NBA 2K26 Reviews

The NBA 2K series has typically been one of the more consistent sports game franchises in quality, though the series did have a bit of a rough patch a couple of years ago. They did a good job at rebounding from that last year, and now NBA 2K26 aims to continue that upward swing with a game that is focused on offering players an authentic NBA experience with some smaller upgrades and a new story mode mixed in.

2K has done an amazing job with this years instalment, adding new things and improving other’s. Shooting feels amazing but Defence does need some tweaking. Also adding WNBA players to MyTeam, we come one step closer to Woman in MyCareer. Something that I think is more of a sooner then later addition.

Man, it felt weird downloading a 70GB game onto a Nintendo system, but this just made me a bit more excited to review NBA 2K26. For the past few years, I’d stick to reviewing those games on a PS4 or PS5, and they’d always be the same damn thing, be it in terms of visuals, underwhelming soundtracks, bureaucratic bootups, or immense amount of microtransactions. The act of booting an NBA 2K game up for a few matches was getting less and less exciting with each new version. This is why I was ...

Am I going against my instincts by preferring when this basketball game had a huge pirate ship, which was likely at least partially responsible for 2K25 taking up about 50GB more hard drive space than the still-almost-100GB 2K26? Almost certainly, yes, but that’s what reviewing yearly sportsathons can do to a guy.

NBA 2K26 is another small but significant step forward for the franchise. It has never felt better to play an NBA 2K game, thanks to on-court gameplay improvements and quality-of-life fixes off the court. There is so much content that you almost have to pick a lane and stay there, while microtransactions are positioned as a fix for the FOMO you’ll inevitably feel ignoring one mode for another. But it’s still easy to recommend NBA 2K26 to hoops fans.

Despite an unacceptable level of microtransactions, NBA 2K26’s underlying fundamentals are improving, with a significant step forward on the court and admirable narrative attempts through Out of Bounds.

NBA 2K26 on Switch 2 fails to deliver the 60fps gameplay we've all been holding out for. It also runs at a lower resolution than I would have expected, and its online modes, thanks to no cross-play or cross-progression are ghost towns. However, if this is your only platform, and if you are okay with 30fps, there is still a huge festival of basketball to enjoy here. This is a game packed full of fun modes, and it'll teach you everything you could ever need to know about the sport whilst giving you some fine on-court action to boot. Here's hoping for a patch down the line, but 2K26 comes off as a great game underperforming on Switch 2 at launch.

The NBA series has never been short of things to do for long time fans, but the way NBA 2K26 knits together its vast array of online and offline modes now makes for some of the best on-court action the series has ever seen. I grew to enjoy last year’s game, but I’m enraptured with this one right from the first tip-off.

NBA2K26 is a blast to play. The physics feel tight when needed and quickly swap to feeling fluid when needed. The city is awesome, and playing your character as he moves through his career is a blast.

NBA 2K earns another year as the best annual sports game available.

When a new NBA 2K game hits the shelves, fans always wonder if they’re getting real improvements or just updated rosters with a fresh coat of paint. This year, NBA 2K26 manages to deliver genuine upgrades that make a difference during actual gameplay. While it doesn’t completely transform the series, the changes are noticeable and welcome. In our review of NBA 2K26, we’ll break down the gameplay improvements, explore the enhanced MyCareer mode, examine other game modes, and look at the ...

NBA 2K26 features a ton of tweaks and additions to make it the best in the series, with stellar presentation and important gameplay improvements.

“Ball Over Everything” is a fitting description for NBA 2K26. The smooth on-court action is better than ever and MyCareer’s excellent started-from-the-bottom journey to the pros story make it so the imperfections are easier to ignore.

NBA 2K26 combines improved visuals with some important tweaks to keep the series feeling fresh.