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Need for Speed™ Unbound
Race to the top, definitely don’t flop. Outsmart the cops, and enter weekly qualifiers for The Grand: the ultimate street race. Pack your garage with precision-tuned, custom rides, and light up the streets with your style.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
38 of the 105 reviews raise this.
“Good visuals, but inconsistent handling, frustrating AI, and repetitive progression make the game feel unfinished at times.”
“I personally think Unbound is a great game, it has such amazing graphics. But i personally do not like the choice of music, the storyline, crash physics, same vehicles ported from Heat, having its own BP system, and…”
“Fun. I like the style they went for , felt fresh to me and im not old so maybe thats why the music was dope lol. Sad to see the reception the game def has some weird bugs but nothing crazy. awesome graphics and i…”
37 of the 105 reviews raise this.
“escaping from police is awesome and free roam just feels so smooth. recommend it but if you dont like running from the police i would say crew motorfest or forza horizon would be better”
“wasn’t sure about this one at first but it’s actually pretty fun. the art style looked weird to me but after playing it kinda fits. gameplay is solid, handling feels good once you get used to it. races can get sweaty…”
“Quite fun, for some reason reminds me of the older NFS but overall pretty fun”
9 of the 105 reviews raise this.
“escaping from police is awesome and free roam just feels so smooth. recommend it but if you dont like running from the police i would say crew motorfest or forza horizon would be better”
“wasn’t sure about this one at first but it’s actually pretty fun. the art style looked weird to me but after playing it kinda fits. gameplay is solid, handling feels good once you get used to it. races can get sweaty…”
“Way more enjoyable then heat, Best sense of speed In this day and age better driving better story then heat. It's just a better game then heat”
8 of the 105 reviews raise this.
“Coming from NFS: Heat, this is an alright successor. I'm personally not a huge fan of the anime/cell-shaded style, but it might be growing on me. I wouldn't spend $70 on this, but on sale I think its worth playing.…”
“My favorite Need For Speed game! Graphics are beautiful, cars are fast, the story has some spice, it has everything you'd want in a racing game! 10/10 Experience, you should definitely grab it at a discount, but still…”
“Awful story, terrible dialogues, horrendous soundtrack but....Other than that, the game is really good, better than NFS 2015. Probably the best looking street racing game now. Car customization is awesome. Car list is…”
7 of the 105 reviews raise this.
“I personally think Unbound is a great game, it has such amazing graphics. But i personally do not like the choice of music, the storyline, crash physics, same vehicles ported from Heat, having its own BP system, and…”
“lots of content tons of gameplay off and online”
“Bought it on the xbox, beat it. Bought it on sale on EA app, beat it. Bought it on steam, working on it. I love how Heat looks but this game has better drive feel. I like the online stuff with Unbound as well, better…”
20 of the 105 reviews raise this · 13 of them still recommend the game.
“I personally think Unbound is a great game, it has such amazing graphics. But i personally do not like the choice of music, the storyline, crash physics, same vehicles ported from Heat, having its own BP system, and…”
“Too many LGBT content, i never like it. Wth campaign story. With vilain vitiligo character, and ugly protagonist. This is not Real NFS, it's political agenda game 👎👎 Shame on you. Better NFS Heat”
“The worst NFS in 15 years. Don't waste your time. The story feels like it was written by a 3rd grader — there's zero depth and zero stakes. The "comic book" effects are an absolute eyesore; it feels like it was made for…”
20 of the 105 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“I had a bad experience, the game sometimes is unpredictable and unfair, this game doesn't feel like a Need For Speed game anymore I don't recommend to buy even if it's on sale!”
“I personally think Unbound is a great game, it has such amazing graphics. But i personally do not like the choice of music, the storyline, crash physics, same vehicles ported from Heat, having its own BP system, and…”
“I had fun for the first few story mode nights and then every race it gave me was a drift mission where you drift and "hit smashables" and its the least fun ♥♥♥♥ ever and then the street races you do get are 12000 dollar…”
18 of the 105 reviews raise this · 1 of them still recommend the game.
“Good visuals, but inconsistent handling, frustrating AI, and repetitive progression make the game feel unfinished at times.”
