WWE 2K24 review

There was a time in the last five years where WWE looked like it was never going to recover from the lazy storytelling and amount of layoffs the company saw on a far too frequent basis. There was a hopelessness to it, one that, when watching you felt like the good old days were long gone and the memories of a better time were the only things you could rely on. The WWE 2K series was also a mess, and like the product we watched on television, there felt like there was no return to greatness in the books. Thankfully something changed, and now, WWE 2K24 is a perfect example of how things can change in an instant.

You have to attribute a lot of the success of current programming to The Bloodline, who managed to provide some genuinely excellent storytelling along with iconic matches. Guys like Cody Rhodes and Gunther have also given a lot of fans hope in the last couple of years, and thanks to the booking and brilliance of Triple H, WWE is back to a place where you look forward to watching RAW and Smackdown on a weekly basis. Last year’s WWE 2K23 was a big step in the right direction for the game series returning to a place where you were excited to play them, and this year’s has left me hooked.

I have had a great time with WWE 2K24, and it feels like a lot of care has been put into every mode, refining each one and adding small yet important features. Before we get into all of that, we need to get into the bread and butter of this year’s entry: the gameplay. I can say without a shadow of a doubt that wrestling has never felt so good. The freedom to create your own iconic moments is there, with smooth transitioning between grappling and striking, pulling off impressive-looking combos, aerial attacks, and more. You’re not haunted by those hideous bugs of the past, either. I didn’t have a single issue in the wealth of hours I put in, with the dedication from Visual Concepts on show with every match you have.

I love the fact that if you have something you want to do, you’re free to do it with little to no problem at all. Dive at an opponent on the outside with a springboard attack; put someone through the announce table; set up a bridge ladder at ringside and dive off the turnbuckle to drop someone through it; wedge a chair between the ropes; or simply pull off a range of moves that look and feel great. WWE 2K24 gives you plenty of tools to make matches varied and exciting, making it easier to achieve those five-star match ratings. Gameplay has been refined to make matches about as good as they can be this year, and it helps to keep things fresh regardless of who you’re up against and what mode or match-type you’re playing in.

New additions like the super finisher allows certain wrestlers to store three finishers then pull them off in quick succession in style, such as John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment. You can also throw weapons at your opponent now, which looks so good, especially when you’re launching a steel chair all the way across the ring into an opponent’s face. Another cool addition to gameplay is the trading blows minigame. Two Superstars stand toe-to-toe in the centre of the ring and have to press a button then the line lands in the green area of a circular gauge to perform a strike. If you keep missing, you’ll lose the minigame, but there’s a very small window within the gauge that allows you to do extra damage and come out on top quicker.

“Showcase of the Immortals” is my favourite ever showcase because you’re treated to playing through some of the greatest matches in WrestleMania history. While Visual Concepts can’t put every match in the mode, they’ve done a great job of mixing it up while still having those matches that stand out as being the greatest of all time. The presentation is superb, especially with the new Slingshot technology transitioning seamlessly between gameplay and archive footage. Cory Graves is on top form here as he talks you through what led up to the matches as well as how they played out, and it’s your job to complete main and side objectives to unlock a ton of optional content as you play.

Another fun mode this year is MyRISE, giving players the chance to play through to original stories for both a male and female created Superstar. They were both enjoyable and offer further chances to unlock new content while seeing two original stories play out. Some of the matches get cut short for the sake of cutscenes or to further the story, which sometimes breaks the flow of gameplay, but I was invested in both narratives, specifically for my male Superstar as it involves the Tribal Chief, Roman Reigns. There are some cool surprises as well, especially for how things play out and how certain Superstars, past and present, are used.

A lot of MyGM remains relatively unchanged, but there are some new additions to keep your roster feeling fresh. After PLEs you can initiate trades with opposing GMs, allowing you to poach their Superstars for the right cost. If you offer an unfair deal it will fall through, but you can add cash to trades to try to balance them out. Other GMs can come to you with an offer, making it rather exciting to see how you’re show could potentially improve with the right addition. There are some new GMs like Paul Heyman and Teddy Long, new ways to level up your Superstars and better contract management, but the general flow of it feels the same, which isn’t a negative if you lost days to playing MyGM last year in the efforts to get into the Hall of Fame like I did.

MyFACTION is another mode that has seen a small number of additions without changing things up too much. It was another mode I became obsessed with last year, and in WWE 2K24 I’ve already spent much of my time working towards unlocking new cards and building the perfect faction. The biggest plus for me is seeing Weekly Towers return as I love diving into those. Persona cards are cool cards that also give you alternative versions of Superstars to use across different modes within the game once unlocked. You can now directly purchase cards that you want, and Factions have also been changed up to include roguelike elements and a focus on real world factions.

The mode with the fewest obvious changes is Universe Mode. I rarely spend time in Universe because I don’t have the time and patience to plan every minute detail of a show or PPV, but for those that do, there have been some new cutscenes added, additional rivalry options, and the inclusion of the Special Referee match type. As for the new match types, Special Referee is a lot of fun. You’re punished for refereeing unfairly, such as quick count outs or not even attempting a pin count. If you play dirty too many times you’ll be booted out of the arena, but there’s still opportunities to toy with the Superstars a little bit.

I’m never that much of a fan of gimmicky matches, but the Casket Match is iconic and playing it once in a while is worth it because of how smooth the act of getting someone inside makes it much more bearable. The Ambulance Match is another similar type, but I found it more enjoyable because you can climb up the side of it and knock an opponent off of it onto the hard ground below. Other small additions to WWE 2K24 include double championship matches, the inclusion of four Superstars in a Backstage Brawl, and a huge roster where every Superstar feels authentic and fun to play as. Visual Concepts has made such a complete game that I’ve already spent so much time across most modes and I have no intention of slowing down.

WWE 2K24 is the best the series has ever been, with some major and minor additions to every mode, customisation, and the most important factor, it’s gameplay. It feels so good to know WWE 2K games are back to being great, and while the MyRISE stories are a little silly and MyGM can still be frustrating in terms of getting the right balance for high ratings, I was enamoured by everything it has to offer. It looks phenomenal in both the character animations and arenas, and while some of the voice acting feels a little wooden, I loved this year’s entry more than any other that came before.