FIFA 18 confirmed The Journey: Hunter Returns, the sequel to last year’s story mode, was on the way in this year’s game. A teaser shown at EA Play at E3 depicts Alex Hunter as a very much in-demand superstar faced with joining a new club.
That could mean remaining in his native England. It could also mean coming to the United States to play in Major League Soccer. Hunter was shown pondering his fate in kits for both Chelsea and L.A. Galaxy.
Last year The Journey allowed a user to pick any of the Premier League teams for Alex to join. It’s unclear if the same choice will be offered in the league he picks or if the clubs are hard-wired into the story.
The teaser was introduced by Michael Davies and Roger Bennett, co-hosts of the Men in Blazers football news and commentary show. The two also showed off a beauty roll showing the usual spray of detailed improvements, including player running styles and mannerisms, crowd and stadium distinctions and motion-capture focusing on Cristiano Ronaldo, this year's cover star.
Notably, this segment did not say anything about the Nintendo Switch version and what features, if any, will be specific it in the series’ debut on that console. EA Sports is giving the title a full numbering — there had been confusion earlier as to its name — but it will not include the Frostbite engine nor will it have The Journey: Hunter Returns.
Frostbite and The Journey: Hunter Returns will only be in the PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One versions. Lesser versions of FIFA 18 will also still launch for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 when the game releases Sept. 29.
Update: EA Sports detailed the Switch's feature set in a news release sent out after the segment. FIFA 18 on Switch will have FIFA Ultimate Team, as well as the game's career mode, Kick Off (play now) and Local Seasons.
While it will not use the Frostbite engine, FIFA 18 will use physically based player rendering. It will output to 1080p resolution when docked and 720p as a handheld. The game is playable with one or both Joy-Con controllers, or the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller.
FIFA 18 is being developed for the Switch by EA Vancouver and EA Romania.
