2K Sports continues to communicate more and more regularly about NBA 2K23 as the game is scheduled for release next month. This new opus is talked about during the summer like every year and we discovered its official gameplay trailer last week. However, while the lack of concrete news is often criticized, 2K Sports has decided to publish a patch note detailing the gameplay and its new features in detail.
Great news on paper that remains to be confirmed in the field
This year, the 2K Sports teams have decided to highlight the novelties and other innovations of their latest game through a particularly detailed patch note published on their site. The latter is available in French and we can only advise you to read it yourself to discover every detail as well as the short gameplay videos supporting the texts. Mike Wang, Gameplay Director at Visual Concepts says:
“We take community feedback into consideration when we begin work on each version of NBA 2K. This year’s gameplay improvements reflect many of the changes our community has been asking for the most. From how players can attack the basket, to more realistic on-ball defense, and a new tiered badge system, all of the features brought to this year’s release will create a more authentic and appreciated by all.”
We are going to tell you about the significant new features spotted in this official post, starting with shooting, which has benefited from a new overhaul that is more extensive than ever. In NBA 2K23, each jump shot will be based on the ratings of several factors that will define the quality of your shot and its effectiveness:
- shooting speed
- Height where the ball is released
- Defensive Immunity (effectiveness of contested shots)
- Impact you timing you shoot
Four central factors that can be very interesting in the gameplay of NBA 2K23. Add to that 5 new shooting gauges for a total of 20 gauges, with the remaining 15 to be unlocked season after season.
Let’s stay on the offensive with attacks towards the basket and penetrations which will benefit from new combos with ball handling and finishing gestures to adapt to each situation according to the player’s skills.
The pro commands controllable with the right stick will also experience some improvements increasing their precision and the possibilities of dunking, shooting or dribbling according to each player. According to 2K, no more typos, the pro ordering system will be more reliable than ever.
Still around dribbling, it is the “adrenaline boost” system that will be introduced in this new opus. To make it short, each player will have three boosts activating in the event of a dribble or sprint start. However, when the player’s three boosts are fully consumed, the player’s speed, acceleration, and ball control will be impacted for the duration of possession.
According to 2K, the defense is not to be outdone and has benefited from major improvements in defending on the ball carrier and the realism of blocks and interceptions. The timing of counters has been improved, especially for good dunkers who should, paradoxically, have less difficulty dunking on the opposing defense.
For takeovers, there’s nothing particularly stunning except for the fact that team takeovers will be more collaborative and realistic than ever with a new design and improvements encouraging teamplay. Before completing this little tour of NBA 2K23 improvements, let’s talk about the addition of a 3-level badge system each comprising 16 badges. Starting with Tier 3 badges, players will need to progress through the game before working their way up to the top badges. This system will only be applied to Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 editions.
With these new details and the optimization of the AI, NBA 2K23 can be a real good vintage bringing new blood to the gameplay of the most famous basketball simulation. However, as always, it’s all about the field and NBA 2K23 will have to prove itself there like every year with its scheduled release on September 9, 2022 on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and pc.
