The game may also be set in Chicago.
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VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb shared some information he's heard about the upcoming Need for Speed game. Grubb shared this news today on his premium Giant Bomb show Grubbsnax. The information was transcribed courtesy of VGC and from them it comes to you from Total Gaming Network. There's a lot of website synergy going on in this news piece.

Grubb says that the game will feature a unique art style not really seen in the franchise before. He says that the game will be "photo-realistic," but will also include some "anime elements."

"You know when you see a car commercial or something like that and the car’s driving around, but then cartoons flames and stuff are flying off it? That’s the kind of the aesthetic that they seem to be going for."
This seems to lineup pretty nicely with some footage that surfaced late in 2020 showing off what was claimed to be an upcoming Need for Speed game in 2021. You can see that footage below to get a better idea of the sort of "anime elements" that might be included.


Beyond this new art style for the game, Grubb says that there will be some popular multiplayer features returning.

"Autolog is back for multiplayer, you can customise all the pieces of your car, that’s back."
Autolog was an in-game social network used in previous Need for Speed games that provided access to online multiplayer elements.

One last piece of information shared by Grubb is that the game will be set in Chicago. Only, it will be more inspired by the real deal than a complete 1:1 conversion of the city. The in-game city will be called Lake Shore City.

Recently, it was reported by some outlets that the new Need for Speed game would be released this November for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. In February 2020, EA said that they gave development duties back to Criterion Games following a few releases that were developed by Ghost Games.