seen today, with many users on Twitter responding positively to the look of these new customisable driving visuals.
Darren White, Need for Speed Unbound’s art director at Criterion Games has clarified some of the rationale behind the new creative direction for the franchise. “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,” he explains, adding that the new visual effects have a specific name. “We wanted to take players to that next level in Need for Speed Unbound with our driving VFX, which we call ‘Tags.’”
Applying this graffiti theme to the visuals of the cars seems like a good move, although we’ll have to wait and see what the overall response from players is when the game is released in December.
Need for Speed Unbound is set to launch on December 2. Those who pre-order the game will be able to access the streets and boulevards of Lakeshore a couple of days earlier, getting their copy of the game on November 29. Need for Speed Unbound will be available on Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam, Origin and the Epic Games Store.
