NBA 2K22 Puts the Spotlight on Defense in Full Gameplay Breakdown

NBA 2K22 will be slightly faster than its predecessor, according to an enormous blog post delving into its headline gameplay improvements. The enormous rundown discusses how you can expect “faster” dribbling with “much tighter control”, but the emphasis is mostly on defense. 2K Sports states that the “shot contest and blocking systems” have been completely rewritten, “leading to several new snatch blocks and volleyball spikes that never happened before”.

It’s all about improving basketball IQ, with steals also getting a significant upgrade, allowing high-rated stealers to pick the pockets of opponents – when their timing is on the money. There’s also been an emphasis on defensive AI, and while the blog post gets supremely technical, effectively you can expect players to behave in a more logical and consistent manner.

In terms of offense, the shooting system has been revamped yet again, this time rewarding teams and players who manufacture wide-open looks. “There’s a new shot meter with a dynamically resizing make window,” the blog post explains. “This window will expand when you’re taking high-quality shots with good shooters, but will shrink when heavily contested, shooting with a low-rated shooter, or fatigued.” Alley-oops will require timing to finish this year, too, while a new Dunk Style Creator will allow you to add more variety to your performances.

2K Sports is also rebuilding the MyPlayer creator, adding a bunch more Badges, and incorporating loadouts that will allow you to experiment and alter your performance depending on your mood or opponent. Further personalisation will come in the form of Takeover Perks, allowing you to tailor your Takeover abilities to your own tastes and playstyle.

Frankly, there’s an absurd amount of information in the blog post – we’ve just picked out some of the highlights and attempted to package them in around 300 words – but if you want to know more, we’d recommend you read the full thing. A lot of these changes make sense on the surface, but the proof will of course be in the pudding.