Creating a brand new pro wrestling video game franchise from scratch is no easy feat, even when the team behind it includes passionate wrestlers (who are also gamers) and a development team that has experience in the subject area. If it was, AEW Fight Forever wouldn’t seem like it’s taken almost forever to release.
Call it a case of expectations heightening as time goes by. Because AEW itself has risen to prominence so rapidly over the past four-plus years, it’s only natural that fans would want the company to have a video game to call its own — preferably one that doesn’t feel like it’s from the WWE 2K franchise but with different wrestlers.
From its stylized visuals to its core gameplay, AEW Fight Forever succeeds in differentiating itself from the wrestling games people have been playing for the last decade or so, while also calling to mind some genre classics from even further back. While it leaves you wanting more in some ways, it’s easy to pick up and play and captures the spirit of All Elite Wrestling throughout.
Fight familiar
During Fight Forever’s development process, much was made about how the game might be a modern spiritual successor to titles like WWF No Mercy. Part of that was due to the developers stating from the start that it isn’t intended to be a pro wrestling sim (whatever that means for a predetermined art form), and the rest is due to publisher THQ Nordic’s involvement.
For the most part, that holds true. Fight Forever offers a more arcade-style experience than its main competition, the WWE 2K series, with faster action and an overall more exaggerated feel.
Yet it also isn’t that different. Pressing one button throws arm strikes, and another kicks. A third button is for grapples; holding it down enables a strong grapple which opens up a different array of moves. Irish whips are also possible from a successful grapple, as is throwing an opponent from the ring, handy during a Casino Battle Royale.
Holding down the correct shoulder button defends against an opponent’s strikes or grapples. However, it’s even better to press the right defense button just before an incoming move, as it can set off a reversal or counter, depending on the wrestler and the context. There are no prompts for defense timing, so experience is the best teacher for getting it down.
Fight Forever doesn’t have a dedicated tutorial for all of this, preferring to show players things during their first few matches. This feels like the right decision for this particular game, which is all about making the in-ring action easily accessible. There’s a fair amount of depth to explore once you get your feet wet, including things like springboard offense and topes, but it’s definitely possible to hold your own against the AI with just the basics.
A momentum meter at the bottom of the screen is used in lieu of a health bar, showing you how much mojo you have going at any particular moment. Filling the meter allows a wrestler to execute one of their signature moves, and taunting while the meter is full opens up the option for finishers. Kicking out of pins and escaping submissions is simply a matter of button mashing and hoping your momentum is still sufficient to continue the fight.
It’s hard to imagine anyone who has played a North American wrestling game in the past 25 years won’t find something that feels comfortable about the in-ring mechanics, and that’s a good thing since the pace is usually pretty quick. It’s also satisfyingly visceral, with plenty of impact to every maneuver.
Yes, you can play an Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match and have men wrestle women if that’s your thing
Along with the usual singles matches (including Lights Out and Falls Count Anywhere variations), tag team and multi-person bouts, and staples like the Ladder match and Battle Royale, Fight Forever has one match type you don’t see every day: the Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match.
For the uninitiated, it’s a match that takes place with the ropes wrapped in barbed wire and tables set up in the corners with more of the same. Irish whipping your opponent into the ropes really hurts them. Oh, and every two minutes, the ring explodes.
As you might imagine, this leads to wrestlers bleeding. Quite a bit, in fact, so if blood isn’t your cup of tea, you’ll want to toggle blood off. Even with the non-photorealistic visuals, it can be a bit much for the squeamish.
Some gamers may also object to the ability to have intergender matches, though many fans asked for it while the game was in development. Any wrestler on the roster can take on any other, so if you’ve always wanted to see Jon Moxley vs. Dr. Britt Baker, Fight Forever gives you the power to do exactly that.
A self-aware story mode that feels like AEW TV
If Exhibition and Online matches aren’t enough to keep you occupied, Fight Forever’s Road to Elite mode lets you play through a year of the All Elite Wrestling schedule (sort of) and dive into a branching storyline. Any AEW wrestler in the game can be used in Road to Elite, but it truly shines when using your own custom wrestler.
That’s because playing through the mode is the main way for created wrestlers to earn skill points, which can be used to open up more slots for signature moves and finishers, as well as unlocking a wide variety of skills that do everything from provide circumstantial buffs to enabling new capabilities. For example, the Gimmick Infringement skill allows you to use an opponent’s finisher against them, while Anti-Air Defense enables you to catch and counter diving or springboarding opponents.
