WWE 2K24 (XSX) Review – Past & Present Collide!

12 months ago, I called WWE 2K23 a bit of a breath of fresh air when it came to the WWE 2K series. After the horrible WWE 2K20, 2K Games has been doing everything they could to win back WWE and wrestling gaming fans. WWE 2K22 was the step in the right direction, WWE 2K23 took another step towards a good balance between simulation and arcade gaming… and WWE 2K24 seems to take another step forward, before taking a few steps backward. What do I mean by that? Jump into the ring, and I’ll tell you… BROTHER!!

Name: WWE 2K24
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S (reviewed), PC
Developer: 2K Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Game Type: Sports Simulation
Mode(s): Single Player, Multiplayer
Release Date: March 8, 2024

WWE 2K24: More Events than Wrestlemania Weekend (Game Modes)

WWE 2K24 comes to use (LIVE!) with many of the same gameplay modes as it did in the previous 2 years of releases. For some reason, though, this year it seems like WWE 2K24 has too much to do in one game, making everything feel like it’s overwhelming at times to play it all (Especially for reviewers). You have the main grouping of modes: MyFaction, MyGM, 2 MyRise modes, WWE Universe, general Play, and the Showcase mode. I know gamers love variety, but this is bordering on too much.

WWE Showcase: 40 Years of Wrestlemania

Starting things off with the main sales pitch for WWE 2K24, bring the Showcase mode. This year, the showcase in question is 40 Years of Wrestlemania, the WWE’s biggest event every year. While this showcase was done 10 years ago in WWE 2K14 to great acclaim, this version, which has more things to focus on, actually has less to do overall when looking back at the WWE 2K14 30 Years of Wrestlemania mode.

When looking at 40 Years of Wrestlemania, two things become a problem for this mode:

1. Due to deaths, legal issues, and contractual conflicts, a lot of wrestlers who appear in key moments in Wrestlemania history cannot appear this time around
2. WWE 2K’s new showcase style of interlacing video and gameplay tends to favor the video side of things over the gameplay side of things.

Starting things out, there are decisions with 40 Years of Wrestlemania that do not make sense. For example, we have Muhammad Ali appearing in the game, but the first Wrestlemania in which he appears is completely skipped over. We have Randy Savage and George Steel in the game, but Wrestlemania 2 where the two had a match and their story leading into Wrestlemania 3 (Steel was involved on Steamboat’s side in the classic Steamboat has with Savage) was started… Again, it has no matches. The whole of Wrestlemania 4, Wrestlemania 7, Wrestlemania 9, and more are completely skipped over either because WWE/2K Games either had issues with licensing or just couldn’t be bothered adding something from each show into the mode to keep the mode a “sustainable size”.

Then, you have the actual events themselves. Regarding what I can talk about, here are the first 7 matches in 40 Years of Wrestlemania:

• Wrestlemania 3: Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat vs “Macho Man” Randy Savage (WWF Intercontinental Championship)
• Wrestlemania 3: Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant
• Wrestlemania 5: Ultimate Warrior vs Ravishing Rick Rude (WWF Intercontinental Championship)
• Wrestlemania 5: “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs Hulk Hogan (WWF Championship)
• Wrestlemania 6: Ultimate Warrior vs Hulk Hogan (WWF Championship/ WWF Intercontinental Championship)
• Wrestlemania 8: Bret Hart vs Roddy Piper (WWF Intercontinental Championship)
• Wrestlemania 10: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (Ladder match for the Undisputed WWF Intercontinental Championship)

There’s no issue with the selection of matches, as all of these (and many others) are bonified Wrestlemania classic matches worthy of a spot in the 40 Years of Wrestlemania selection. My issue here is that the showcase style of interlacing video through the matches is more focused on making us watch than playing the big moments in these matches.

For example, Wrestlemania 3 gives us the classic Hulk Hogan vs Andre the Giant main event, which is known for the moment Hulk Hogan lifts Andre for a bodyslam that was heard all around the world. So you would think that when this big moment came, we would get to do the moment, lifting Andre and giving the big slam… Nope! You get to watch it. Then once it is over, you get a few moments to get some random moves in, then win the match… Sometimes… Other times you’ll watch the ending to the match, such as Savage vs Steamboat, you don’t get to play the finish, you get to watch the finish.

For something that is meant to celebrate Wrestlemania through 40 years, the more I watched/played this mode, the more I wanted to go back and play WWE 2K14, where I could interact more with the match than watch what happened. If I wanted to watch former Wrestlemania matches, I could watch the WWE Network on Binge, or go back into my private collection of events and watch those. I want to PLAY these matches, not watch them. This is 2K Games selecting a style that might look good but was the wrong choice for this mode.

