NBA 2K26 Impressions Thread

[ctas78]

Thank you very much!

[Fake Empire]

Still early doors but it feels like this is the first game since 2k11 and 2k14 that mirrors somewhat real life NBA on the court. Spacing is there and it has the fun factor. A few sliders need tweaking to bring down FG% but I haven't tested MyNBA yet or messed with defensive settings to lock cpu offense.
For the first time I have difficulties on All-Star, cpu is quite intelligent or I'm getting too old now. Or both.
Needless to say that children are over the moon with how the game plays and shooting in particular. Tbh I can't even pull half of the moves they're doing though.

[talladega63]

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.

Are you thinking of making your own set of sliders this year too?

[EccentricMeat]

Of course 👌🏻

[ctas78]

Lots of complaints, but I don't think it's necessary to introduce shot profiles. As far as I understand, they were removed because quick shot options appeared. You just need to get used to it.

[scottyp180]

Did they also remove the option for the visual cue for shot releases (jump, set point, push, release)?

[MiracleMet718]

Can anyone see if two way contracts are updated to the new rules?

Also can you assign any shoe to any player or are some still locked to only players they’ve assigned who wear them (like 361 or Skechers as an example)?

[scottyp180]

Don't have the game yet. Curious how people are feeling about shooting on All-star and up. In past games I've found that Pro is too easy. All-star is usually a good challenge, though I will get my butt kicked from time to time if I'm off my game and struggling to hit shots.

Is greening shots easier, more difficult, or about the same on All-Star and up? I don't want to play on Pro difficultlyb(a little bit of pride, but I've also found that mode too easy in the past) but I also don't want to be getting my *** kicked on All-star because I'm struggling to green shots. For reference, I play offline and while the Celtics are usually my go to team, I do like to play with a variety of teams.

[Fake Empire]

Don't have the game yet. Curious how people are feeling about shooting on All-star and up. In past games I've found that Pro is too easy. All-star is usually a good challenge, though I will get my butt kicked from time to time if I'm off my game and struggling to hit shots.

Is greening shots easier, more difficult, or about the same on All-Star and up? I don't want to play on Pro difficultlyb(a little bit of pride, but I've also found that mode too easy in the past) but I also don't want to be getting my *** kicked on All-star because I'm struggling to green shots. For reference, I play offline and while the Celtics are usually my go to team, I do like to play with a variety of teams.

I haven't tried the shot timing yet but All-Star is definitely more difficult than previous versions. I've seen there's a timing difficulty slider so I reckon you can customise the game to your needs/skills if you're playing with this shot option.

[JKSportsGamer1984]

I'm an Offline Sim gamer (PS5)

Why in the world would they make Alley Oops more difficult? I already didn't like the Alley Oop meter that they forced on us a few years ago with no option to turn it off.. Now, to add insult to injury, they make it worse by making us have to guess which button to press when it pops up SMH. This is a horrible decision! Alley Oops are so randomly hit or miss now! GIVE US THE OPTION TO TURN THIS OFF OFFLINE!

As others have mentioned, some of the slider & settings removals for Offline players are baffling!

Still doing 30fps cut scenes in 2025 with no Performance Mode option is embarrassingly cringe!

No new gameplay cameras at all SMH. I'm not a fan of any of the gameplay cameras in the game. I actually stopped playing 2K25 for this reason alone! I play on the 2K Low Cam (Zoom 10 Height 1 Fixed Height Off) because I like to be close to the action. The problem is the camera cuts off players out of view in the upper right & upper left corners of the court at times. It has been this way for the past 2 years & they still haven't fixed it! I would use the Floor Cam, but it's a little too low to the ground making it hard to see players in the paint. If they just made it to where to camera pans up little when in the paint, it would be perfect. Either that or make the Fixed Height toggle actually work. I would also play on Floor Swivel, but I hate how the ball goes out of view when shooting from distance. BRING BACK THE COURTSIDE CAM from 2K23! Idk why that was removed!

Donovan Mitchell is once again too skinny! GIVE US THE OPTION TO FULLY EDIT PLAYERS BODIES OFFLINE!

Overall, the gameplay does feel improved. Shooting feels better. Still have yet to see a line drive back rim shot ala Kobe Bryant..

Foot planting is a little better

The home menu looks way better. It finally looks modernized.

Lighting is a little better

I like the new scorebug. It's cool how they have the 👌🏽 sign pop up for 3's. There needs to be more info & stats that pop up throughout the game though.. The right half of the scorebug stays blank for long periods of time..

I do like the game, but as a long time 2K fan since it's inception, I would be lying if I said 2K is not losing it's luster. I play it because I love basketball & it's the only option. My excitement for this game just isn't the same though. It's clear that their focus is on the Park crowd.

[rudyjuly2]

I HATE the alley oop meter. Let us turn it off!

And the camera options need to allow greater customization within each preset. 20 clicks instead of 10!

[BaronFO]

So my few cents: So far I love how the game looks and feels. Its smoother, better optimized for me on PC. Replays looks nice, new scoreboard is really sharp. Game is more responsive during match, gameplay feels smoother. Shooting will surely need some slider tweaks. Also I had to manually enter injuries to my roster so I have players out for a season (Lillard, Tatum etc.). I am sad that MyGm still not offer custom gameplay sliders or editing of players shoes or anything. Will stick to MyLeague this year. Visually is really stunning for me and there is also updsate to arena sounds

Edit: You can play unranked MyGm with custom roster and sliders.... yay

[Jumpman232]

First initial thoughts... I'm not happy I spent $100 on this. I feel like I would've been alot happier on 25 if I had a pc.

