2K Sports has been teasing major changes to NBA 2K18‘s MyCareer mode seemingly all summer, and we finally got a peak at what 2K Sports has been working on today at the NBA 2K18 preview event in New York City. Prior to today’s massive MyCareer announcement, 2K Sports had already revealed some exciting new features, including All-Time teams for all 30 NBA franchises, along with significant graphical upgrades, and showed off a potential new cover for NBA 2K18 after Kyrie Irving was traded to the Celtics, but none of that really prepared us for this.
There is a lot to digest here, so let’s just start with the trailer.
If that looks like a mix between Grand Theft Auto and World of Warcraft inside an NBA 2K game, then we’re on the same page. Details are still coming out, and 2K Sports is keeping a few surprises up their sleeves for when NBA 2K18 drops on September 19, but from what they revealed in the trailer above, the new MyCareer looks insane.
It appears as though “The Neighborhood” is some kind of new hybrid open-world space where you can access MyCareer and the mode previously known as The Park. And if you didn’t think this looked enough like other open-world games you’ve played in the past, they are specifically calling this your “Road to 99” and put all sort of different skill tree and attribute pages on display.
It looks like if you want to make your player stronger, you have to actually walk, bike, or skate your way to the gym and workout. Provided these little mini games err on the side of fun and don’t become tedious, it’s kind of a novel concept.
If you’re still a bit lost, this handy infographic does a nice job of breaking it all down. Little details like being able to walk over to Foot Locker to buy a new pair of kicks or stopping at the barber shop to change your player’s hair, all while other NBA 2K players are populating your open world, almost sounds too cool to be true.
If you’re still starved for info on “The Road to 99,” “The Neighborhood,” “MyCareer,” or whatever else they are calling this monstrous mode, NBA 2K developers, community managers, and NBA players jumped on a live stream during todays reveal, and you can watch that in its entirety below.
And don’t forget, you can get your hands on NBA 2K18‘s demo, “The Prelude,” on September 9.
