A day before Electronic Arts is scheduled to release its new "Need for Speed" on YouTube, an image of the title "Need for Speed Unbound" (Need for Speed Unbound) and an unexpected "street art" aesthetic The images were leaked from the Japanese website "Neowing" (opens in new tab).

The image became widely known on Reddit (opens in new tab), but fortunately Neowing's page is still open, and you can learn a bit more about the game itself. The description, translated by Google (opens in a new tab), reads, "Beat the clock, outsmart the cops, and compete in the ultimate street racing challenge in Lakeshore: the weekly qualifier for The Grand." Fill your garage with precision-tuned custom machines, don your own personal style and exclusive looks, and light up the streets with a soundtrack that echoes from every corner of the world."

The Grand's "The Grand" is the first of its kind in the world.

Unsurprisingly, multiplayer seems to be a big part of the experience: "Go to meetups and show off your style with many items including exclusive gear from the world's latest fashions. Then, add the finishing touches to your car's style by transforming it with unique wrapping and cutout items to match your legendary custom car, take the lead in the race, and pose victorious over the competition."

The listing also specifically describes the look of the game, which "brings graffiti to life with an all-new visual style that combines the latest street art with the most realistic cars in "Need for Speed" history. Combining the most realistic cars in history with the latest street art." The film also "embodies underground culture" with hip-hop artists such as A$AP Rocky and AWGE on the soundtrack and original music by French composer, producer and DJ Brodinski.

Electronic Arts itself has also confirmed the title and new visual style, albeit briefly:

While my own reaction to the leaked image was an immediate "no thanks," the response on the Need for Speed subreddit was actually quite positive, with redditor DiamondScythe writing, "The art style looks very bold and daring. I'm glad NFS is pioneering the genre instead of trying to copy Forza Horizon." We'll still have to wait and see if players like it, but at least we can appreciate it for doing something new."

"Ok, it looks better than I thought," added _asteroidblues_.

"But I can appreciate it at least in that it's doing something new.

"I'm a little surprised at how this whole animation actually looks," wrote artem0n." I still don't really like the smoke effects and such, but the characters look really cool. I was imagining something much worse.

Muckymuh zipped to the point in perhaps the most succinct analysis.

I'm still not convinced by the new look, but I'm not what you'd call the middle of the target audience for Unbound (I'm old), so that's to be expected. More importantly, this is how the game actually looks, and the leaked images may actually be a bit of a bonus for EA: I knew Need for Speed was going to be released tomorrow, but it turns out to be an NFS that does things a little differently.

Unbound is being developed by Criterion and Codemasters, two studios with a lot of experience in making racing games, so there's a good chance it will be handled brilliantly, regardless of its visual style. And as Redditor Geraghini says, "There is no point in going for realistic graphics when 'Forza' and 'GT' are dominating the market. Why not do something a little more outlandish?"

According to the listing, "Need for Speed Unbound" will be released on December 2, which we also don't know yet. A full and official reveal, which may include a release date, is scheduled for October 6 at 11 a.m. ET on YouTube.