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Way more than just an annual roster update, WWE 2K24 chronicles the history of sports entertainment’s biggest even with its 40 Years of WrestleMania showcase, but it also shines in a massively improved GM mode and four brand new match types.DualShockers was provided with a review code for this game by the publisher.
Visual Concepts has really found its groove again when it comes to making wrestling games. After a disastrous WWE 2K20 and a year off in 2021 to right the ship, the last three years have seen new releases in theWWE 2Kseries, with each installment tacking on its own set of additions.
Still, there’s a lot of grumbling from wrestling game fans claiming that each new release in the series is just another roster update and saying that 2K should just turn the series into a single live service game with regular content updates. Well, after making WWE 2K23 my most-played game of last year and spending a nearly sleepless week with WWE 2K24, I have to say that there’s a lot of great content in the newest game that wasn’t there in last year’s release.
Of course there’s the much-anticipated 40 Years of Wrestlemania Showcase, two new MyRISE storylines,four new match types, and a lot of quality of life improvements, but I’ll get to those in a minute, because Visual Concepts also left a big surprise that almost completely revamps the most celebrated game mode in the 2K series.
The Best Just Keeps Getting Better
Once the game was done installing, I had planned to reward myself with a little MyGM mode just to get acquainted with the new faces on the roster. Instead, I dumped my first two days into it, and while 2K23’s MyGM mode was by far my favorite, 2K24’s puts it to shame. Many features are still the same: you establish up to four brands that will be competing against each other for cash and fans, selecting which shows you want to see and which general managers should run them; you take turns drafting superstars, and then you play out the season, scheduling matches and playing bonus cards to make your life easier or your opponents' lives worse.
But the first major hurdle came as soon as the draft was over. After listing to the fans, Visual Concepts has added ECW to the list of brands you can choose, and I wanted to sit with the new kid. Unfortunately, my usual strategy of drafting eight men and six women didn’t work out so well, because ECW is an asymmetrical brand with no women’s titles. That’s accurate, and it provides a little extra challenge, as you only get to boost up to four superstars' popularity instead of the seven that every other brand gets, but I still wish the game would have warned me before the draft.
It didn’t really matter though, because at the end of month one, I was introduced to the concept of trades. Every month, you’ll be able to trade wrestlers' contracts and your brand’s cash with other promotions. You’ve got five opportunities to propose your own trades, and you’ll also likely get offers from your fellow GMs in addition to that. This is such a great way to manage rosters, especially when you’ve got a low-morale superstar or one who just doesn’t fit your scheme, like my overabundance of female wrestlers who had no shot at a title.
You also now have talent scouts who you can pay each week to look for new performers for your brand, though the more specific you get with your prerequisites, the more it’s going to cost you. Luckily, if you’re too short on cash after running a search, you can set your new hires' contracts to be as long or as short as you’d like. Longer contracts will be cheaper in the long run, but shortening them can be beneficial in the short-term if you need that money for something else.
Fortunately, you won’t be spending as much money putting on your shows every week, because your areas, special effects, crew, and advertising are now all one-time unlocks, and you don’t need to do anything special like setting a number of specialty matches each week to get their bonuses. Instead, you acquire one point every week that you can put towards these features, and you’ll have to spend them, along with the cash, for the one-time purchase of each upgrade. What’s more, each of these purchases now also unlocks a new match type for you to use in that run of MyGM mode, so you can really strategize your spending if there’s a specific match type you want on your show (or you can just turn the feature off altogether and have all match types unlocked at the start, but where’s the fun in that?)
The last big feature is superstar experience. Each superstar will come into the game at an experience level between 0 for rookies and 25 for venerated legends. Each superstar will gain experience points from cutting promos, participating in matches, or as bonuses from cards, and they’ll unlock new powers every five levels. You’ll be able to choose between a few different options for each level up (specific to that superstar), such as resistance to injury, an extra match type specialty, or the ability to change their class, but each level up will also make their contracts much more expensive. If you’re someone who likes to customize your roster pool, be careful. Even with the max amount of starting cash, you’ll be flat broke after drafting about six legends.
There are also four new GMs (Paul Heyman, Teddy Long, William Regal, and Ted DiBiase) each with their own special powers, and even if you’re playing the game against easy AI, they will use them against you, unlike easy mode in 2K23, so be prepared for some major shakeups (especially from Long and Heyman — those guys keep ruining my PLEs in the best way).
I know this section was more description than hype, but there was so much to unpack here that I had to get it all out, just to say that the new and improved MyGM mode alone takes the best thing about WWE 2K23 and makes it feel like another game entirely. The immersion of running a show is so vastly improved that this mode alone makes WWE 2K24 worth a buy, but we’ve still got five more modes to unpack (and I promise I’ll be quicker about them).
