NBA 2K26 Impressions Thread

[cch99]

Since I hadn't seen anything yet. Here are my 15 minute quick impressions:

This was my son's birthday gift otherwise I wouldn't have bought it but I did get a few minutes. Very limited played 2nd quarter of Suns vs. Sixers(me). I play skybox view at 1 Distance and 10 Height..

I know some guys like the slower speed. I used too always jack the speed up to 60 because It felt too slow. This feels perfect. I won't have to adjust that at all.

From small sample size it does really feel to me so much smoother than last year. Last year almost felt like there was some type of delay sometimes on button presses. This felt so much more responsive. I had a play where I was on left side at the three point line and drove to the right side right around the free throw line pulled up for a jumper with Grimes. It all felt so natural and smooth. I was watching my son play and it didn't look much different but with a controller it felt way better. I was just using meter shooting. Usually I use real player %. I hit the shot but it felt like 1 of those that on real% is not going in so I'll have to see how Real Player% plays but my initial thought is that I may try meter if it feels this good. My issues as always is I feel like with meter it takes away some of the player differentiation and that it's more on me and timing but Real% I feel like there are shots I can never make. I've been a struggling the last few years with what I want out of the game in that respect.

My initial thoughts on Help D are positive as well. The CPU was helping and wasn't miraculously recovering so I got a couple good looks with McCain when the CPU helped on the drive which I missed. My team was helping as well and the CPU was getting some open looks. They were 1-6 from three and most of the looks were wide open. Devin Booker was really tough to guard. Lots of drive and pull-ups. He was killing me like he does in real life when he gets going.

From 15 minutes it was good initial impressions from me and made me kind of wanting to play more. Straight out of the box. No slider adjustments. Nothing other than turning on auto-play call. I won't be able to get on again until Monday night at the earliest so i won't have more until later.

Edit: Wanted to add that the passing felt much crisper as well. Also i saw some of those online videos where the guys were going crazy with the dribble moves and they felt like the game was in turbo mode. It made me think those video have been sped up or game speed was upped because it did not feel like that when playing CPU

[Fake Empire]

Alright, here we go. I was debating to buy the game or not but my children wanted it and as I am soft I got the early access for them. For now they just passed me the controller to feel the difference in movement and shooting and that's it until they go to bed.
So first impressions after 3 minutes with the controller in my hands: Movement is very smooth, shooting feels organic but I'm not a meter player I always use Real Player%. I'll post later my impressions playing vs the cpu.

[ChaseB]

Sticking this, it can be for early access impressions that are just starting for those who paid the cash money to get a deluxe edition.

[Gosens6]

All I say is I’m for sure regretting my purchase. The game feels pretty much exactly the same as it always has, except the players move faster and shooting is infinitely harder.

I don’t play online, so them giving a big F-U to the offline player and making shooting green or nothing is just a baffling decision. Sure, we can play with real player % on, but Jesus Christ. Playing on superstar or hall of fame, if the CPU breathes in your direction, your timing window is SO small it’s not even worth shooting the ball.

You got my $100 again, 2K. Good on ya. Never again after this year. This is a huge slap in the face to the offline gamer

[cch99]

I am a total offline player. I was playing on Pro. I can't even sniff All-Star or Hall-of-Fame so maybe for someone like me I will be in the sweet spot of enjoying the game. Also the Green or Miss is only on higher difficulties. I saw a white go in on Pro. Not sure if it will go in on All-Pro. If you could play Pro but adjust sliders maybe you will be able to find a sweet spot but if you are used to playing those higher levels it might be way too easy even with heavily adjust shooting sliders.

The biggest difficulty I've run into the last couple years with 2k has been that the games all feel similar and I haven't been to lock in sliders where I feel like good teams win and bad teams lose most of the time. I feel like I get sliders that make it competitive where I win some and lose some but it doesn't matter if I am the Wizards or The Thunder. It all starts feeling really samey.

Good luck. I hope you can find some settings that fit what you are looking for.

[joel0078]

They won't change anything until the consumer stops buying or pre ordering (which will never happen) OR NBA Live comes back to push them into making improvements. They have no reason to really make fantastic changes because they know everyone will buy it anyways. They need competition. Also, its absurd that we're on "next generation consoles" yet it doesn't always feel like it, just based on graphic alone. It's mind boggling that PC users can make a mod that makes this game look like a real life NBA game on TV, yet the 2K devs are focused on sweat rather than realism. Their answer is a better ticker at the bottom, improved sweat and retired jerseys in the rafters. I've bought this game every single day on release day for the last 26 years, going back to the first iteration on dreamcast. Not happening this year. If or when I buy it, it will be months from now. God knows if it even feels remotely good out of the box on release day, they'll patch it to fix something to appease the online community and it'll ruin a good product for us offline franchise guys. All 2K does is cater to the online community anymore.

