Need for Speed™ Heat ▶ Trailer
Need for Speed™ Heat screenshot 1Need for Speed™ Heat screenshot 2
ActionAdventureRacingSportsMultiplayerOpen WorldDrivingSingleplayerCo-op

784 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 1,809

Peak in the last 7 days: 2,270

Need for Speed™ Heat Steam store

Game description

Hustle by day and risk it all at night in Need for Speed™ Heat Deluxe Edition, a white-knuckle street racer, where the lines of the law fade as the sun starts to set.

Basic info

DeveloperGhost Games
PublisherElectronic Arts
PlatformsWindows
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateJun 4, 2020
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10
ProcessorFX-6350 or Equivalent; Core i5-3570 or Equivalent
Memory8 GB
GraphicsAMD: Radeon 7970/Radeon R9 280x or Equivalent; NVIDIA: GeForce GTX 760 or Equivalent
Storage50 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 410 reviews from the past 1 year

77.9/ 100
Bottom 50%

Steam rating: Very Positive (84%)

Metacritic: 72 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 13, 2026)

Rainy neon nights and street racing draw 128 reviews of Need for Speed™ Heat that call it fun, and it scores 77.9.

👍 Strengths

87 reviews praise the visuals, the most upvoted pointing to rainy night neon and its lighting. Gameplay ranks 365th of 1396, and 35 praise the driving mechanics. Players say the heat system adds strategy and risk versus reward, and describe adrenaline filled night chases on the way back to the garage. Gameplay appears in 58% of analyzed reviews, and Visuals & Sound in 47%.

👎 Where it falls short

Story & World ranks 1025th of 1096, and 41 reviews criticize the story, the most upvoted calling it easy to skip. 33 report poor optimization and draw distance, and 22 dislike the handling, saying cars understeer and drifting feels bad. Tech & Support ranks 1115th of 1399, and some say an update to the EA app made it unplayable. Visuals & Sound ranks 933rd of 1249, and others dislike the radio and miss older soundtracks.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“genuinely fun, amazing game, absolute steal” · 128 reviews
“rainy night neon visuals have incredible atmosphere and light effects” · 87 reviews
“gameplay mechanics are solid and well-designed” · 35 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 58% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel +1.55 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Positive “gameplay mechanics are solid and well-designed” · 35 reviews
Negative “cars understeering, drifting feels bad, poor controls” · 22 reviews

Progression 24% · Difficulty 19% · Onboarding 5% · Freedom 9% · Strategy 18%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 48% of reviews · Bottom 10% of the games we've analyzed

World +2.43 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “nighttime visuals and races are good, game can be good at night” · 8 reviews
Negative “world feels dead and boring” · 4 reviews

Story 36% · Characters 6%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 30% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Variety -0.89 · Fresh content and situations versus repetition
Negative “gameplay loop becomes samey after initial hours” · 18 reviews
Positive “good variety of races and solid vehicles with deep customization” · 3 reviews

Volume 20% · Replayability 3%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 47% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +2.97 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “rainy night neon visuals have incredible atmosphere and light effects” · 87 reviews
Negative “daytime graphics are poor quality” · 8 reviews

Audio 23%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 16% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +1.70 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Positive “night chases entertaining, adrenaline rush trying to reach garage” · 14 reviews
Negative “lack of online multiplayer severely limits social play” · 4 reviews

Community 2% · Servers & Connection 2%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 25% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.32 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “desbalanceado, carros com poder desigual” · 19 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 15% · Matchmaking 2%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 29% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support -0.34 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Negative “EA launcher fails to recognize Steam games and support is unresponsive” · 16 reviews

Stability 10% · Performance 18%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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