Everything feels way too fast. Dribbling is more responsive but I feel all over the place.

They took control from us, post pivot combos don't feel as fluid, can't change layup mid air. Only day 2 so I'll continue to give it a chance but it's going to have to be heavily edited.

[sirdez]

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...

Are you using the "sim to end" function during a game?

That has always been a bit buggy with both the NBA and WNBA as it ends up generating too many possessions, hence inflated stats.

[spinoff]

Yeah, I do simulate the end of the game, indeed. And yes, you’re right—the issue has been around for at least two years. It’s just crazy that such a noticeable and important bug hasn’t been fixed. I love the work of Mike Wang and Daczar, but since this console generation, I find their work really sloppy. Daczar hasn’t even fixed the defensive OTFC menu…

[scottyp180]

I'm an Offline Sim gamer (PS5)

Why in the world would they make Alley Oops more difficult? I already didn't like the Alley Oop meter that they forced on us a few years ago with no option to turn it off.. Now, to add insult to injury, they make it worse by making us have to guess which button to press when it pops up SMH. This is a horrible decision! Alley Oops are so randomly hit or miss now! GIVE US THE OPTION TO TURN THIS OFF OFFLINE!

As others have mentioned, some of the slider & settings removals for Offline players are baffling!

Still doing 30fps cut scenes in 2025 with no Performance Mode option is embarrassingly cringe!

No new gameplay cameras at all SMH. I'm not a fan of any of the gameplay cameras in the game. I actually stopped playing 2K25 for this reason alone! I play on the 2K Low Cam (Zoom 10 Height 1 Fixed Height Off) because I like to be close to the action. The problem is the camera cuts off players out of view in the upper right & upper left corners of the court at times. It has been this way for the past 2 years & they still haven't fixed it! I would use the Floor Cam, but it's a little too low to the ground making it hard to see players in the paint. If they just made it to where to camera pans up little when in the paint, it would be perfect. Either that or make the Fixed Height toggle actually work. I would also play on Floor Swivel, but I hate how the balls goes out of view when shooting from distance. BRING BACK THE COURTSIDE CAM from 2K23! Idk why that was removed!

Donovan Mitchell is once again too skinny! GIVE US THE OPTION TO FULLY EDIT PLAYERS BODIES OFFLINE!

Overall, the gameplay does feel improved. Shooting feels better. Still have yet to see a line drive back rim shot ala Kobe Bryant..

Foot planting is a little better

The home menu looks way better. It finally looks modernized.

Lighting is a little better

I like the new scorebug. It's cool how they have the 👌🏽 sign pop up for 3's. There needs to be more info & stats that pop up throughout the game though.. The right half of the scorebug stays blank for long periods of time..

I do like the game, but as a long time 2K fan since it's inception, I would be lying if I said 2K is not losing it's luster. I play it because I love basketball & it's the only option. My excitement for this game just isn't the same though. It's clear that their focus is on the Park crowd.

The new alley-oop function sounded unnecessary when it was announced and it's pointless that we have no options to change it. Were people complaining that alley-oops were too easy? I didn't love the button press to begin with but at least it gave you some agency over makes and misses instead of it being random.

I don't have the game but not a fan of changes being made strictly for the online community with a lack of options to adjust for the offline community. It sounds like the game lacks options and tools to adjust the game to our liking, which is crazy in the year 2025 when there should be more customization than ever to tailor a game to our liking.

Agree about 2K losing its luster. Maybe part of it is that I've been playing these games for so long (around 25 years) that I'll never love these games like I used too. I just feel like there was a time when 2K was focused on making the best basketball game they could, now they're focused on satisfying the people who play modes designed for investing in VC.

[MiracleMet718]

The new alley-oop function sounded unnecessary when it was announced and it's pointless that we have no options to change it. Were people complaining that alley-oops were too easy? I didn't love the button press to begin with but at least it gave you some agency over makes and misses instead of it being random.

I don't have the game but not a fan of changes being made strictly for the online community with a lack of options to adjust for the offline community. It sounds like the game lacks options and tools to adjust the game to our liking, which is crazy in the year 2025 when there should be more customization than ever to tailor a game to our liking.

Agree about 2K losing its luster. Maybe part of it is that I've been playing these games for so long (around 25 years) that I'll never love these games like I used too. I just feel like there was a time when 2K was focused on making the best basketball game they could, now they're focused on satisfying the people who play modes designed for investing in VC.

Alley oops were too easy last year and the year before, but making it a different button each time isn’t the solution to that.

I was actually surprised that many people here have a problem with it last year since it’s really easy to time and the window last year was big, even on the higher difficulties. But all they needed to do was either speed up the meter or the better option is make the window much smaller when there are defenders in the area. My biggest issue last year was that even if there were defenders around, it was too easy to make it. If they made that window tighter, it would’ve solved the option to make it more challenging and kept the mechanism the same.

[Nathan_OS]

Is there finally pick and roll defense? 5 man defense with a low man ready to help?


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[Po Pimp]

One quick gander at 2k’s Twitter account tells you all you need to know. It’s like they forgot they’re an NBA game. Silver needs to step in because how can your only video game not not even showcase your league?