“This game can be fun, but it mostly fails to deliver. [b] Handling[/b]: it's fun, a little bit refreshing, but being as unstable as it is, and having "burnout rails" in every drift, coupled with random drift entering…”
“Picked up Need for Speed: Unbound on sale and honestly… still feels overpriced. Graphics are fine, but the cartoony effects just don’t fit and get annoying fast. The handling is all over the place — not proper arcade,…”
12 of the 105 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Good visuals, but inconsistent handling, frustrating AI, and repetitive progression make the game feel unfinished at times.”
“I had a bad experience, the game sometimes is unpredictable and unfair, this game doesn't feel like a Need For Speed game anymore I don't recommend to buy even if it's on sale!”
“wasn’t sure about this one at first but it’s actually pretty fun. the art style looked weird to me but after playing it kinda fits. gameplay is solid, handling feels good once you get used to it. races can get sweaty…”
12 of the 105 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“Good visuals, but inconsistent handling, frustrating AI, and repetitive progression make the game feel unfinished at times.”
“I had fun for the first few story mode nights and then every race it gave me was a drift mission where you drift and "hit smashables" and its the least fun ♥♥♥♥ ever and then the street races you do get are 12000 dollar…”
“Picked up Need for Speed: Unbound on sale and honestly… still feels overpriced. Graphics are fine, but the cartoony effects just don’t fit and get annoying fast. The handling is all over the place — not proper arcade,…”
Counted across 105 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 60.3% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“Bought it on a deep sale. I wasn't expecting much; I'm not massively into racing games but had an urge to play one. I've loved games like Wreckfest, older NFS games, some of the Forza Horizons etc. So far, it's pretty damn good. The story, music and characters are all a tryhard,…”
— a player, Steam review · 19 hrs played“As of 2026, Need For Speed: Unbound is the latest entry in the video game saga most responsible for creating car lovers and skyrocketing interest in street racing for generations. 4 years after its release, what is the consensus? [h2] Pros [/h2] For the current decade, the…”
— a player, Steam review · 426 hrs played“I just purchased this game, and because of EA's splintered account nightmare system, it automatically apparently activated and then deactivated itself all on the same computer and now it won't bind to my EA account and won't let me play my expensive game I BOUGHT. The unbound…”
— a player, Steam review · 8 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 13:53 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
NFS Unbound – Vol. 8 Dynamic Catch-Up Pack
Make up for lost time with Need for Speed™ Unbound – Vol. 8 Dynamic Catch-Up Pack. Get instant access to 45 tiers of Vol. 8 Speed Pass content including the Lotus Evija ‘23, and instant access to 30 a
Need for Speed™ Unbound Vol. 9.0.2 Patch Notes
Looks like Race(zor) X has his hands tied in Lakeshore right now, so he won't be interrupting us this time… just as well, as we need to tell you about how the 30? 20? 10? 5? “Giga Chads” have been har
Need for Speed Unbound - Volume 9 Out Now
Ride or die with your crew in Vol. 9: Prepare for Lockdown*. Break into Lockups using NFS's first motorbike and claim the Hot rides inside. Also. drive the new fully customizable Subaru Impreza WRX ST
Watch the Need for Speed Unbound - Vol 9: Lockdown Trailer
Ride or die with your crew in Vol. 9: Prepare for Lockdown*! Watch the brand new trailer and get ready to break into Lockups using NFS's first motorbike and claim the Hot rides inside. When Vol. 9 rel
Unleash the ultimate Need for Speed™ Unbound experience
Unleash the ultimate Need for Speed™ Unbound experience in one package with the Ultimate Collection*. Instant access to all post-launch premium content, and the Vol. 9 Premium Speed Pass. Get access t
Games like Need for Speed™ Unbound
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Action, Racing |
| Player tags | Racing · Multiplayer · Open World · Action · Driving · Singleplayer · Character Customization · Combat Racing · Controller · Arcade · Online Co-Op · Casual (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · PvP · Cross-Platform Multiplayer · Steam Achievements · Chat Speech-to-text · Adjustable Difficulty · Keyboard Only Option |
| Languages | English * , French * , Italian * , German * , Spanish - Spain * , Arabic, Japanese * , Korean, Polish * , Portuguese - Brazil, Simplified Chinese * , Traditional Chinese * |
| Achievements | 41 |
| Estimated owners | 1,000,000 – 2,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | https://www.ea.com/games/need-for-speed/need-for-speed-unbound/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 64-bit Processor: Ryzen 5 2600, Core i5-8600 Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: RX 570, GTX 1050 Ti DirectX: Version 12 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 50 GB available space