

About
Need for Speed Unbound for PC is a racing game, the twenty-fifth in the impressively long-running Need for Speed franchise, showing that every generation thrives on speed in one form or another.
About the Game
The game is set in a fictional city called Lakeshore City, which was loosely inspired by Chicago. The game is open world and features street racing with added Heat (from NFS Heat, one of the previous incarnations). Heat equates, roughly, to notoriety which is a good thing in this game...
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Developer:
Publisher:
Release date:
1 December 2022
Recent Steam reviews:
Mixed
(1026)
All Steam reviews:
Mixed
(37159)
Visuals
Game features
Description
Need for Speed Unbound for PC is a racing game, the twenty-fifth in the impressively long-running Need for Speed franchise, showing that every generation thrives on speed in one form or another.
The game is set in a fictional city called Lakeshore City, which was loosely inspired by Chicago. The game is open world and features street racing with added Heat (from NFS Heat, one of the previous incarnations). Heat equates, roughly, to notoriety which is a good thing in this game, giving you lots of street cred and reputation – although it does bring down the – uh – figurative heat on you too, giving you a high profile with the joy-killing cops.
Each cop car in this game has its own strengths and weaknesses – look out for these differences and learn how to exploit them to outwit the law-enforcement driver. But don’t be complacent as you won’t beat them in a straight race – not often anyway, but there are other, (much more fun) ways to best them.
A big feature this time out is the licensed A$AP Rocky mode – you can style yourself in his fashions, and even win his own car from the rap star himself – if you’re good enough, that is – and listen out for his music in the backing track, alongside that of rap collaborative/ agency/ record label, the mysterious AWGE.
The game includes cross play so you can play with mates on different consoles. The game keeps on giving to you too – the developers promise that there will be a steady stream of new content coming through to keep players happy and engaged.
This game combines cel-shading (this involves cartoon-like shading on images, removing some aspects of realism by giving objects and people flat colourways, rather that the acutely accurate, minutely graded colours that you see in real life) – think realism with lots of anime elements, such as action lines, swooshes and wings that appear when your car is airborne (if this sounds terrible to you, you can toggle them off).
You can play single player mode, offline or online, by betting on other drivers or yourself, if you have enough cash for the buy-in. There is nothing like having skin in the game to make each race that little bit more personal! Otherwise you can choose multiplayer, which has a chilled sandbox mode allowing you and your friends to just explore and goof around, or you can join a race together – whatever you like.
There is also a story mode that you can tackle: an exciting narrative as you try to restore a friendship torn apart by a robbery at an auto shop. There is awesome car customisation, as you might expect from the franchise, and you can pack your garage with precision-tuned, custom rides to light up the streets with your unique style, exclusive fits, and a vibrant global soundtrack.
You can pull up to a Meetup (a street race) and show off your unique style with hundreds of cosmetic items to choose from, including exclusive gear from some of the world’s most pioneering fashion innovators. And you can extend that look to your ride, transforming your cars with unique wraps and cutaways for the ultimate legendary custom look.
Play out the intensity of a real competition, working your way through all the stages of the race over four intense weeks, as you gear up for the big race by:
Earning enough cash to enter the weekly qualifiers where you
Beat the competition and
Make your mark on the street racing scene with your fabulous style and
Outdriving and outsmarting the cops, before you
Get to enter the big race, The Grand – the main street race with a plum prize for the winner
Need for Speed Unbound for PC is available for purchase on Instant Gaming for a fraction of its retail price. You will receive an official key and be able to play the game in seconds. Play smart. Pay less.
About the Game
The game is set in a fictional city called Lakeshore City, which was loosely inspired by Chicago. The game is open world and features street racing with added Heat (from NFS Heat, one of the previous incarnations). Heat equates, roughly, to notoriety which is a good thing in this game, giving you lots of street cred and reputation – although it does bring down the – uh – figurative heat on you too, giving you a high profile with the joy-killing cops.
