Find out what makes AEW’s first home computer game stand out.
All Elite Wrestling’s first console game, AEW Fight Forever, took more than three years to make. The teams at THQ Nordic and Yuke’s worked hard to make it a love letter to fifth-generation wrestling games with a modern cast and current-gen graphics.
Even though this game isn’t as big as a normal WWE annual release, it has a lot of different ways to play that make it stand out. Fans who haven’t watched wrestling in a while will also be shocked to learn that Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson (aka Daniel Bryan), and Jon Moxley (aka Dean Ambrose) are all playable characters in AEW Fight Forever.
Career Mode
Like WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64, AEW Fight Forever has a story mode where you can play as any of the game’s wrestlers, even Owen Hart, who passed away. Compared to what you might find in a current WWE game where you have to play as a custom wrestler, this is a simpler career mode.
In this mode, you compete in matches, and your story goes in different directions based on whether you win or lose. You will also get skill points if you work out and do what the quick-time event tells you to do. Skill points are used to unlock skills, like adding more finisher spots or making it easier to get to the top turnbuckle.
Intergender Wrestling
Intergender wrestling hasn’t been allowed in the WWE 2K series, except for the diluted Mixed Tag Match type, for almost a decade. This is to keep sponsors from getting upset. AEW Fight Forever doesn’t have these kinds of rules. You can have female characters fight against male characters, just like in Street Fighter and other standard fighting games.
So, if you want to play as Kris Statlander, a female wrestler, and fight CM Punk, a male wrestler, the game won’t stop you or limit you in any way. Female wrestlers can take part in matches between guys, whether there are two, three, or four competitors.
Double-Team Attacks In Online Co-Op
Tag or two-on-two matches are pushed as the best way to play online by AEW Fight Forever. During certain parts of these fights, you can use a unique tag team mechanic to pull off double-team moves by following simple on-screen prompts.
No matter which wrestler you are using, you can do a tag team move with any other fighter. This makes it fair for both teams to play, even if the fighters you choose don’t work well together.
A Unique Selection Of Weapons
In Fight Forever, you can use more than 40 guns in a match like the Lights Out Match. In WWE 2K23, you can only use nine weapons. The list of weapons ranges from steel chairs and tables to fire extinguishers and trash cans, which are often used in hard-core matches.
You can even use tools that are unique to certain wrestlers, like Darby Allin’s skateboard, to do tricks. Hikaru Shida’s Kendo Stick, Jericho’s “Bottle of Bubbly,” a tire, and a shoe with thumbtacks are also strange weapons. This is one of the game’s less well-known parts that you could spend hours playing around with.
Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch
This kind of hard-core Japanese match is a one-on-one match in AEW Fight Forever. The first Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch took place in AEW in 2021. It is AEW’s version of WWE’s Hell in a Cell and other signature events.
Even though the barbed wire ropes and beds look scary. They are more funny than dangerous when wrestlers fall on them or run into them. This causes funny explosions and launches of opponents into the air. This match makes Backrooms Game feel even more like a pinball game.
Mini-Games
There are more than a dozen different four-player minigames in the new AEW game. Some of the minigames let you play as your favorite wrestler and do things in a ring or arena. These games are Shida’s Slugfest, Chip Gather, and Box Breaker. Minigames like AEW Pop Quiz, Spot the Difference. And Count ‘Em Up are simpler ones where you control either a cursor or a count.
Even though some of the minigames in AEW Fight Forever are very easy. The developers did a good job of making it feel like Mario Party if you want to do something other than watch pro wrestling. In Career Mode, you can also play minigames to change things up from wrestling, lifting weights, and going to press interviews.
Training Mode
In AEW Fight Forever, you can learn your moves and combos in a separate training mode. You can choose any wrestler, opponent, and arena, and you can practice wrestling as much as you want without thinking about time limits or hard opponents.
Training mode is a good way to learn how to do things like reverse, use your opponent’s finisher. And do all kinds of moves and actions without actually playing a match. You can change how the buttons work in the options screen. And you can use this mode to get used to the new controls before playing more online games.
