With FIFA 22, EA is introducing a host of new features to the popular Football game, with today’s reveal focusing on the game’s Career Mode.

For those utterly committed to the Football fantasy, FIFA 22 is introducing robust new changes to Career Mode. The star of these is the new Player Career- letting you take your custom character from upstart rookie to seasoned league champion.

Starting off, you have a lot of customization options for your team. These are your standard Kits and Crests, as well as commentary names so the commentators can really make you feel like you’re on the pitch. On top of that, you’ll also be able to choose a rival team, giving yours a sense of identity.

Each Career Mode lets you really customize your team’s story the way you want- such as by setting your star rating, letting you choose to either bee the plucky new team who makes it to the big leagues or the story of an elite team defending their title. You can even control how much money you have if you want to prioritize your transfers, so you can really show the team’s personality this way.

Your Custom Football Superstar

Of course, there’s also your custom player themselves. FIFA 22 is really leaning into the fantasy with Career Mode, with a new option for your player to start the game as a sub. What this means is that your character can be so green that you’re not even going to see any action, until the fateful day where you get subbed in. You’ll also be introduced to the Match Objectives system- three challenges you can do for extra XP that represent your player’s goals.

Thankfully, these challenges are based on your playing position. If you’re a striker you won’t have to suddenly worry about saving 5 goals, and goalkeepers won’t have to worry about penalty shootouts. You can also choose to enhance any match objectives, raising their difficulty but giving you more rewards if you complete them.

After every match you’ll also get Locker Room Cinematics, which can show you and your teammates celebrating after a hard days work. These reflect the game you just played- so if you’ve just won yourselves the Community Shield, expect a way more festive air than if you just went 3-0 against a big team.

EA have even worked in your relationship with your manager with the new Manager rating. After every game, you can see what your manager thinks about you, really selling the fantasy of a new recruit-turned-superstar.

Gameplay Customization

It’s not just about feeling like a good player, you can also build them, too. FIFA 22 has reworked the Player Growth system, making building your superstars a more involved process that’s actually fun to use.

The biggest change is the new skill trees, which let you pick buffs to enhance your player. Some nodes will be able to be upgraded multiple times, while some will branch off from each other.

The end of these are the new Archetypes, also present in Pro Clubs. These represent huge changes in your attributes, and should help your character feel more like they’ve doubled down on something they’re good at- reflecting it in their stats.

On top of that there’s also the new perk system, wherein each player can take up to three different perks to further specialize their gameplay. Some of these aren’t just good for any one player, but synergize well with the team- such as one Perk that activates when you pass the ball, giving the receiving teammate a buff.

Similarly, you’ll have more options for player XP than just big games. You can also do drills to farm for XP, and you’ll be able to choose whether to do them manually for more rewards, or to skip them to save time but still get your players XP.

With all these tools and more, FIFA 22 is really a customizer’s dream come true. Check in next time for more deep dives on FIFA 22’s other modes.