Even if it took a lot of work behind the scenes, WWE 2K22 had one of the easiest jobs in recent gaming history. Since WWE 2K20 was widely regarded as a poorly made, bug-filled mess, all last year’s game had to do after taking a year off to regroup was not be horrible to be a big improvement.
The developers did more than just button things up, however, resulting in a game that earned plenty of favorable reviews. In contrast, WWE 2K23 has a trickier task, following up on its well regarded predecessor. It succeeds by fleshing out some of the best features and modes from last year and adding new twists to others, ensuring that just like WWE itself, the show rolls on.
Steal the spotlight from John Cena in Showcase
As tempting as it is to start things off with the most obvious joke about the WWE 2K23 cover star, the truth is you’ll see plenty of John Cena as the featured subject in Showcase mode. It’s fitting timing since Cena just celebrated 20 years in WWE last year, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s competing again at WrestleMania 39 just a few weeks after the game launches.
Just like last game, Showcase highlights one of WWE’s strengths, which is weaving highlights and voiceover from its superstars into compelling package. Cena has been involved in so many memorable programs and matches over the years that just narrowing them down for WWE 2K23 must have taken some time (and been a lot of fun for the dev team).
Of course, this is a walk down memory lane that you play through and not just watch. It’s a challenge because not only are you trying to win the matches, but you’re rewarded for making a number of key moments within said bouts play out as close to real life as possible.
But WWE 2K23 flips the script in its Showcase by making you play as Cena’s opponents, not the man himself, so you’ve got to beat one of the greatest stars in company history repeatedly. It starts with one of his greatest defeats ever, losing the WWE Championship to Rob Van Dam at ECW One Night Stand 2006.
In one of the cooler examples of Showcase’s attention to detail, if you lose to Cena in that match, security guards run down and quickly usher him to the back. The fans did promise to riot if Cena won, you my recall, and that was a real possibility at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
No matter which side of Cena’s occasionally mixed reactions you might have been on over the years, you’ll find something to love about this year’s Showcase.
MyGM ups the ante with new managers, brands
Most wrestling fans would agree that competition helps keep WWE sharp, whether its external or internal. MyGM mode allows you to simulate the latter, putting your booking ability to the test as you try to top up to three other GMs to keep ratings high and profits flowing in.
WWE 2K23 takes a “more is more” approach to MyGM by introducing a number of additional GMs to choose from and several more brands to run — including WCW and NXT 2.0, so you’re covered whether you love the Monday Night Wars era or prefer the next wave of up and coming talent.
While MyGM has three settings each for both AI and game difficulty, even the normal settings are enough to provide quite the challenge. Playing against the maximum of three AI opponents keeps you on your toes as you can’t afford to take even a week off. And the option to add as many as three human opponents into each session (on one console, not online) promises to bring hours of entertainment if you have more wrestling fans and gamers under your roof.
Read our MyGM-focused review for more.
MyFACTION starts to find its way
Considering the success its had with the MyTEAM mode in its NBA 2K series, it’s only natural that 2K would want to find a way to devise an equivalent for the wrestling world. MyFACTION made its debut last year, and while it was an interesting start, it felt a little unfinished.
The idea is to build your dream faction of four men and four women, which isn’t a bad idea since factions have long been a staple of not just WWE but pro wrestling write large. The big issue is that there’s nothing that really makes them feel like a cohesive team, save for the Faction Wars submode that features 4v4 matches.
That hasn’t really been solved in WWE 2K23, but at least there’s more to do in MyFACTION. Notably, online play has been added in Quick Play, allowing you to take on other human opponents. Live Events also have potential with constantly changing match types and rewards, and it will be interesting to see if the 2K team synchs them with WWE’s premium live events during the rest of 2023. And for completists out there, the developers have promised some WWE superstars will have ring gear/appearances exclusive to this mode.
That said, if you enjoy team-building modes where you can grind it out free-to-play or spend money for a chance at better cards, you’ll probably appreciate MyFACTION. If those aren’t your cup of tea, there’s nothing that stands out as a can’t-miss hook for this year. It’s incrementally better than in 2K22, not a big jump forward.
Lock or Legacy: A pair of narratives drive MyRISE forward
Storytelling is at the heart of pro wrestling, so it tracks that a single-player story mode in a wrestling game should be a no-brainer. MyRISE returns to scratch that itch in WWE 2K23, offering two very different stories to experience.
In “The Lock,” you take on the role of a wrestler who has built up his reputation as a top talent in promotions around the world before jumping to WWE — think AJ Styles for a real world comparison. The company positions you as a big deal right off the bat, giving you a gimmick that’s a very literal take on the title of the tale and having you win a major title in your debut. If you guessed that not everything goes swimmingly after that, however, you’re on the right track.
