Another year rolls around, another WWE 2K entry crawls out from underneath the ring. By now, it’s clear that developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K Games have nailed down a winning formula with the way these titles have recently been structured and designed, so the amount of new gameplay twists and turns thrown at you this time around might not necessarily blow you away or signify a drastically noticeable evolution for the franchise. Instead, WWE 2K24 seeks to improve upon existing mechanics and features, while injecting in some much-welcomed new content rounding out the overall experience and heightening immersion like never before.



All the usual modes return, including MyGM, MyFaction, MyRise, Showcase and Universe – the number of additions and changes varying between each option, from basically zero to many. Four new match types have also been added to the already large line-up available for selection, namely Casket, Gauntlet, Ambulance, and Special Guest Referee matches. Casket and Ambulance wins are accomplished through a series of button mashes, as you desperately try and either lock your opponent into the back of the vehicle or seal their fate within the casket placed at ringside. If Special Guest Referee is more your style, know that there are systems in place to ensure you don’t abuse your authority – but you could always just turn those off.



Switching to the main dishes on offer, the grand overarching theme for WWE 2K24’s Showcase mode this year centres around celebrating four decades of Wrestlemania, dropping you into iconic matches both classic and modern - from Ricky Steamboat vs Randy Savage to Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns. Completing these chapters and fulfilling the provided mid-match objectives gets you some essential unlockables, as you’d expect, such as additional characters and arenas.

All the usual modes return, including MyGM, MyFaction, MyRise, Showcase and Universe – the number of additions and changes varying between each option, from basically zero to many.

While reliving these matches was certainly a fantastic trip down memory lane, the lack of commentary and generic music edited in over the original video footage is, and always will be, immensely disappointing. For now, we’ll all just have to settle for Corey Graves summarising each match in suitably dramatic fashion, and collectively pray for some form of genuinely interesting innovations for this mode in future releases.



Moving on, everyone’s favourite card collecting distraction, MyFaction, now contains a handful of “persona” cards that unlock additional appearances for wrestlers usable throughout the entirety of the game – including one or two more of those truly nightmarish life-size action figure versions locked behind a pre-order/special edition bonus or a redeemable locker code. Also, if this is the corner of WWE 2K24 that you spend most of your time hiding away in, you’ll be pleased to know that ranked matchmaking is officially a thing.

I’ve personally never been a huge fan of MyFaction, but it’s nice to see adjustments being made for those out there who eat, breathe, and excrete this mode. Build your deck of male and female talent, augment their abilities with equippable side plates and Manager cards, and climb those leaderboards to glory.



Universe mode, while not exactly bursting at the seams with new features, does seem to be more stable in its automatic booking functionality, although it’s still far from perfect. While time-consuming, I’d still encourage micromanaging your weekly shows and selecting matchups by hand over letting the game make the decisions on your behalf. New cutscenes and enhanced rivalry action options allow you to tell the stories you want to tell, with double-title Universe matches also making their long-awaited fleshed-out debut with accompanying entrance and victory scenes.

Perhaps the most amount of attention this time around has been given to MyGM, switching up how a few core features operate and introducing new gameplay opportunities, in addition to improving the variety of email conversations and wrestler requests – although, not to a major degree from what I’ve seen.



ECW has also been added as a brand choice, with Visual Concepts opting for realism by not offering any female titles for the promotion whatsoever – although you’re still allowed to draft women to your roster, of course.
Triple H continues to set you goals that make absolutely zero sense, dangling those tantalising power cards inches away from your nose as an incentive for unquestioningly obeying his orders. As always, it’s up to you as the General Manager to efficiently manage risk and reward when necessary. This extends to the new trading mechanic that triggers after every PLE, where you’ll have the opportunity to exchange a combination of either talent or cash with your rivals. After your offers are either agreed upon or declined, the other brands may likewise approach you with their own set of proposals.

Perhaps the most amount of attention this time around has been given to MyGM, switching up how a few core features operate and introducing new gameplay opportunities.