Each cop car in this game has its own strengths and weaknesses – look out for these differences and learn how to exploit them to outwit the law-enforcement driver. But don’t be complacent as you won’t beat them in a straight race – not often anyway, but there are other, (much more fun) ways to best them.
A big feature this time out is the licensed A$AP Rocky mode – you can style yourself in his fashions, and even win his own car from the rap star himself – if you’re good enough, that is – and listen out for his music in the backing track, alongside that of rap collaborative/ agency/ record label, the mysterious AWGE.
The game includes cross play so you can play with mates on different consoles. The game keeps on giving to you too – the developers promise that there will be a steady stream of new content coming through to keep players happy and engaged.
The Nitty Gritty
This game combines cel-shading (this involves cartoon-like shading on images, removing some aspects of realism by giving objects and people flat colourways, rather that the acutely accurate, minutely graded colours that you see in real life) – think realism with lots of anime elements, such as action lines, swooshes and wings that appear when your car is airborne (if this sounds terrible to you, you can toggle them off).
You can play single player mode, offline or online, by betting on other drivers or yourself, if you have enough cash for the buy-in. There is nothing like having skin in the game to make each race that little bit more personal! Otherwise you can choose multiplayer, which has a chilled sandbox mode allowing you and your friends to just explore and goof around, or you can join a race together – whatever you like.
There is also a story mode that you can tackle: an exciting narrative as you try to restore a friendship torn apart by a robbery at an auto shop. There is awesome car customisation, as you might expect from the franchise, and you can pack your garage with precision-tuned, custom rides to light up the streets with your unique style, exclusive fits, and a vibrant global soundtrack.
You can pull up to a Meetup (a street race) and show off your unique style with hundreds of cosmetic items to choose from, including exclusive gear from some of the world’s most pioneering fashion innovators. And you can extend that look to your ride, transforming your cars with unique wraps and cutaways for the ultimate legendary custom look.
How to Get to the Top
Play out the intensity of a real competition, working your way through all the stages of the race over four intense weeks, as you gear up for the big race by:
Need for Speed Unbound for PC is available for purchase on Instant Gaming for a fraction of its retail price. You will receive an official key and be able to play the game in seconds. Play smart. Pay less.
Configurations
Game's latest news

Need for Speed Unbound to get new content until December
Despite a lukewarm reception in December 2022, Need for Speed Unbound is still alive! So much so that Criterion Games plans to roll out additional content throughout the year.
The British studio has unveiled its roadmap for 2024. Events, PvP playlists, challenges and progression improvements are all…
1

Several co-founders of Criterion Games leave to create a new studio
The time has come for departures within the studio responsible for the Need for Speed and Burnout franchises. Indeed, the former head of Criterion Games, Matt Webster, has just founded Fuse Games. He is joined by four co-founders of Criterion, namely former content head Steve Uphill, production chief…

Electronic Arts states that Need for Speed isn't dead
Last September, we learned that Criterion Games, the studio behind Need for Speed, was going to focus on Battlefield for a while. This led many to believe that EA's racing franchise was dead and buried.
However, if we are to believe Vince Zampella's recent statements on the matter, Need for Speed is…
5
Need for Speed franchise
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Reviews
Best reviews
The game itself is no different than Heat. Sure We can have grip builds now but it doesn't even come close to other racing games. I will start with the main points:
- Story: I have the feeling when they decided to start this story mode, they took a cliche story of betrayal and gave a little to no surprise twist to make it interesting. The characters are really bland, even your "rivals" which doesn't even feel they are actually your rivals but a bunch of friend who decided to race each other. Another downside is the tone of each character. Bland, cringe and sometimes very childish. That does not restrict only to the characters but for the police as well. They way the game deceits how cops behave during the day and night is stupid. During the day they behave like normal cops usually do when giving comms. And then during the night they sound like a bunch of teenagers trying to go after the candy and see who wins. Like, hello? How am I supposed to feel like I am being chased by an actual cop if they behave like teens? Huge let down. The story did not surprise me at all or gave me the feeling like i wanted to replay the game like previous games. The person who betrays you behaves super toxic and gaslights you but apparently just because she is your friend your character decides is totally alright to forgive her because... idk...
