Visual Concepts and 2K Studios are back for another year of World Wrestling Entertainment, more commonly known as WWE 2K23, and this year is no joke. It’s action-packed with content and the developers have not held back to make this the best title to date.

‘Hustle’, ‘Loyalty’, and ‘Respect’ are the three words you think of when you see the 2K Showcase this year with the man who ‘can’t be seen’ as the main showcase. John Cena is celebrating 21 years of wrestling this year and has put a huge twist on the 2K main events with you not winning the matches as John Cena but playing against him in some of his most iconic wrestling matches with people like The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, and Edge and many more. There are about 17 matches you need to complete with each having objectives to unlock different wrestlers in the roster to play as or against down the line. It was awesome seeing the cutscenes with John actually narrating his story. Not only that but when in a match it will switch from the game to actual footage from real-life matches. This was something very unique and brought back some great memories. This is the most fun and what feels like a competitive game mode.

In this title with MyGM Mode, you take control of the weekly shows spanning from NXT, Smackdown, or RAW. I decided I was going to be the biggest prick of a General Manager with what I was organizing on my weekly shows. This consisted of giving the fans what I wanted and definitely not what they wanted. You are able to draft the roster for your show, manage all the budgets so you can pay the wrestlers minimum wage, and choose anything down to what the match will be like. I was definitely one manager not to cross.

MyFaction mode has made its return and there was nothing like sitting there opening the card packs and getting some of my favorite wrestlers from the roster. To those who are new to the titles, MyFaction is a game mode where you unlock card packs or alternatively purchase them to unlock your favorite superstars. Once you have got the cards you have the option to upgrade them. You also can do weekly and daily quests to go into the chance to win more card packs.

There are three different currencies built into this mode. The first is ‘MyFaction Points’ which you get from completing quest matches. Obtaining all the quests within the matches allows you to spend these points on upgrading things like the contracts you need to use for your wrestlers to buy packs from the store. The second currency is ‘MyFaction Tokens’, which allows you to buy more rare card packs to go into the chance of winning a rare card which will heighten the chances of you winning drastically. The third and last currency is ‘Virtual Currency’ which you need to use your real-life money (aka microtransactions) in order to get this which can then in turn be used for the same things as the MyFaction Points.

WWE 2K23 has also added the option now to take MyFaction mode online and compete with the online world, which ended badly for me on several occasions. You have the weekly ‘Towers’ and ‘Faction Wars’ you can compete in online this year with limited themed card packs being released over the next year.

Have you ever wanted to become the ultimate superstar and become the next John Cena, or maybe even the next Brock Lesnar? Then MyRise is the game mode for you. You create your character in the creation suite and join the WWE where you can start from the absolute bottom and move your way up in the ranks. You can start from your humble beginnings in the NXT and make your way into the main roster on Raw or Smackdown and become the WWE Champion. This year’s MyRise has two storylines built into the game. You have the option of ‘The Lock’ or ‘The Legacy’ so you can decide your own story.

This new game mode has made its first appearance in this year’s title with the fan favorite from the show; ‘All-Out Wargames’. Whoever designed this idea is an absolute maniac and I’m all for the idea. It’s two wrestling rings put side by side for the ultimate carnage. There is the option for 3v3 or 4v4 online multiplayer which creates even more carnage and if the two rings side by side is not enough for you the rings are also surrounded by a custom ‘Hell In The Cell’ cage.

The next mode in the menu that you end up spending way too much time in is the ‘Creation Suite’ and I’m sure I’m not the only person who spends more time looking at the creations from other people than actually creating my own content. I’ll openly admit one night, another member of MKAU, and myself went through 45 pages of custom-created superstars and had a ball downloading them.

The creation suite always plays a huge part in the WWE 2K game. You can create the superstar for yourself to use or even create someone cool like Eric Cartman as a WWE Superstar and either kick some ass or get your ass kicked. The creation suite is more than just Superstar Creations, you can do anything from Arenas to Belts, down to entrances and custom move-sets for your custom-created superstars. Some people might think the creation suite is overhyped but the amount of time you spend in there to make the next WWE Legend is more than you expect.

Even with the soundtrack in this game giving me the thoughts that I’m going to get a DMCA Strike from Twitch, it didn’t matter. John Cena hand-picked every song in this year’s title and he did not disappoint one bit. It had music from bands like Metallica with their hit ‘Sad But True’ down to Post Malone with ‘Take What You Want’ Feat. Ozzy Osbourne. The menu kept you hyped for the game and wanting to jump into a game and kick some ass.

The voice acting in the dialogues from the 2K Showcase were done absolutely brilliantly, down to the small bits of dialogue and commentary you hear in the matches right to when John Cena does the iconic ‘You Can’t See Me’ catchphrase. The immersion you feel from the cheers of the crowd down to the commentators no longer sounding like pre-recorded robots made it feel like you were watching a live WWE event.

Online will forever be a mess but it’s a mess that keeps you laughing from the characters snapping back when you hit the reverse at the right time to the characters bugging through each other when you use the character creation suite. All jokes aside, the online was so much fun and ran so well for what was happening. I didn’t get any lag in the number of matches I tested out and everything seemed awesome for the most part. The announcers though sometimes said the wrong names which made me giggle more than anything but it is a clear mishap.

The graphics are amazing compared to previous versions. The characters, environment, and crowd all look amazing and brought immersion into the game which in turn drove me further into the game. The character models look stunning and the developers have done such a good job of making them look as realistic as possible. Small things like when the match was going too long the superstars would start sweating and getting red from being hit multiple times in the same locations which made it feel so dramatic.

The one let down to the character models is the blood still had that real fake look to it which ruined that side of things a little but there was still nothing like cracking their forehead open. The environments built into the game anywhere from the actual ring with the supporters ring side down to the backstage brawls was done so well and textured amazingly.

The controls have not changed from previous years which was a nice touch to the game but for new players, I’d recommend doing the built-in tutorial when you first launch it. The tutorial will help you learn the basics of the games with a couple of advanced controls to show your skills in the ring. For players returning, I would recommend doing the tutorial as you get a nice achievement once this is completed. The one thing that has been added is a new kick-out mode where you just need to line the green box and flick up on RS but if you prefer the option of last year’s with spamming A you can also use that which is an option that can be changed in the menu if you decide to later on.

For all the die-hard WWE fans this year’s title will not disappoint. The roster feels a little smaller than the previous year’s titles but still has some amazing names in there to wrestle with. This will immerse you into the world of World Wrestling Entertainment for hours on end and who knows you could create the next WWE Superstar?

Written by: Hayden Nelson