Choose Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
Choose Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit if it matches what drew you to this matchup. 5,277 Steam reviews back the pick.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit vs Need for Speed™ Rivals
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed™ Rivals both land in Racing on Steam, which is why they keep getting compared. The comparison below is built from each game's Steam metadata — release year, genres, categories, Steam Deck status, price, and review score — refreshed daily by imho.run's scraper. Headline differences: Both are Racing games on Steam. Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) is 10 years older than Need for Speed™ Rivals (2020). Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit scores higher on Steam reviews (77.3% positive) than Need for Speed™ Rivals (76.3% positive). No login or purchase needed — scroll for the full table, the verdict FAQ, and links to ranked similar games for both titles.
Which should you pick?
Choose Need for Speed™ Rivals
Choose Need for Speed™ Rivals if you want an Action and Adventure game with Online Co-op and Co-op. On Steam, it's the newer release (2020) and ships with the modern feature baseline. 3,416 Steam reviews back the pick.
Both Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed™ Rivals sit in Racing on Steam and both list Multi-player, Online PvP, and PvP, so either pick lands in the same broad neighborhood. Steam reviews are nearly tied (77.3% vs 76.3% positive), so genre fit is the cleanest tiebreaker — scroll the table for the feature-by-feature view.
Side-by-side comparison
 Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit |  Need for Speed™ Rivals | |
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2010 | 2020 |
| Genres | Racing | Action, Adventure, Racing |
| Platforms | Windows | Windows |
| Steam Deck | Deck Playable | Deck Playable |
| Price | Price unknown | 6.99 USD |
| Steam reviews | 77.3% positive (5,277 reviews) | 76.3% positive (3,416 reviews) |
| Multiplayer | Multi-player | Multi-player, Online Co-op, Co-op |
| Developers | Criterion Games | Criterion Games |
Side by side
- Both are Racing games on Steam.
- Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) is 10 years older than Need for Speed™ Rivals (2020).
- Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit scores higher on Steam reviews (77.3% positive) than Need for Speed™ Rivals (76.3% positive).
- Need for Speed™ Rivals has co-op; Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit does not.
- Both are Deck Playable.
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit vs Need for Speed™ Rivals — FAQ
- Which is better, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit or Need for Speed™ Rivals?
- On Steam reviews the two are nearly tied: Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit sits at 77.3% positive (5,277 reviews), Need for Speed™ Rivals at 76.3% (3,416). The choice usually comes down to genre fit and the platform features each one supports — see the comparison table above.
- Should I play Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit or Need for Speed™ Rivals first?
- If you want chronology, Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) came out before Need for Speed™ Rivals (2020). If neither is a sequel to the other, order doesn't really matter — start with whichever fits your current mood, since both share enough on Steam to make either a reasonable opener.
- Are Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed™ Rivals similar?
- They overlap on Racing on Steam, so the catalogue groups them together — but "similar" depends on the specific mechanics. Use the genre + category rows above to decide whether the overlap matches what drew you to the one you've already played.