Your first launch goes straight into the 3-minute tutorial, against Rookie bots. Controls and bot difficulty are in Settings.

New “How to play” page in the menu and pause menu: football basics in six cards, the words you’ll hear, and every control with your own keys.

One-time tips explain sacks, interceptions, 4th down, first downs and more the first time they happen.

After every play, a plain recap of what happened, like “Gained 4 yards. Now 3rd & 11.”

A “yards to a first down” bar under the scoreboard before each snap.

Every play card now has a one-line description of what it does.

A “Coach’s pick” badge shows a good choice for the situation. Press 4 (or click) to let the coach pick for you.

Leaping and diving catches! Go up for a high pass or lay out for one just out of reach: press Jump (or the action button on Simple controls) while the ball is in the air. Bots do it too.

Players line up without bumping into each other and getting stuck, and the snap waits until everyone is set.

Looser, livelier bodies: arms swing, bodies lean into starts, stops and cuts, and bumps make players stagger, while the controls stay just as snappy.

Legs now use IK: feet plant on the turf instead of sliding, knees bend to reach them, and the heel lifts and kicks up through each stride. The leg pieces always meet at the hip, knee and ankle, including while kicking and diving.

After a fumble, everyone goes for the loose ball: dog piles stop, tacklers let go of the fumbler, and a fumble on a kick return no longer sends the cover team to where the kick was meant to land.

A thin ring under your player, and a YOU marker at the screen edge when you’re off-camera.

Receivers get a green ring when they’re open.

Play routes and the TV lines are now painted into the grass like the field’s own lines, so they don’t clip through each other.

On defence, the ball carrier is marked, and TACKLE! appears when he’s in reach.

Instant replay: watch the last play again from the pause menu (offline).

Bot difficulty: Rookie, Pro and All-Pro (offline).

HUD size and a colourblind-friendly colour mode in Settings.

Hold Tab (Back on a controller) to see everyone in the game, their team, position and ping.

Name tags over other players.

Quick chat with F1–F4: “Open!”, “Pass it!”, “Nice play!”, “Good game!”.