- Driving:
This is where I get mixed feelings. One it is particually satisfactory to go back into NFS and run blasting through traffic and go crazy. But when it comes to drifting it is a huge let down. I say that because the way your car loses so much power and momentum while drifting is disgusting. It does not feel like you are drifting but that you swing your car to the side and its dragging a 2ton anchor behind you. It also feels like a Russian roulette, sometimes it works nicely and other doesn't. What about rally races? None. So tell me NFS, why in the hell there is an option for off road tires and suspension if we barely have any races off road?
- World: The map is nice and well done but the problem is that I barely know sometimes where I am driving, it feels like some areas are repetitive, thinking that I am on north of the map but apparently im on the west because world feels very similar. It is an interesting map but i feel that is much smaller than it shows.
- Cars: Many customization (really?) not really, sometimes you feel that some cars have more customization than others and that's totally true. What about the new effects? Well thats really up to you, I personally have no problem with it but Id wish there was an option to turn it off.
- Online: Welcome to Burnout. Where people might race you or kill you. Have fun or not.
- Graphics: Good graphics, the world looks beautiful and the cars too. I have experienced some porting issues, like roads textures not loading properly or even the road 100m away from me constantly loading new textures is very discomforting and unpleasant to the eyes, im not saying that because I have a budget PC. No, I have a 3070Ti and Ryzen 9 5900x. Some other thing is that I personally hate is chromatic aberration and you cannot disable this option in the game, it is very annoying having the feeling you are watching a 3D film in the cinema without the glasses. Cmon EA, stop forcing sh!t on us, if you dont fix it you know the modders will.
- Soundtrack: Turn that off and listen to your own playlist, trust me, its bad.
Overall i evaluate this game a 4/10. it becomes very boring and limiting regarding races. Also very pricey. Many people say this NFS is the best in the last decade but its like comparing horseshit to bullshit.
- Story: I have the feeling when they decided to start this story mode, they took a cliche story of betrayal and gave a little to no surprise twist to make it interesting. The characters are really bland, even your "rivals" which doesn't even feel they are actually your rivals but a bunch of friend who decided to race each other. Another downside is the tone of each character. Bland, cringe and sometimes very childish. That does not restrict only to the characters but for the police as well. They way the game deceits how cops behave during the day and night is stupid. During the day they behave like normal cops usually do when giving comms. And then during the night they sound like a bunch of teenagers trying to go after the candy and see who wins. Like, hello? How am I supposed to feel like I am being chased by an actual cop if they behave like teens? Huge let down. The story did not surprise me at all or gave me the feeling like i wanted to replay the game like previous games. The person who betrays you behaves super toxic and gaslights you but apparently just because she is your friend your character decides is totally alright to forgive her because... idk...
- Driving:
This is where I get mixed feelings. One it is particually satisfactory to go back into NFS and run blasting through traffic and go crazy. But when it comes to drifting it is a huge let down. I say that because the way your car loses so much power and momentum while drifting is disgusting. It does not feel like you are drifting but that you swing your car to the side and its dragging a 2ton anchor behind you. It also feels like a Russian roulette, sometimes it works nicely and other doesn't. What about rally races? None. So tell me NFS, why in the hell there is an option for off road tires and suspension if we barely have any races off road?
- World: The map is nice and well done but the problem is that I barely know sometimes where I am driving, it feels like some areas are repetitive, thinking that I am on north of the map but apparently im on the west because world feels very similar. It is an interesting map but i feel that is much smaller than it shows.
- Cars: Many customization (really?) not really, sometimes you feel that some cars have more customization than others and that's totally true. What about the new effects? Well thats really up to you, I personally have no problem with it but Id wish there was an option to turn it off.
- Online: Welcome to Burnout. Where people might race you or kill you. Have fun or not.