WWE 2K24 MyRise

The second good mode in WWE 2K24 is MyRise, which once again has been split into two versions: MyRise Undisputed, the male story mode, sees you as a created character win the WWE Universal Championship after Roman Reigns gives up the title after over 1200 days as champion. After winning the championship from a completely unknown entrant in a tournament at Summerslam, you get locked into a storyline where you must defend the championship against Roman Reigns, The Bloodline, and the rest of the WWE roster.

MyRise Unleashed, the female story mode, sees you start as an independent wrestler at TBD, a local promotion, and after attending a WWE Try Out event, get a chance to face off against WWE Superstar Shotzi (Who has a grudge against you as you didn’t allow her to wrestle in TBD), and get signed to the WWE thanks to a match you were never meant to win.

Each mode is a solid 6 or so hours worth of gameplay, with many twists and turns dictated by decisions you make backstage and in the ring. You’ll form alliances, go through many feuds, get challenged through match types and scripted segments, gain and lose championships, and much more. While not being a long story mode like WWE 2K20 and previous games would do, these bite-sized versions are much more focused and have a good payoff as you play.

WWE 2K24 MyGM

Once upon a time, in the early days of PC gaming, there was an independent game by Adam Ryland called Extreme Warfare, a wrestling management simulation game where you were put in control of WWF or WCW and were forced to compete against each other every week. I mention this game because it is the genesis of what would eventually become GM mode in the Smackdown series of games, evolving into the MyGM that we see today. I’m not saying Mr Ryland is involved in this mode at all, but his DOS creation is what created the obsession with wrestling fans wanting this mode in wrestling games… And I wish they would stop asking.

MyGM is boring as hell for a majority of wrestling fans. You pick a GM, a brand, and one or more opposing GMs with their brands, draft a starting roster, and then battle against them in weekly shows and a monthly PLE (Premium Live Events, formerly known as Pay-Per-Views) to be the number one brand in sports entertainment.

As GM, you have to manage your roster, their contracts, health, stats, morale, and requests while keeping your show under budget, growing your attendance and viewership, evolving your arena, advertising, backstage production, show effects, and more. The simulation geeks will love this mode as it is just like playing Football Manager, except you get to play your matches for your brand… or you can be lazy and simulate the matches for random results.

There is a lot of depth in MyGM, and I’m sure there is a crowd for it. However, I think AEW (All Elite Wrestling) got it right, kept this mode out of their main game, and sent the thing to mobile, where management simulation games belong.

WWE 2K24 MyFaction

Alright, let’s talk about the one mode I hate every year: MyFaction. Yes, I’ll admit straight out that I DO NOT like this mode at all. There is nothing I enjoy about a game mode that gets linked into everything and is designed to take extra money out of your wallet after buying the product.

The first thing I want to elaborate on is how MyFaction is linked to everything. There are a few roster members who you cannot unlock until you either “meet” them in MyFaction, or unlock their card in that mode. Does this mean you are going to spend money? Possibly. At the time of writing, I haven’t unlocked any of those character cards and 2K Games does not allow access to the VC you can purchase via real money to see what can be done that way…

Side note: as mentioned above, the VC prices were unavailable before the embargo date of March 4

Speaking of unlockables, it seems there will be a lot of different costumes available exclusively through MyFaction, called “Persona” cards. These are the cards that will give you things like the “Elite” Cody Rhodes costume/character for selection. So much like WWE 2K23, there are going to be a fair bit locked behind this mode, which is a shame because this should not be the reason anyone should be playing a WWE game.

But since I mentioned it, let’s talk about gameplay for a moment. MyFaction has multiple modes within it to spend time on. The main one is Faction Wars, a multi-track gauntlet mode where you fight your way through to a boss group or character to unlock modifications to your faction or individual cards. While this mode is a time sink for sure, it quickly becomes boring, but it is a must because MyFaction is linked to unlocking everything.

You also have Weekly Towers along with a Proving Grounds mode as the other single-player options for you to kill time with MyFaction. However, I’m sure most people will be playing the Live Event online mode, where you will get different challenges to do, with the reward being special costumes, items, etc.

All this time, remember that you will need to strengthen your faction, and cards, and get new characters (wrestlers and managers) for your lineup, which means you will need to go into the Card Store for packs, bundles, and individual character cards. All of these things cost currency. You can pay for upgrades with colored WWE tokens, and get packs/bundles with MFP (MyFaction Points) or VC (Virtual Currency). You do gain the Tokens and MFP through normal gameplay, with extras given as rewards for challenges and chest unlocks in Faction Wars. VC can only be purchased via the store, which again, pricing was not available at the time of writing (Hidden on purpose to avoid upsetting reviewers, such as myself, who would use pricing against the overall score of the game… Which I will still do). VC is the cheapest level of cost in-game as you’re paying real money instead of grinding the VERY SLOW other currencies.