A somewhat opposite web is spun in “The Legacy,” where you step into the boots of a female superstar who is the niece of a six-time women’s champion. While you want to make your own way, there’s quite a bit of resentment from people who think you’re just a nepotism hire, and after a disastrous first match, you’ve got to determine the best way to build your reputation among people who are already skeptical.
Of the two, The Legacy is just a tad more intriguing right off the bat (is your aunt out to fulfill her own agenda, or is she really on your side?), but both have what it takes to occupy you for hours with a number of side stories you can pursue. There’s also much more voice acting this year, which was a complaint about MyRISE in WWE 2K22, and the wrestlers you interact with simply feel more true to life.
Check out our in-depth look at MyRISE for more.
Gameplay and presentation: If it ain’t broke …
As noted above, last year was the time for wholesale reinvention of WWE 2K’s controls and the overall feel of in-ring action. Though WWE 2K23 bills itself as a pro wrestling simulator, it’s settled in now with a slight lean toward arcade-style gameplay with a heavy emphasis on maintaining and breaking combos that’s not unlike a fighting game.
That carries over to defense and rallying yourself when an opponent is on a roll. For example, you can save up finishers to use on offense, or expend those charges to recover instantly from an attack (which often produces a reaction of astonishment from the other wrestler) or pull off comeback flurries. Considering those are things wrestling fans see every week on TV, they don’t feel out of place.
Overall, however, timing is key. Learning when to hit certain combinations of buttons, watch for the prompts for reversals or try to determine the perfect spot to disrupt a combo is something you mostly grasp through experience. One nice little touch that’s new is how to kick out of opponents’ pins: You can choose either button mashing or a timing-based thumbstick raise.
One of the highly touted new additions to match options is the ability to stage WarGames matches for the first time, and they definitely deliver the goods. The presentation is top notch, from the rules being shown on screen to the cages that hold the wrestlers who have yet to enter the fray. It’s not hard to move from ring to ring, and you’ll inevitably end up with a ton of weapons in the cage just as usually happens in WWE.
The WarGames experience, and any match with more than four competitors, is better on PS5 than PS4, which can handle the chaos without frame rate drops. The frustrations you might feel while playing them are the same on both consoles, as there are definitely times when it’s hard to make out what your wrestler is doing, and switching between opponents remains harder than it should be.
There was a fair amount of griping last year that the graphics didn’t get enough of a boost to account for the power of current gen consoles, but everything looks better on PS5 this time out. On PS4, as you’d expect, most of the visuals are just a touch less realistic looking, and some of the female likenesses, in particular, seem to suffer in comparison to their male counterparts. Another small quibble is the disparity in animation quality in MyRISE mode; your character’s mouth matches their dialogue perfectly, while other characters can be hit or miss.
Creative types can easily fall down a rabbit hole or two in WWE 2K23, which offers not just create-a-wrestler tools but allows you to tinker with gear, entrances and all kind of visual elements. Some of the creative tools remain unintuitive, but top level creation is fairly straightforward. Or in other words, it wasn’t hard to have my created wrestler coming to the ring with accessories they didn’t wear once the bell rings, entering to Finn Balor’s music, Goldberg’s pyro and the DX Titantron video.
The verdict: Another step on the road back from the abyss
Only time will help erase the painful memory of WWE 2K20 as a low point in this series, but WWE 2K23 is another good entry that will help. It comes down to a matter of expectations; where last year gamers were demanding things be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up, there wasn’t a need for changes that drastic this time around.
As a result, WWE 2K23 is a great place to jump back in for anyone who skipped its predecessor, because it iterates nicely on everything that worked a year ago and adds a little bit more in most places. It looks a tad nicer, especially on PS5, there’s more to do in most game modes, and 2K didn’t mess with anything that already worked.
That also means it might not feel as much of a must-buy for fans who returned to the fold with 2K22. But this is more than just a roster refresh, and with the promise of more content coming in the months ahead, WWE 2K23 may even reach greater heights when it’s all said and done.
Pros:
- Additions to MyGM and MyRISE make them better, and MyFACTION is at least headed in that direction too
- The switchup in Showcase to make you beat John Cena is a welcome tweak
- WarGames is a legitimately entertaining new match type to play
Cons:
- Some player models still don’t quite nail it, especially on PS4
- Multi-person matches remain a source of frustration at times
Overall score: 8/10
Disclosure: Wrestling Junkie was provided with a complimentary copy of the WWE 2K23 Icon Edition for PS4 and PS5 for the purposes of this review.