Each month of Road to Elite consists of a weekly episode of Dynamite, with the final week of each month ending in one of AEW’s pay-per-views instead. In-between, you have four turns to use each week, with options to work out, sample some of the local cuisine, or do extracurricular activities like meet and greets or sightseeing. Deciding what to do is a balancing act between health, energy, motivation and self-improvement so that you’re at your best for each match.
To say that there’s a story in Road to Elite would be a bit generous, as it’s more like a Choose Your Own Adventure tale where the page you turn to is governed by whether you win or lose your matches. And those matches often feel very random, but if you say that’s true to how Dynamite (and now Collision) are booked at times in real life, it’s hard to argue against that.
Interactions with other AEW talent are limited to text as there’s no voice acting — a fact that gets lampshaded at one point. In face the writing overall is wryly funny, breaking the fourth wall without going overboard into farce. That and the opponents changing even if you end up in the same “block” during a new playthrough means Road to Elite has some decent replay value, which is good since ambitious types will want to level up numerous created wrestlers.
Speaking of which …
The customization options are fine, not amazing
To a certain extent, the custom wrestler feature in AEW Fight Forever is going to be as good as the most creative people in the game’s community make it. It’s not that anything really big is lacking; you can create men or women wrestlers, picking everything from their name to height to social media handle. The tools let you set every detail of their appearance, from body type to entrance and in-ring gear. You can also build the wrestler’s entire move-set and set all the details of their entrance scene.
All of those aspects are more or less expected from modern wrestling games and they’re all here. What is missing is just more of everything: There are only eight male faces, for instance, and only four body types. The list of moves and poses is pretty extensive by comparison, but still not as comprehensive as in some other wrestling games.
That goes for the custom arena tool too. Currency won by completing challenges in any mode is used to unlock more options, but Yuke’s may want to consider beefing this area up in future updates if at all possible.
Audio shines, visuals are inconsistent
Planning on playing Road to Elite with the sound turned down and your earbuds in? You’re going to be missing out on some of the game’s best details, which are its sounds.
The crowd reacts to the action in the ring splendidly, chanting for wrestlers with a lot of momentum at appropriate times. Ring announcer Justin Roberts does his thing with the intros, though strangely there is no play-by-play even thought there are voice clips from Tony Schiavone, Jim Ross, Excalibur and Taz in menus and other places.
The soundtrack is excellent, and worth going into the in-game jukebox to set up a playlist. You’ll find a truly massive amount of wrestler themes, plus some additional tracks by AEW wrestlers and more.
The graphics were arguably the biggest point of consternation during the long wait for Fight Forever’s release, and it’s fair to say they won’t be unanimously loved. It’s not the choice of graphical style that’s the issue, but that the character models are all over the place. Some look exactly like the wrestlers while others feel a bit off. Some wrestlers looks wonky in the menus but fine in the ring. On the plus side, it’s all animated fluidly, and doesn’t lose much even going from PS5 to PS4.
The roster has room to improve
One of the more interesting tidbits that came out during the game’s development cycle was that Fight Forever isn’t expected to be an annual release, but rather a game that will receive numerous content updates over time. If that is indeed the case, fleshing out the roster will almost certainly be request No. 1 from many fans.
Maybe it’s a side effect of AEW’s large real life locker room, but even with 30+ men and 12 men playable at launch (plus you can unlock Cody Rhodes and Aubrey Edwards pretty quickly), the number of omissions adds up quickly. Tag teams are especially shallow, with FTR and The Acclaimed both missing. So is AEW Women’s World Champion Toni Storm, to say nothing of newer arrivals like Saraya.
Some big names are coming in the season pass, including FTR, Hook and Danhausen, but that’s not going to be enough to satisfy the most ardent AEW fans.
The verdict: A good first outing with room to grow
Perhaps even more so that games based on unscripted sports, it’s crucial for a wrestling game to nail the gameplay and aesthetic it’s aiming for, because features can be added and rosters can be beefed up, especially in this day and age.
That being the case, AEW Fight Forever hits more than it misses in its first time out. It’s a game that’s easy to pick up but still rewards anyone who wants to dive into the more advanced minutiae, and that’s not an easy balance to achieve. Perhaps more importantly, it feels like AEW, in ways both good and bad.
Just like AEW itself, Fight Forever offers a compelling option for gamers who have long had only one wrestling game series from which to choose, and that alone is reason to celebrate.
Pros:
- Fast, fluid, arcade-style gameplay still retains a level of familiarity in its controls
- Deep soundtrack with everything you’d expect and much more
- Road to Elite has its charms, plus some real replay value for created wrestlers
Cons:
- Inconsistency in character models leaves a little bit to be desired
- Roster and customization options definitely feel shallow