Need for Speed Unbound is less than two months from launch but was only revealed a couple of weeks ago. There's been a lot of hype around the next Need for Speed game, ever since it was confirmed long ago, but that hype is definitely small in comparison to other long-lasting franchises. That's not to say the franchise does not have its dedicated fanbase or reasons for hype, but that the attention to the racing game genre has dwindled over the years. And that in and of itself speaks to the very race Need for Speed Unbound finds itself in.
When asked what the best Need for Speed game is, many are going to say it was Most Wanted (2005). It may be another game around that era like Need for Speed Underground, Carbon, or any number of others, but few may really talk about the latest games like Need for Speed Payback or Heat. That's not because they're not good racing games in their own right, but that racing games have peaked. Sure, there are titles like Gran Turismo or Forza, but those titles have done a lot to identify themselves as part of, but distinct elements of, the racing genre. Need for Speed is really the only AAA street-racing title that would instantly come to anyone's mind, and that's because of the time it's been around.
Need for Speed Unbound: Racing Against Time
The thing is, Need for Speed Unbound has two months to convince non-diehard fans to pick up a racing game shortly after the likes of God of War Ragnarok and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet come out. It has to compete for attention against The Callisto Protocol, with which it shares a release date. That's a hard sell in a limited amount of time. But it doing that, the dev also has to prove that NFS Unbound is different from past entries. The limited gameplay and visual effects shown so far are nice, but if Need for Speed Unbound just looks different but is otherwise identical to NFS Heat, that may not be enough.
While the racing genre of gaming will always be a staple, its long past its glory days. Need for Speed Unbound needs to bring that back, as even the best racing games are not really talked about in the same circles as other major AAA games. Even sports games have managed a diehard base for years, but Need for Speed has seen fans zooming in and out.
It's hard to innovate or otherwise change a gameplay formula that, no matter what, has to see a car start at A and end at B. Some games have doubled down on focusing on simulation elements, while others like Forza Horizon expanded with a different style of open world (emphasis on the open), but street racing is a niche that needs to be filled. Need for Speed, either with Unbound or with future entries, needs to prove that street racing games are a niche worth keeping around every year. That's another hard sell, but at least it does seem that Need for Speed Unbound is trying to stand out in the racing genre.
Need for Speed Unbound releases December 2 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X.