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The Best 21 Matches In 40 Years
Of course, the most hyped-up aspect of this year’s version is the 40 Years of Wrestlemania showcase. Starting with Wrestlemania 3, you’ll go on a guided tour of some of the greatest ‘Mania matches ever, narrated by Cory Graves, and sometimes featuring nostalgic, game-exclusive interviews with the likes of Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold Steve Austin in between.
You can try to win these matches however you like, but the game will also give you certain tasks to compete in each, like hitting your opponent with three heavy combos. As you fulfill them, you’ll not only be rewarded with unlockables like MyFaction cards, wrestlers for your roster, and new arenas, but you’ll also get to see the game transition from rendered cutscenes to actual TV footage of the matches and back again. It’s a cool experience, even if there’s not a lot of replay value in it, and if you’ve played the Rey Mysterio or John Cena showcases from the past two years’ 2K games, you’ll be familiar with the format. Just expect a lot more pomp and circumstance, especially when Randy Savage is in the ring.
Per the embargo terms, I’m only allowed to discuss or show the first seven matches, so it’ll be easier to just list them, with the character you control appearing in bold:
It’s All About The Storylines
Another mode in which you can pick up some great unlockables is MyRISE, the game’s story mode, in which you play your own original character in one of two original storylines (one for the RAW women’s roster and one for the Smackdown men’s roster). Again, if you’re familiar with previous WWE 2K games, you know the general deal, but the woman’s storyline in particular shakes things up a bit. Playing out in the usual five acts, you play as a founder of an indie promotion who accompanies one of your wrestlers, the bubbly and adorable Psycho Sally, to a WWE tryout.
You both end up getting signed, you to RAW and Sally to NXT, but after the first act plays out, your character grows tired of following everyone’s instructions, and you’re introduced to three classic takes on the heel turn. Liv Morgan will bring you into the Hollywood lifestyle, and you’ll assume the role of an entitled diva; Rhea Ripley will help you find your brutality, punishing weaker wrestlers and taking on the toughest ones; and Alexa Bliss will bring the supernatual element, giving you an amulet that takes over your personality but gives you incredible powers, like levitation, telekenisis, and mind control. This last storyline is by far the weirdest and most fun, as you’ll not only get to choose one of four supervillian costumes, but build your own Ministry of Darkness-style stable.
These three heel storylines make up acts two through four and are playable in any order, and through it all, you’ll switch over to playing as Sally and see her resist the temptation for power at the cost of losing herself. Some members of the WWE 2K’s writing staff have written for actual wrestling promotions, and it really shows through in how well this story is crafted.
The men’s storyline follows a much more basic formula and centers on Roman Reigns stepping down as Universal Champion to try his luck in Hollywood. Your character comes into the story after a year of floundering in the midcard, but you’re basically handed the title by Roman when he interferes in your big tournament final match, just to spite Cody Rhodes, with his promise to you that you’re only holding the title because he allows you to hold the title, and he’ll be back for it. It’s not nearly as intriguing or free-form as the womens' storyline, but it’s still full of fun moments, like R-Truth naming himself GM for a day after the rest of the management team is waylaid by a snowstorm, and booking every match on the card as a title match against you.
What’s really endearing for longtime fans, though, is the reappearance of 2K’s recurring original characters. While Visual concepts has had its own little stable of characters that serve as enhancement talent in MyGM and cannon fodder in MyRise, some fun faces from WWE 2K23 are back (and fully voiced) for this year’s story mode. Ava Moreno brings back the crazy, getting you mixed up in a cult-like pyramid scheme over a breathing app, and Justine takes on a management role in both story modes. This is a trend that really offers a little extra personality to the WWE 2K games, and I hope it continues in future games.
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Four (Or Maybe Seven) New Match Types
While the development team last year focused all their efforts on creating War Games, this year, they’re advertising four new match types: Casket, Ambulance, Special Guest Referee, and Gauntlet. However, there are technically three types of gauntlet matches, as well as a new four-player elimination mode in Backstage Brawl (with lots of new destructibles and such), so it really feels like they’re underselling it, and there’s actually seven new matches.
For me, Special Guest Referee is the most fun. Here, you’re responsible for managing three counts, submission checks, and ring out counts, which you may do as slowly or as quickly as you see fit. With the press of a button, you can go from referee controls to wrestler controls and attack whichever competitor you choose. However, there’s a ref quality meter at the top of the screen, and if you keep screwing up counts or wailing on competitors, the WWE will send a replacement to kick you out of the ring and take over the match. It’s chaotic fun to learn the controls, and I screwed up my first few times through and was ejected even when I was trying to call a fair match, but after you get the hang of how things work, this match type is controlled chaos at its best.
Gauntlet is divided into three types: one in which you try to beat a certain number of wrestlers in succession, one in which the winner moves on in the gauntlet regardless of who wins, and one in which wrestlers just keep coming to the ring at timed intervals regardless of whether you’ve eliminated anybody. The last one, Gauntlet Turmoil, is easily the most fun of the three, playing out like a Royal Rumble match, but one in which you’re allowed to leave the ring and have to beat your opponents by pinfall or submission.
