Let’s set the scene. It’s January, nearly five months after EA FC 25’s release, and like a lot of us, I’m still struggling to come to grips as to what EA FC 25 is. Is it the sim-based footy game that EA implies based off their pre-release deep dives or is it the arcade-like card collecting game that often is patched to appease the online crowd? Well…from the looks of this patch, the proof will definitely be in the pudding.
“We’re excited to soon release the Gameplay Refresh Update for EA SPORTS FC 25, featuring the most significant mid-season gameplay overhaul we’ve ever made, based on your feedback.”
As fellow OS staffer Christian alluded to, here are the major areas of focus in this patch:
With the Gameplay Refresh Update, you can expect to see:
- Major updates to core gameplay systems like passing, shooting, goalkeeping, and defending.
- More offensively fluid gameplay enabling you to move the ball easier.
- Reduced tacklebacks and AI interceptions.
- Addressed issues like defenders catching up to dribblers too often.
- Updated Rush Club Search in Football Ultimate Team.
EA FC 25 Patch Breakdown
Let’s forgo my propensity to write mini-novels and focus on what should be the most interesting areas in this patch.
More Fluid Offensive Positioning And Better Attacking Support
One of the biggest takeaways I had with this year’s EA FC was just how stale the action in the attacking phase was/is. Offline, attacking is a slog. Attacks are often too slow and methodical with your teammates doing very little in the way of making themselves useful. Whether it’s the lack of runners or the lack of options your teammates provide, attacks are usually only successful due to users spamming 1-2s and utilizing formations that attempt to get some joy when going forward.
I’m not overly keen on advanced stats but the eyes don’t lie and the lack of offensive support reflects in the goal tallies where it’s mostly striker dominated despite wide players carrying genuine threats in the modern game. So how is EA attempting to address this? For starters it’s about increasing the intelligence of the players, something EA could apply to ALL facets of the game. Secondly, it’s about increasing the base positioning of your wide players:
- Improved effectiveness of Inside and Advance Forwards.
- They can move farther up the pitch.
- They can better evaluate when to run into space or occupy a position.
From the deep dive, here’s a video from the post-patch gameplay:
From this brief clip, you can already see the sense of urgency in attack by Real Madrid, even mixing in the intelligence of the RW (Rodrygo) holding his run to not stray offside. It’s also worth noting this point:
Players are now able to provide quicker support when they are familiar with their Role.
Role familiarity is something that EA FC 25 really struggled with because they completely revamped their tactics system. Getting your players to perform what roles you assigned them was easy in theory but poor in implementation by EA, especially the CDM position where you would struggle to get them to support the attack, something players like Man City’s Rodri excel at with their “just outside the 18-yard box” shots.
Defensive Positioning And Behavior
Look, I’m not saying the other areas of this gameplay update aren’t important, but for me and a lot of folks like me, what EA FC 25 (and future titles) need to focus on is the FUNDAMENTALS! Fundamentals both from a player and team perspective.
From the player perspective, EA has made some updates (catch-up bug, more responsiveness, etc.), but from the team perspective the tactics and how the teams setup would only appeal to Erik ten Hag. We’ve discussed the attacking updates, but like every good sports game there must be balance. Overpowered attacks lead to goal-fests whereas overpowered defending leads to dross matches and boring scorelines. That sweet spot, is what EA needs to find, and unfortunately EA already starts out on the wrong foot with this one:
We’re also making changes to the defensive side of the game to further encourage players to take direct control of their defensive efforts rather than relying on AI positioning.
While EA does clarify this update is primarily focused on Ultimate Team/Online Seasons, it does make me question what the direction is because AI marking is an absolute mess.
Look, I’m all for having to defend and not rely on the CPU AI, but I need a little help and that should come down to player ratings and game difficulty level. For example, I expect a Virgil van Dijk to mark tighter than a League Two defender. This should be solely down to the player ratings/traits/instructions. EA shouldn’t be in essence making the game easier to score goals by creating more space. Instead, they should be utilizing their real-life data and simulating how we see teams defend.
However, there is a bit of hope in this regard, especially when it comes to positioning, namely by your fullbacks:
- RM/LM players with the Winger Balanced Role can drop deeper when defending.
- Falsebacks could stay central for too long when the team lost possession.
- They will now immediately look to return to their LB/RB positions.
Wide players — welcome to the party! It’s nice that you guys and gals track back now and help out instead of just standing there as the attack plays passes around you. Before this, players had to adjust sliders like line height just to get wide players to get into the right position. This patch may finally fix that issue.
Bottom Line
There’s a lot in this update, and like a lot of things with EA, it sounds good on paper. EA FC, much like eFootball, has a tendency to turn into a basketball game with counter-attacks (fast breaks) being the main way to get goals. Despite all of the tweaks, it begs the question, “why can’t EA set a clear course moving forward?” They always seem to patch issues that somehow reappear when the next title drops. At times, it seems as if EA FC has become so complicated that when adding new features/new tech, they somehow break something else or don’t do enough testing to note how the changes affect gameplay.
Perhaps it’s a resource and timing thing where there isn’t enough time in the development cycle to make important changes as it’s a sprint (holler at all my IT folks!) to get the game to release. Issues like this don’t really calm the crowds who are adamant about expanding the development cycle by pushing the releases to a two-year cycle. Whatever the case, the community will surely let EA know how they feel about this update.