WWE 2K24 WWE Universe

There is a weird feeling behind playing WWE Universe mode. This game mode is very much like MyGM but without the management simulation involved. With WWE Universe, you get two modes: The first is the classic mode where you manage the whole of the WWE programming schedule, booking feuds, matches, and more for the three main WWE brands (RAW, Smackdown, and NXT 2.0), or you can add your own custom brand and roster into the game and see how a 4th brand fairs in a crowded TV schedule.

The second mode sees you taking control of a single WWE Superstar and building their career through the years to get them into the WWE Hall of Fame. Think of this version of WWE Universe as MyRise for already-established wrestlers. I prefer this mode over the full sandbox as I don’t have to do as much to manage a single wrestler over a whole company… I don’t think I’m made out to be a CEO of anything, as my old age catches up with me.

The other thing that is weird is why is this mode is still around when MyGM is the more requested mode? Both are management-style modes and almost play the same way. If 2K Games was looking to make something closer to the older style of GM mode that fans want, then they need to look into balancing WWE Universe classic and MyGM into a single mode. Maybe that is something they can do in the future and lessen the huge amount of modes WWE 2K24 has.

WWE 2K24 Creation Modes

I do not need to tell anyone that WWE 2K games feature the BEST character creation suite outside of Skyrim and Baldur’s Gate 3; BAR NONE! So, seeing the insane amount of options in WWE 2K24 does not come as a surprise at all. With all the graphical upgrades that came with this game, the detail of the created wrestlers is a lot better than it has been in previous games. Even the women have had upgrades too, which is something that I love.

While you can do other creative things like create a belt, arena, entrance, etc. I prefer to leave these things to the professionals with a lot more time and patience than I have to create replicas of other wrestlers, arenas, etc. These people (most of whom you can find through YouTube, with many of the same creators appearing each year) are well worth following and favoriting through the online Community Creations mode… or if you’re brave enough, you can upload your own creations for digital glory.

But beware, there is a high chance that WWE 2K24 will have the same downfall as previous years regarding creation: The 1000 image limit. For years this has been the default maximum for images in the games, something that many people have wanted increased as one of the best things to do with WWE 2K24 is to add wrestlers who didn’t make the roster, or wrestlers from other companies (along with Arenas, titles, etc). There would be some genuine surprise if 2K Games increased this limit beyond 1000 images, but I doubt it.

WWE 2K24 Online

If you’re wondering about online… Me too! Online multiplayer was not available at the time of review.

Best Looking Action Figures on the Shelf (Graphics)

Ever since moving to an internal studio with WWE 2K20, the graphical quality of the WWE 2K series has improved in leaps and bounds. Moving the series onto PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S as the baseline has shown what can be created when you leave the last generation behind (Yes, I know the PlayStation 4 version exists).

WWE 2K24 has some of the best-looking scans of wrestlers ever produced in this series. One of the biggest improvements is one that I’ve had issues with for many games: The women. Before this year, the WWE women’s roster looked like it was either made with the create-a-wrestler suite or had some of the worst scans ever seen in the game. This year, it looks like 2K Games has given enough of a crap to scan the women properly and modeled them correctly. I’m not just talking about the cover girls, Rhea and Bianca, either; all the women look as close as they can be to their real-life counterparts more than ever before.

The level of detail extends to all other aspects of the game, too. The arenas look almost perfect, the belts look 3D in detail rather than a flat texture, and even the crowd looks better than it has in previous years. Even the usual graphical issues with wrestlers clipping through the ropes, getting tangled up on each other’s feet, and other problems seem to be a thing of the past, with the ropes glitch only happening one time in my review period.

The whole game looks like it has had some extra detail added to it that shines, especially when you play on a 4K TV. To say that this is the best-looking WWE game in a long time is something I’m happy to add to this review… Even if 90% of the characters are recycled from WWE 2K23.

A Longer Undefeated Streak than The Undertaker (Gameplay)

I’m not sure if it is me getting used to the new control scheme that 2K Games implemented in WWE 2K22, or if the development team has been listening to fans and made the controls a bit more user-friendly, but playing WWE 2K24 feels like one of the smoothest wrestling experiences in a long time.

For a majority of the controls, things are still the same. You use combos to link into moves, you can grapple into other moves, directional combat is as good as ever with dodging being a great mechanic to use in matches, and reversals work properly with longer timing for button presses allowing you to counter moves this time. Everything in WWE 2K24 is simple and not frustrating… Until the AI decides not to allow you to do anything and stun locks you into submission (Not literally, but in a gameplay sense).

