Is it that time of year already? After debuting the first FC 26 reveal trailer last week, EA has now lifted the lid on the major gameplay changes coming to the next iteration of its annual football sim – and one addition, in particular, will seemingly address my biggest gripe with the long-running series.
It’s true that EA brought a slew of realism-focused upgrades to last year's excellent FC 25, but the essential gameplay experience was the same across all modes. In FC 26, EA is introducing an entirely new gameplay preset for those who value authenticity over arcade-style fun.
Offline modes like Manager Career and Player Career will now use a dedicated gameplay type called Authentic Gameplay, which is tuned for higher realism and true-to-life match speed. Online modes like Ultimate Team (FUT) and Clubs will instead use Competitive Gameplay, which – you guessed it! – is tuned for added responsiveness and higher player control.
EA says Competitive Gameplay will be mandatory (i.e. locked) in FUT, Clubs, Online Seasons, and Online Friendlies, but optional in Kick-Off and Career Mode. As such, Authentic Gameplay will also be optional in those latter modes, but it’ll be enabled by default (and therefore encouraged!) when you play offline.
“We know that online and offline players have different priorities, and we want to showcase that by creating two enjoyable, separate ways to play FC 26,” EA explained in its first gameplay deep-dive video. And, honestly, this approach makes a lot of sense.
For me, the novelty of luminous pink FUT player cards wore off a long time ago, and as a result, I’m not looking for the same gameplay experience in Career Mode as those who hit the Griddy and Chicken Dance in faster-paced online modes.
Authentic Gameplay will instead emphasize realism, strategy, and immersion. EA says the main differences in this new preset include slower dribbling speeds, more physics-based rebounds, blocks, and bounces, more realistic tackle accuracy, and improved AI defending. In other words, Authentic will deliver a slower, harder, but potentially more rewarding gameplay experience (EA doesn't, however, promise that it'll be any less rage-inducing).
You’ll be able to adjust the severity of these (and more) settings in a dedicated Authentic slider menu, and, as mentioned, you’ll have the option to switch back to the faster-paced Competitive preset at any time if Virgil van Dijk is proving just too difficult to beat. But I, for one, am excited to put my decades-worth of FIFA-playing experience to the test in EA’s new gameplay mode.
EA Sports FC 26 is set to launch worldwide on September 26, 2025, with early access beginning on September 19. We’ll be reviewing the game ahead of time, and diving into more of EA’s headline improvements soon, so stay tuned to TechRadar Gaming for the latest.
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