[solofx7]

So far, I’m really enjoying the game. The games beat is perfect. The graphics are definitely better. I think the offense is slightly overpowered at the moment but you can play good defense so that balance is out. I’m playing on PC which has some good graphic settings but overall I think it’s a decent step up from last year because it plays better. It’s faster. It’s more responsive and it’s significantly easier to make shots which of course you can adjust. I do like having a game seven days early which I think is a total win. I know we’re in football season but playing an NBA game early like this is a blast. I really enjoyed it and I think overtime it’s just gonna get better and it really really really plays good

[ForeverVersatile]

The game feels 2 steps backward control wise. Dribbling was damn near perfect. This movement engine doesn’t improve on anything. They sacrificed control for spamming and speed.

[MiracleMet718]

All I say is I’m for sure regretting my purchase. The game feels pretty much exactly the same as it always has, except the players move faster and shooting is infinitely harder.

I don’t play online, so them giving a big F-U to the offline player and making shooting green or nothing is just a baffling decision. Sure, we can play with real player % on, but Jesus Christ. Playing on superstar or hall of fame, if the CPU breathes in your direction, your timing window is SO small it’s not even worth shooting the ball.

You got my $100 again, 2K. Good on ya. Never again after this year. This is a huge slap in the face to the offline gamer

Just wait for the slider updates to come out or adjust the timing window if it’s too hard for you to make shots on the higher difficulty levels. I play on superstar and don’t have any issues making most shots, but I wanted to see more contested shots go in last year so I just adjusted sliders and it played fine. It’s supposed to be difficult to make shots on the higher difficulties so that’s what the sliders are there for.

[EccentricMeat]

You can't adjust the timing window this year. They removed the Shot Timing Impact and Shot Coverage Impact sliders for god knows what reason. They also removed the shot timing profiles. It's green or miss unless you play on the lowest difficulty settings. Absolutely absurd decision making by 2K.

[spinoff]

🏀 My First Impressions of NBA 2K26


I don’t want to say too much yet, because honestly I don’t feel the same excitement that other players seem to have right now. I’ll give myself more time, but here’s my first breakdown:

---

✅ Positives

• Shooting timing and quick release feel good (although maybe a little too easy once you’re in rhythm : RNG used to prevent unrealistic stats).
• Euro step, slow step and deceleration moves feel nice.
• Shots are more responsive.
• Two extra defensive preset options.
• Offensive AI is noticeably better.
• Perimeter defense is stronger, with more responsive defensive animations.
• They added about a hundred new players to MyEra (including B. Griffin).
• New quick matchup change with (R1 / LB).

---

❌ Negatives

• The game speed is way too fast !! Not just the dribbling. I’ve never played a 2K that felt this arcade-like.
• Dribble animations don’t feel realistic. You can cancel moves anywhere, and visually it often looks like endless ball carries.
• MyGM still doesn’t allow assigning player roles (prospect, sixth man, etc.).
• It’s still impossible to play MyGM with a MyEra team, which is very disappointing.
• The W still has stat bugs, and you still can’t play 5-minute quarters or simulate games with 5-minute quarters.
• I don’t understand why they removed the different shot timing profil. They should’ve just restricted them to online PvP instead of deleting them completely.
• The OTFC defensive menu (right D-pad) still doesn’t work : you can’t set rebounding strategy or adjust defensive strategy mid-game. That’s really hard to understand.
• Quick Protect might end up being more of a gimmick than a useful tool.
• Hand-off plays are still not fully implemented (roll, pop, etc.)
• The shot meter spoils the outcome of the shot (like before !!! Grrrr...)

---

⚖️ Overall


What disappoints me the most right now is:

• The game speed feels way too fast.
• Dribble animations don’t look realistic : they’re choppy and unnatural.
• The OTFC defensive menu still doesn’t work.
• Why removed the different shot timing profil ?
• And in general, offline modes have very few meaningful improvements.

👉 For the first time in 15 years, I might be leaning toward preferring the previous installment, despite its flaws.

[scottyp180]

Did any other players added to My Eras stand out? Did you notice any players that were removed?

[spinoff]

They did add about a hundred players, but I couldn’t tell you exactly which ones were removed, especially from the older teams I’m less familiar with. Among the notable additions, we’ve got Blake Griffin and John Wall.
On the downside though, the developers still don’t replace unlicensed players with fictional ones that have similar attributes. That’s really a shame, because some otherwise great teams end up being weakened by the absence of their key stars.
In the end, once again we’re left relying on the community’s work to fix this...

