It's almost time for another season of hockey, and that means NHL 25 is on the horizon! The game's EA Play and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate free trial goes live this Friday, allowing members to check out 10 unrestricted hours.
Keep in mind that NHL 25 isn't coming to Xbox One for the first time this year, so the free trial only applies for Xbox Series X and Series S. NHL 25 early access begins at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm BST on Friday, September 27th.
Here's a quick look at how to download the free NHL 25 trial:
- Search for "NHL 25" on the Xbox Store
- Select the Deluxe Edition
- Scroll down to "In This Bundle" and select "NHL 25 Xbox Series X|S"
- On this page, you should see a "Free Trial With EA Play" button (once it goes live on Friday)
If you're reading this on Thursday or early Friday before early access has begun, you can pre-install NHL 25 by using the official Xbox app for Android and iOS. Search for NHL 25 and hit the "Download to Console" button to begin the install.
If you haven't heard much about NHL 25 yet, the big new features this year include a much-improved version of Vision Control that allows you far greater control with the puck on your stick, significantly improved AI, tons of quality-of-life changes to Franchise Mode, an Ultimate Team Wildcard Mode and a whole lot more.
Should you find yourself wanting to buy NHL 25 after the full trial, the Deluxe Edition launches at the same time on September 27th, but the cheaper Standard Edition won't be coming out until Friday, October 4th.