AEW: Fight Forever

How much you get out of AEW Fight Forever depends on what you like most about wrestling games. If you’re a solo player who likes to take these TV characters and create your own matches and stories, then you’re not going to find any of that here. However, if you want a wrestling game you can boot up to play on the couch with your mates, then Fight Forever is a blast to mess around with, it just doesn’t have quite as much variety as WWE’s offering.

In the end, people will remember Fight Forever in one of two ways: either as a missed opportunity or as a stepping stone to something great. For something akin to a freshman effort, it has a lot to offer, and might be more of a victim of circumstances than anything else. Its largest competition is coming off a great game, and even though the styles are different, there's still an element of trying to simulate something fake connecting the two. With reports coming out that development was scaled back during its many delays, there's no doubt that the version we got was the best we could expect in a timely manner. These elements combined to make something fun in the moment, but possibly forgettable shortly after. If it hopes to have legs, it's going to need more free updates (like the announced battle royale mode that looks as ludicrous as it sounds) to entice its players to stick around. When you're in the action, though, you can practically see the CRT and corded controllers connecting you to the dropkicks and pins. For better or worse.

AEW: Fight Forever is a big wish I can't. The technical deficiencies are evident and demonstrate how the software house's Achilles heel remains the technical aspect of its works. Conceptually, the game re-proposes the madness and the possibility of customizing the gaming experience that had made the first wrestling titles great in the 2000s. But the technical limitations of the gameplay mark the first AEW work. Perhaps the future of the brand will be brighter, but in the meantime the first chapter will struggle to remain etched in the memory of the players.

Taken on its own and within a bubble, AEW: Fight Forever certainly provides a unique flair for those who like pro-wrestling games. Sadly, when considering other wrestling games, such as WWE 2K23 and Fire Pro Wrestling World, it falls short of the mark. This isn’t Le Champion; it’s Le Chump-ion.

AEW: Fight Forever successfully fulfills the founding principle it set for itself: providing an experience that brings back simple, frenetic, fun gameplay that gives wrestling games back the arcade vibe that has been lost over time. At its best moments, AEW is all of that, but it still fails to be much more. The scarcity of game modes, a roster with gaps, the somewhat persistent bugs, and a Road to Elite far from the quality of the predecessors it draws inspiration from are damaging to the experience and don't give us many reasons to come back. Nevertheless, with promises of constant development and regular updates from the studio, we have reason to believe that there is room to fix these shortcomings and offer a more complete wrestling experience. It just isn't it at the moment.

AEW Fight Forever, much like the company it represents, is a cocky young upstart trying to take the crown from a titan. Also much like its source material, its first outing is a decent foundation for what its future could provide. The roster is a good primer on the current AEW lineup, there are enough match types to keep things fresh for a while, and Road To Elite is an irreverent look at the life of a wrestler that made me smile. There are some bumps in this road--particularly the lack of trios matches and the disappointing entrances--but those are all things which can be fixed in future installments. If AEW truly plans to Fight Forever in the video game world, then they've thrown an effective first punch.

An homage to fondly remembered wrestling titles of the past, AEW: Fight Forever features a large roster, simple controls, numerous game modes, and a wonderfully entertaining match flow, but some issues keep it from grabbing the gold.

Wrestling-experts Yuke's put the focus on old-fashioned, tried and tested wrestling action with AEW Fight Forever. They however failed to add anything new or distinct to the genre.