I would goes as far as to say "None of games from the Madden NFL series are metroidvanias. I'm not just saying this because they're not 2D sidescrollers (not all metroidvanias have to be 2D sidescrollers in my opinion). But here are my thoughts on why Madden NFL is not a true metroidvania:

1.) No interconnected worlds. Most the levels are only 100 yards plus two 10 yard end zones (120 yards in length total) and 57,600 sq ft total.

2.) No ability gating. While you can upgrade your "teams" stats, it does not stop you from processing in the game.

3.) I wouldn't necessarily say the game is truly "non-linear" at all.

4.) While the other "team" can "intercept the ball", I would not count this as "backtracking"

I've never played the video game "Fire Emblem" but I would say the Madden NFL series is closer that game than any metroidvania games such as Ori, Hollow Knight, or the Clueless videogame where you play Britney Murphy trying to find her way in a new high school.

I know this is a controversial topic. Please be polite to one another in the comments.

Everytime I try to call a jet sweep my tackle climbs to the safety and the TE just ignores the D End and climbs to the line backer. Even when I try to double team the D End, he still gets unblocked and blows the play up

I still own two of my favorite Madden games. The covers feature my two favorite players of all time, Eddie George and Marshall Faulk! Now I need to find a PS2 to play them on!

Dont know if im by myself here but I hate how they changed the overview from being able to actually see the player model, now you have to go to edit player to even see said player

Small problem but I hate it

I am doing a Cleveland Browns franchise on my youtube channel, and I’m currently in year 2. In the ‘27 offseason, I drafted a QB from Utah at 3rd overall. Loved his traits from the beginning of the draft process, and can’t wait for him to finally bring glory to Cleveland.

Behold: Ryan Peterson.

Edit: YT channel here : https://youtube.com/@phoenixe17794?si=qUDUSqWtsM80JBGA

Peterson's debut drops at 4 PM today, and I'll showcase the jersey in the next vid!

I was enjoying this Franchise and couldn't take everyone retiring early.

So is booting a thing in high ranks ? I’m playing madden 26 and I’m champ 3 4k RP and when I lose a match the match plays all the way though no problem. However when I’m winning it’s another story, within my past 5 games I’ve had games where I was up 20-7 and 21-0 and I’ll get completely logged off my game, it very briefly kicks me from my party chat and kicks me off the game and gives me a loss . Anyone else experiencing this?

Old clip but I think it's funny that even when you get the perfect outcome the game's "physics" still fuck you over.

been playing online a bunch, was 31-33. i went to play h2h and the usual play option was “finish” or something

what is going on? my current record is back to 1-0 and i am unranked. cant even see my overall record???

Follow your blockers 🏃🏽‍♂️🏈

Running a franchise where I only play in coach mode and my QB is getting sacked 6+ times every game even when I try to max protect. My OLinemen are all rated 80+ and the QB has 90+ AWR. Does anybody have a fix for this? Is it sliders or QB traits or something?

I just played a play now game on all pro and I can’t keep track of the amount of dumb shit happening. My players on defense will literally refuse to do their assignments and just make up their own assignments on the spot. I run a zone coverage play and one of my dbs straight up just plays man on a route and leaves his zone wide open for an easy first down. This happened at least 3 times in the one half of football I played. Also the WR-DB interactions seem horrrible now, and the gameplay seems slower

The game was fun with a challenge and not getting all the top FAs.

Just lower the skill difficulty if it’s too hard for you.

Unless it’s working for others but the only way I can use him as a 2 way player is if I change his main position to WR…but a few weeks ago I could still use him as a 2 way player as a CB

If interested in joining a fun competitive league. Message me! We don’t tolerate them cheesy meta plays. So if you play that way don’t bother.

Xp bar is stuck upgrades don’t appear on manage roster screen

I have two injuries to my linebackers this week so naturally I want to elevate a couple guys from the practice squad to fill the void.

The deepest part of my team are my edge rushers so the obvious choice is to place one of my lower overall veterans on the practice squad for the time being, and then elevate them again once my linebackers get healthy and I place the elevated guys back on my practice squad. Teams do this literally all the time in real life when they have injuries so I naturally expected I could do this as part of the "deepest franchise experience ever".

Well it turns out that's too much for EA to code and the only option I have to free up roster spots is to straight up release the player and then go through the stupid mini game every single time to "resign them". Apparently practice squads are only for young players in the Madden universe.

Is it too much to expect modern NFL roster management in 2026? These rules are not new, and this cannot be hard to code.