The AI is the same as it has been in the last 2 WWE 2K games, meaning it will spam the same move over and over again until you might as well give up and either restart the match, which I did multiple times throughout the Showcase mode or throw your controller through the TV out of anger levels that had my wife wondering if I was about to have a heart attack. Video games should be relaxing, with tension and high blood pressure only being present in intense situations or horror games. Games like WWE 2K24 should be those of fantasy, of living moments that no normal person could do in real life, but WWE 2K24, like the last two games before it, is designed to keep you at the maximum stress threshold for no reason at all. Even on the easiest difficulty, this game doesn’t care about making something fun or relaxing; it’s all about pissing you off to no end so that you will keep playing because it “challenges you”… No 2K, this is not challenging, this is a system designed to cheat and piss people off.

2K Games has done a good job of adding different match types to each game. With WWE 2K23, we got the War Games cage match, which brought a long-time wish of mine to play a game with that match true. This year, we got 2 more matches added to the game: An ambulance match and the infamous Casket Match.

Both of these matches play in a pretty similar style. You beat down your opponent by any means necessary, open the Ambulance doors/Coffin lid, whip your opponent into the Ambulance/Coffin, and play button mashing game to win. While this was fun the first few times, after a few games to get some time with the matches, I found things to be way too easy with no other interaction options available with each match to keep things fresh.

Does this mean that the matches are boring? Not by a long shot. I could keep throwing people off the Ambulance over and over again for a million matches and still be entertained. The only thing I would do is add more to the Casket match in terms of location. Maybe have a mound of dirt to bury the coffin in at the entryway much like the Bragging Rights 2010 version where Kane buried The Undertaker (The match that leads to their Wrestlemania XX match) just to mix things up a bit.

WWE 2K24: Play Then, Now, and Forever (Replayability)

There is a lot to praise WWE 2K24 with when it comes to gameplay, which is more balanced than ever, and graphics, which are as detailed as ever. The combination of the two makes WWE 2K24 possibly the best playing and looking WWE game in the series to date and something that every wrestling fan should add to their collection. Even if you are just using this game to create a better version of AEW: Fight Forever or your own wrestling simulation game, this is the game you need in order to do that.

For WWE 2K24 to release in a very stable state from the get-go is something that hasn’t happened in decades, and means that the development team is taking their time with the title, even if it is using a lot of the same assets and gameplay engine from previous years as a base. This game is the improvement that yearly games should get when moving to a new generation of consoles.

WWE 2K24 proves that there are too many modes in the game, with too much tied into each mode to unlock for general use. The biggest example is MyFaction being used to lock characters away in the general roster. Not everyone wants to play MyFaction… Or spend money on it. Putting characters, arenas, and other stuff behind MyRise and Showcase mode is ok since those are played more by people who bought the game. Also, 2K Games needs to pick between MyGM and WWE Universe modes and remove the other because it’s pointless having two modes that are essentially the same thing.

Then there is the disrespect that is the Showcase mode. 40 Years of Wrestlemania, and there were way too many years skipped in order to prop up the more modern WWE. I know some matches could not happen due to rights issues or contracts, but there was something to be salvaged here. Yet, much like WWE today, 2K Games seemed to be focused on burying the past to rewrite history for the present, and as someone who is a student of wrestling, I love the history of the business and think it is something to be respected, this mode did none of that. WWE 2K14 did a better job and we got to play more of the matches than we did this time around.

Better than WWE 2K20, Far from WWE 2K*Insert favorite year here* (Closing)

To say that WWE 2K24 is an improvement over a couple of already impressive couple of entries in WWE 2K22 & WWE 2K23 is something I didn’t think I would say, but it’s true. The graphics and gameplay have been improved and balanced much better than in previous years, and there is some improvement in just about every mode. However, I now feel that 2K Games needs to look at where to cut the fat with the WWE games.

WWE 2K24 is one of the better WWE games I’ve played in a long time, but at the same time, I couldn’t think of WWE 2K24 as a game; it’s nothing more than a second job. Through either microtransaction systems designed to drain your wallet, to the game just being a stress test in broken and unbalanced gameplay, WWE 2K24 is designed with the flaw of 2K wanting you to play this game, and only this game, all the time and makes sure that unlocking the content is as painful as possible.

I’m getting sick of games that treat players like employees, not as gamers who paid for a game. I don’t want to be spending all my time grinding modes, to get access to the full content I paid for. This is not gaming; it’s corporate greed run amok and needs to end. WWE 2K24 had a good base here, as they have done for the past two years, but then they fucked it up with bad game design and business practices. 2K Games needs to change their ways or this series will always take one step forward, then two sets backwards with a lower score every time they fuck things up like this.

Review Disclosure Statement: WWE 2K24 was provided to us by 2K Games for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please review our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy for more info.