Sticking to MyGM here, all wrestlers now accumulate ring experience after competing in a match, with every couple of levels awarding an unlockable perk that ranges from gaining the ability to switch to another class via promo slot, to lessening the amount of stamina consumed when booked that week. Interestingly, a single match specialisation perk appears to be available by default for every Superstar (conveniently visible when setting up your show) and placing them in a fight of that type increases the match’s overall quality. On that same booking note, backstage prep and arena choice are permanently locked in after selecting an upgrade and require the usage of a resource known as “assets” to purchase, in addition to cash.



As a bonus, if you’ve enabled the corresponding option during MyGM setup, these investments may also unlock additional match types for use within the mode.

Last up, but most definitely not least, on our WWE 2K24 mode tour is MyRise. Like last year, you’re given two surprisingly meaty storylines to play through, Unleashed or Undisputed – each focusing on approaching your rise to prominence within the professional wrestling world from a different origin point, unlocking more customisation goodies along the way. Choices determine your path forward and serve as the primary motivation for subsequent replays.

As always, engaging in as many side quests as possible is highly advised if you want to maximise your character’s statistics using the awarded points. I am also pleased to report that voice acting seems to have improved somewhat, even if the staff and wrestlers you talk to will still mostly cycle through the same mouth-flap animations that don’t match what they’re saying in the least.



In comparison to the relatively stable day one state of last year’s WWE 2K23 release (at least on PS5), WWE 2K24 feels slightly rougher around the edges. These issues aren’t anything one or two patches can’t eradicate, but it does drag down the experience to some degree. As you might expect, these problems pop up both in and outside the ring. For example, the community creations screen still takes an inordinately lengthy period of time to populate, sometimes not working at all and requiring multiple access attempts before anything appears. And if basic AI frustrations like referees taking two to four business weeks to begin the pin count, or rival managers seemingly removing turnbuckle covers at an accelerated pace weren’t annoying enough, I somehow ended up spectating what very well could have been an infinite TLC match between Dijak and Jey Uso.

In comparison to the relatively stable day one state of last year’s WWE 2K23 release (at least on PS5), WWE 2K24 feels slightly rougher around the edges.

After both participant’s first attempt at retrieving the briefcase dangling above the ring, the two proceeded to then beat the ever-loving hell out of each other for around 40 more minutes before I put an end to the ordeal and quit to the menu. Neither Dijak nor Uso seemed to want to use or acknowledge either one of the two ladders at ringside, resulting in zero further attempts to actually win the match as intended.



This was the biggest problem I came across throughout my playtime, although it’s entirely possible that, due to the sheer amount of content available to mess around with, I simply got lucky and never stumbled into any other buggy land mines. On the plus side, I did get to witness the updated blood system being pushed to its absolute limit in spectacular fashion as a result of that TLC situation – now staining the ring mat overt time and persisting throughout the match.

The larger features I’ve primarily focused on throughout this review pale in comparison to the laundry list of smaller touch-ups and details sprinkled liberally throughout WWE 2K24’s many gameplay types. Aside from the aforementioned improvements to blood simulation and appearance, other examples of neat additions include the ability to throw weapons, four-player Backstage Brawls, crowds responding with unique animations for specific wrestlers (like Jey Uso and Roman Reigns), a timing-oriented trading blows minigame, multiple camera angles (including a ramp view and free-roaming camera), updates to some wrestler image renders and in-game models, brand-exclusive ring announcers, and much more. Like I said, these may not be life-changing alterations, but the collective sum of all these small elements combine to create a noticeably more refined and immersive experience.



WWE 2K24 takes everything that made its prior instalment so wonderfully addictive and cranks it up ever-so-slightly, featuring just enough new material to entice fans to dive right back into that squared circle. Despite a number of technical anomalies that a few patches will no doubt address, the game is still incredibly fun to play and will no doubt keep fans of the long-running franchise busy for hours upon hours – up to and beyond Wrestlemania, where Cody will finally finish the damn story.

*PS5 Review code provided by 2K Games | Reviewed by Ryan Pretorius