FIFA 17 was the first FIFA game to include The Journey, its cinematic story mode.
The Journey introduced Alex Hunter, a fictional young footballer attempting to establish himself in professional football. Players guided Hunter through matches, training, conversations, and career decisions. The mode gave FIFA a narrative structure that differed from traditional Career Mode, where users manage a club or control a player over a season.
The story continued in FIFA 18 and FIFA 19, making Alex Hunter one of the most recognizable fictional characters in the franchise. His journey also involved interactions with real footballers and managers, which blended scripted drama with the licensed football world.
Although The Journey is sometimes described simply as FIFA’s story mode, its formal name matters because FIFA later used other narrative and cinematic features. It also debuted alongside FIFA 17’s move to the Frostbite engine, but the engine itself was not the story mode.