WWE celebrated Royal Rumble weekend in Tampa and we had a chance to check outWWE 2K24in a limited form to see what kind of improvements were made from prior entries. Our demo build offered up regular matches, three showcase matches, the backstage brawl and the all-new ambulance match to enjoy along with a truncated roster. Thankfully, our time with the game did enable us to explore the new super finisher system as well as the expanded slots for signatures and finishers that open the door to having definitive versions of wrestlers without traditional moveset limitations.
The Showcase matches available to play in the demo were “Ravishing” Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior from WrestleMania V and two WrestleMania 39 (WrestleMania Goes Hollywood) matches in Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair and the night two main event of Roman Reigns vs. “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes. As with prior years, the Showcase mode is all about capturing the essence of a match, its grandeur and story while also integrating real-world footage into the in-game events. So you could start with doing something like The Rock’s spinebuster in the game and then transition into a frame-accurate video clip of him doing the People’s Elbow afterwards. It’s a great feature and something that has been in the series for a while – but is better now than it’s ever been before.
Enhanced Showcase Mode
Due to likeness rights, things like referee faces have had to be blurred out in these transitions and it gets to be jarring. One upside to WWE’s massive production is its overall high-fidelity footage, but the usage of closeups on referees can lead to things like a face being blurred out during a crucial transition in a match and it takes you out of the moment a bit. InWWE 2K24, real-life officials are kept intact as much as possible. Beyond making you appreciate the real-life referees more, it also keeps things more realistic and allows for matches to have an even better in-game flow because there’s nothing to ruin the moment.
The core match format is about the same as it always has been with this series, but has gotten more wide open and less rigid in terms of how you accomplish certain tasks, so instead of having to use a limited set of moves at ringside, for example, you can now do anything to deal out damage. This comes in handy as a way to allow the player to learn the ropes for the game, which Showcase mode is great at since it gives you button prompts for pretty much every major objective, but also as a way for the player to put their own stamp on a classic match. Playing through the Rhea Ripley vs. Charlotte Flair match allowed me to see how much work went into replicating SoFi Stadium, the home of WM 39 and the extravagant entrances and it’s impressive to see one of the company’s best-looking events in its history replicated in game form.
Revamped Gameplay Mechanics
2K24features a new trading blows mini-game – meant to replicate strike exchanges and especially the forearm shiver exchanges featured in Japan over the past 15 years. Prior games have allowed for back and forth strikes, but not with this level of fluidity from strike to strike. Holding the square/X button allows the player, once per match, to initiate this – but it can also be done after a last-second reversal or kickout. This brings up a timing zone akin to the pin mini-game where you hit the button within the circular zone and can eventually win the mini-game. Chops and punches are enabled and we’ll see in the full game if the attacks for this mini-game are available to be changed or not to better replicate things like forearm exchanges ala now or chop exchanges ala Flair vs. Steamboat or Flair vs. Ronnie Garvin.
The biggest core gameplay enhancement compared to the prior entries is the Super Finisher system alongside the massive improvement on slots for signatures and finishers as a whole. There’s an avalanche of natural selection, an avalanche curb stomp, Randy Orton’s punt kick, Kevin Owens' package piledriver, avalanche Manhandle slam, avalanche Riptide, a springboard Stomp, avalanche RKO, corner Superman punch/spear combo and the trifecta of Cross Rhodes so far. Having these moves slotted in a new way allows for a far better and more accurate in-game version of a wrestler. With Orton, you either had to go without something like the punt in the moveset or slot it in a finisher spot and take away from an RKO. Ditto Reigns' corner Superman punch/spear, which I usually just made a regular corner attack and can now put into a more logical super move category. Having a jump up to five signature slots enables so many different versions of wrestlers to be put into the game – like having a definitive indy and WWE hybrid version of Kevin Owens or a version of Brock Lesnar that combines his many different eras into one version of the character.
The backstage brawling feature of the series has been a staple ever since the very first SmackDown game on the PS1 in 2000 and in that time, we’ve seen it evolve from a larger, interconnected area with a variety of surfaces to fight on and things to interact with organically to a smaller area hooked onto ringside to now a separate area that has been changed up a bit from the last couple of games. Players now have access to an elevator to get from lower to higher levels faster instead of slowly using ladders. The usage of glass is also increased, with players being able to make their opponents cry a river when being tossed through real glass. Environmental interaction is a bigger part of the backstage area, with things like drinks being used evoking the peak early ’00s days of the mode.
Enhanced Mayhem
Weapons can also be thrown, which is wonky, but still worked for things like taking foes off of the top rope. This feature was in the SD series as well as the Day of Reckoning series and worked well there as a way to daze a foe before a big move. Right now, it leads to some off physics with objects bouncing off of ropes, but that could be remedied by release time. The most-impressive weapon improvement came from things like trash cans resulting in more realistic animations when slamming people onto them. A flush attack on it can send someone bent over the can ala Homer Simpson against the fire hydrant or Mick Foley on the guardrail against Paul Orndorff and it looked wonderfully violent.
There are new camera options available to help immerse players, including a stage-facing camera that evokes what was seen in the early ’00s games. This makes it easy to get into fights on the apron area and throw people exactly where you want – which was iffy in2K23, where folks would kind of go in a straight direction instead of any diagonal presses being registered for the throw. The Royal Rumble mode also features a Spectator mode, allowing you to keep the camera at any angle you want or freely move it around. It’s essentially offering the same level of control over the camera players have had for many years with the Highlight Reel option for either screenshots for clips for entrance videos, but in real-time. It’s immersive and a great “little” feature that makes you appreciate the cinematography on display at a wrestling show – something that’s easier to notice now with companies like NOAH, New Japan and AEW emphasizing it when throughout history, wrestling has been more about just getting something on the screen instead of emphasizing how beautiful it can look.
Our time with the game showed off the best-looking and best-playing entry in the revamped Visual Concepts-developed version of the series from 2022 onwards, and we’ll get a better look at how the final product stacks up when it releases. So far, everything is in place to have both a satisfying pro wrestling experience as well as one that accurately replicates WWE’s sports entertainment-centric approach to pro wrestling as a whole.WWE 2K24is set for release on June 02, 2025 for the standard edition or March 5 for those buying deluxe or higher versions of the game.
WWE 2K24 Cover Superstars Revealed
Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair are the cover superstars for various versions of WWE 2K24