[Fake Empire]

Managed to play a full game, Warriors (me) vs Bucks on All-Star default sliders. Turned off shot timing, Real Player% is gone as an individual option, turning off timing I reckon enables automatically Real Player%.
Didn't make any D adjumensts all game, just let the game flow at default with everything on auto. Took a while to adjust to the new speed but I'd say it's not bad. There are some weird speed bursts when you run back to defense but this is easy to fix via sliders. I think the current speed is more realistic and closer to real life but I agree it can feel a bit arcadey when using a lot of fancy moves which anyway I rarely do, I just play simple methodical basketball.
Lost 117-102, Giannis was unstoppable and they shot 62% FG vs 53%. Everytime I was making a comeback they managed to hit some crucial 3pt shots including two of them for 3+1 after shooting fouls. So:
- Movement feels smooth and less sluggish than last year. Foot planting looks improved.
- Cpu AI is definitely improved both offensively and defensively. I scored 45pts with Curry but at some point they started double teaming and setting traps. The double team was more organic than ever, not just for the sake of it like previous years.
- Had a decent number of fouls called but didn't bother to force a lot of them in defense. Definitely though the foul sliders need tweaking as always.
- Cpu called timeouts when needed which is also a positive.
- There were a handful of unforced errors by cpu which was a nice surprise.
- Managed to do two spectacular blocks out of nowhere which was impressive.
- Paint D was hit and miss with some of my players caught sleeping or facing incorrectly. Need to investigate more into that.
- Again it felt fairly easy to score with Curry when on rhythm. This needed nerfing last year and it seems might be the same case this year.

[EccentricMeat]

Agree with the shot timing complaints, absolutely braindead decision by 2K. I get that they wanted "everyone on an even playing field" online, but all they had to do was lock online to green-or-miss. Removing the shot timing profiles they added last year, which were an absolute godsend for offline folks, just makes no sense whatsoever. And honestly, it just proves that those making the gameplay decisions at 2K simply do not even think about the offline experience.

Now to some positives, the movement and animations are pretty damn great. Players move like elite athletes, yes sometimes TOO fast but only in short and specific instances, and dribbling definitely feels much more consistently responsive. Similarly on defense, movement is much improved as well. Less sliding, more of a grounded feel without feeling heavy or sluggish. And some of the on-ball defense animations I'm seeing are a huge breath of fresh air. Foot planting might actually exist??? A quick example:

Mavs (me) vs. Rockets (CPU). I get the ball to Kyrie and force a switch so I'm now 1v1 with their center Capela. I break out right, Capela commits hard to follow but is a step behind as he should be. As he swivels his hips right toward the basket to contest the drive, I crossover left and start a step-back jumpshot. Instead of years past where the defender would stop and then run in a straight line to contest, the game actually took his movement and momentum into account as he had to fully turn around in a circle (as he was running full speed as I hit the crossover) to try and contest. So instead of the stop, immediate turn, and straight-line sprint, Capela kept running to his right, had to turn his back to me entirely for a full second as his momentum toward the basket wasn't immediately "shut off", and then run in a tight semi-circle while turning from right to left.

Such a small inconsequential thing out of context, but it made me stop and watch the replay a few times just to enjoy the authentic movement.

So in short: Movement is fantastic, just PLEASE bring back shot timing profiles for offline users and keep online as green-or-miss. Everyone's happy.

[spinoff]

Design sans titre (1).jpgAs you can see, we’re getting the EXACT same bugs in The W mode. If you finish a game by simulating, you end up with completely unrealistic stats that are impossible to achieve. And that’s not all : if you play with 5-minute quarters, all simulations and stats for the other teams are still calculated on 12-minute quarters. As a result, the game always considers you a bad player.

Am I the only one who finds this unacceptable? This was already the case last year, and yet the game is sold at a very high price every single year...

[ctas78]

Can you please post the statistics after the match by players, just so that it would be visible how many offensive rebounds the team players made (scroll slightly to the right). And also the overall statistics of the teams after the match.

[spinoff]

But these are the end-of-game stats… we’re seeing full-game numbers in only 24 minutes of play. (And it’s just a screenshot, I don’t have access to it anymore : but it’s really easy to reproduce the problem if you want to see it for yourself.)

[ctas78]

it doesn't matter, 5 or 12 minutes, when you play the next match and if you have such an opportunity, post the statistics.

[scottyp180]

Do they still have the "shot timing visual cue" option?

[spinoff]

it doesn't matter, 5 or 12 minutes, when you play the next match and if you have such an opportunity, post the statistics.

As you can see, the statistics are way too high for just 24 minutes of gameplay. (simu)