In the interest of saving space, I’ve already given in-depth to the Ambulance Match and the new four-player option in Backstage Brawl in my hands-on preview from last month,which you’re able to read about here. The casket match is pretty similar mechanically to the ambulance match, but the casket is positioned just outside the ring, so you can just Irish whip your opponent over the top rope before starting the minigame to close it.
Improving The Quality Of Your WWE Life
There are just so many little things that don’t need their own category but definitely warrant mentioning. MyFACTION was the only mode of WWE 2K23 that I didn’t really care for, largely because you had to keep getting contract cards to give to your best wrestlers if you wanted to keep using them. According to the developers, nobody liked that aspect of the mode, and thankfully, it’s dead now.
Also, if you’re looking for a particular wrestler for your team, you can now use the MyFACTION points you’ve accumulated to just buy their card directly, although you’ll still want to save up for packs of cards, because there will be special cards there that unlock alternate wrestler skins that you can use across the game’s modes. Oh, and remember the rewards from MyRISE? All those great original WWE 2K characters have their own cards now too, and you can unlock a bunch of great ones by playing through the stories.
Universe Mode admittedly hasn’t changed much, and that’s understandable, since its intent is to be one big sandbox. But even it gets an upgrade, as rivalry actions now come with a description before the match starts, letting you know the conditions for activating the special cutscenes.
Lastly, the ability to throw weapons is a hoot. There’s few better comedic moments in this game that a massive opponent charging at you only to be hit in the face by a flying chair or trash can. Yeet. The physics on these weapons are so improved over 2K23 as well, as you won’t see a ladder or folding table go cartwheeling through the air just because you stepped too close. The new trash can weapons are another story, but they’re naturally very light, and slamming your opponent’s head off one is a lot of fun.
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That Was All Good, So What’s The Bad?
I’m honestly finding it hard to complain much about this game, but I’ll try to pour on the salt here at the end. AI is still a little clunky in a lot of specialty matches or anything involving more than two wrestlers. If you’re setting all characters to AI and just want to watch a fatal four way, be prepared for everyone to stay out of the ring for way longer than is necessary or reasonable. Likewise, opponent AI in Ambulance and casket matches will occasionally forget about the special rules and focus on beating you within an inch of your life rather than trying to win. TLC matches aren’t even new, but when I entered a tornado tag TLC match and was attempting to grab the belts for the win, my partner must have got confused, climbed the other side of the ladder, and superplexed me to the mat. That’s … not something that should happen, or has ever happened in any wrestling game I’ve ever played, 2K or otherwise.
Since the real WWE roster and its characters change from week to week, no wrestling game is ever going to be completely up-to-date. Most of the character models look great, and facial movements and animations like bouncing off the ropes look better than ever before, but it’s disappointing to see my favorite men’s wrestler, Sami Zayn, using an old entrance animation that has him tossing off that hat that he doesn’t even wear anymore and is now invisible, apparently.
Speaking of Sami’s entrance, the fans are a little late on the “Let’s go!” chant, and that’s not the only sound issue. In MyRISE, when talking to other wrestlers, sometimes the decibel count seems to be turned up way too high on a line that’s not being shouted, snapping me back to reality like an old in-your-face commercial during Saturday morning cartoons. I also had a weird, loud “BLRRRRT” (that’s the best approximation of the sound I can describe) come out of my TV’s speakers sometimes, always when delivering a running dropkick, no matter who I was playing as. And in two separate matches against Omos, the commentary team kept describing one of us going under the ring for a weapon when neither of us had left the ring.
While the roster is missing some recently returned stars like Naomi, that’s understandable, because the devs need time to actually create them. But Kairi Sane made her on-screen return at Crown Jewel four months ago to the day of this article’s publishing. Yet she’s still absent from the game and Damage CTRL, while Bayley and Dakota Kai are still listed as members of the faction and Asuka (who’s in the game) isn’t. I could chock this up to the devs running out of time to keep up with recent storyline changes, but in Universe mode, Asuka is friends with the rest of Damge CTRL, which means they had time to correct one storyline issue but not the other. Of course, all this can be fixed manually by the player, and you may always just make up for missing superstars using the creation suite, but it can get a bit confusing. There are other little inconcistencies, like Pete Dunne still being named Butch, but again, the game’s based on live TV.
All in all, I’m generally able to look past those complaints, because they seem easily patchable enough, and because WWE 2K24 and itsroster of more than 200 superstarsoffers so much more than its predecessor, which was already such a massive game. The developers fixed the things I hadn’t even realized were broken (except for MyFACTION contract cards; I hated those and I’m glad they’re gone) and somehow managed to build on an improve the best aspects of WWE 2K23.
I said last year that WWE 2K23 was the best wrestling game I had ever played, and that Visual Concepts was going to have a hard time improving on it for the next year’s edition. I’m glad they proved me wrong.