- Graphics: Good graphics, the world looks beautiful and the cars too. I have experienced some porting issues, like roads textures not loading properly or even the road 100m away from me constantly loading new textures is very discomforting and unpleasant to the eyes, im not saying that because I have a budget PC. No, I have a 3070Ti and Ryzen 9 5900x. Some other thing is that I personally hate is chromatic aberration and you cannot disable this option in the game, it is very annoying having the feeling you are watching a 3D film in the cinema without the glasses. Cmon EA, stop forcing sh!t on us, if you dont fix it you know the modders will.
- Soundtrack: Turn that off and listen to your own playlist, trust me, its bad.
Overall i evaluate this game a 4/10. it becomes very boring and limiting regarding races. Also very pricey. Many people say this NFS is the best in the last decade but its like comparing horseshit to bullshit.
- Fresh design
- Customizations
- Fun (sometimes)
- Short
- Lazy written story
- Too repetitive
2024-05-16T07:05:05-0400
I dont know the Cop system is just so bad, no fun at all. the cops are everywhere cant escape. i'm in a chase for like 2 hours now and can't continue with the story. it's so boring. what a sh*t game. Heat is way better
- fhhgfhjkuyytrmnjjj
2023-03-15T00:55:06-0400
The game is the worst nfs game I played and I played them all.
Really bad driving, details, story is so boring and shallow, the c haracters are dumb and useless.
Also no difference between NORMAL and RELAXED mode the AI is going to stomp you if you dont know what you are doing.
I really regret buying this BAD, game with BAD story, BAD details, BAD characters, BAD driving details.
Really bad driving, details, story is so boring and shallow, the c haracters are dumb and useless.
Also no difference between NORMAL and RELAXED mode the AI is going to stomp you if you dont know what you are doing.
I really regret buying this BAD, game with BAD story, BAD details, BAD characters, BAD driving details.
- none
- bad game
- bad story
- shallow characters
2024-11-18T03:24:19-0500
This is the best game in the series after Most wanted. The price is super, thanks to your store!
- Interesting
- Graphics is good
- Beautiful world
2024-08-21T14:04:21-0400
Being honest i cant talk about the game couse i cant play it.... 15€ in a game that once i double click to play it takes 10 min to initiate and then it crash or if you are lucky you can play 5 min like me and then crash again.
And the best part is i bought it for steam and if you dont have an EA account you cant play ( and even if you do have it, it crash anyway ).
DONT BUY EA GAMES THEY DONT WORK AND EA DOESNT CARE.
And the best part is i bought it for steam and if you dont have an EA account you cant play ( and even if you do have it, it crash anyway ).
DONT BUY EA GAMES THEY DONT WORK AND EA DOESNT CARE.
- None
- None
- None
- Crash if 5 min
- Takes 10 min to initiate
- After crashing 10 times i contact EA and they didnt care
2024-05-13T12:07:24-0400
the game is awful , its probably the worst need for speed that i have every in my entire life played. i don't know where to start first with complaining. avoid buying this even if its for 2 euros. save yourselves money
- nothing
- nothing again
- and nothing
- a shit ton of stuff
- you go trough a steel lamp at 200 kmh but a car not
2024-01-11T15:25:36-0500
Recent reviews
Worked perfectly, But at first my parents thought it is a scam, with such cheap prices.
- cheap
- easy
- Parents may think it is a scam
2024-06-02T18:46:29-0400
The game is quite impressive, though slightly inferior to Heat primarily because of its weird and quirky crash cameras and overall game feel. However, its distinct style aligns perfectly with the game's essence. I'd suggest giving it a try if you're willing to risk it for the biscuit.
- Great Handling for Grip
- Great Graphics
- Pretty fun pvp mode
- Terrible Handling for Drift
- Purposefully tries to flip your car if you hit something like side of a wall at high speed.
- Story, I guess (I enjoyed it, but most won't)
2024-03-19T12:13:05-0400
Best reviews
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