When it comes to wrestling games one series has held on to the title belt for dear life for years now, even when some instalments have been less than great. But things may be about to change, as there is a new contender on the scene. AEW Fight Forever is the latest game from Japanese based studio Yuke’s Co. Ltd. Who it’s fair to say has quite the past with wrestling titles, having played a part in most WWE games for around two decades.

AEW (or All Elite Wrestling to give it its full name) is a true rising star in the wrestling world. Having popped up in 2019, the series has quickly got to the point of being a real challenger to WWE for its title as premier wrestling promotion. So it’s a no brainer that there is now a game based around its brand of spandex brawling.

Hard-Hitting Homage

The first thing that hits you when you fire up the game is how much it pulls on wrestling titles of the past. AEW Fight Forever is heavily inspired by classics like WWF No Mercy on the Nintendo 64.

AEW Fight Forever really favours a more arcade-style on not only the gameplay front, but also with the presentation and wrestler appearances, opposed to a more realistic simulation style of other wrestling games.

This is a bit of a gamble as it lacks the visual fidelity you may have hoped for, with it being a fair bit behind on the visual side from previous Yute’s Co. wrestling titles. But on the other hand it also gives it a certain charm that clearly embraces its classic inspirations as well.

From Jobbers to Contenders

AEW Fight Forever finds that gameplay sweetspot of easy to pick up, yet hard to master. The game offers you plenty of options to improve by learning strike combos, grappling and reversals. AEW Fight Forever comes with real depth to its combat system.

There are also some little touches that add so much to your average match. A good example is if you get poked in the eye, your controls will go wonky for a few seconds before going back to normal.

Fans of all ages will be able to enjoy the game with its base level one button inputs. But the more you play, the more your move library will grow as a player. AEW Fight Forever has no problem letting you experiment with different button presses.

As for superstars there are 47 of the series best-known talent ready to jump in the ring from the get go. AEW Fight Forever including the likes of Kenny Omega, Sting, CM Punk, Jeff Hardy and Chris Jericho.

Each has their signature moves as well as little traits unique to them. And these add a lot of character to every wrestler, something fans will immediately notice.

Ring Master

On the match front there are nine match types just now; with your standard singles match, tag team match and ladder matches. But things go up a gear with more AEW signature matches; like Casino Battle Royale and the over the top Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch.

And if you can’t find one that takes your fancy, you can tweak the settings of each to get your perfect pay-per-view.

Road to Elite is the game’s story-driven experience. AEW Fight Forever takes straight from WWE No Mercy‘s career mode, where you start at the bottom and fight your way to the top through a full AEW year. Road to Elite is about locker room melodrama as much as brawler.

AEW Fight Forever‘s Road to Elite is a solid mode that evolves based on your results from matches. Additionally, it acts as a history lesson in the past of the AEW series. You’ll get to see some of the biggest moments in the series so far through real-world footage.

You can also take on the career mode with a custom build grappler of your own, though the customisation on show isn’t the deepest compared to other titles. Though building a custom fighter is the best way to play through the career, as you will unlock buffs and skill points to grow your spandex hero.

But you can only use them on custom built fighters and not real superstars – who you can also play through the career mode with.

Undercard

When not in the ring you’ll get to enjoy a few mini-games and side activities, which help to flesh out things even if some of them are a bit bare bones; like the sight-seeing activities.

So far so good. But AEW Fight Forever has a few little issues and rough edges that just hold it back. With the limited customisation there is also no option to share anything custom built online, which is a huge thing for a wrestling game.

Whereas fans will find the game lacks any real tag-teams just now, though DLC already announced this may change. Personally, I also found the ring side commentary dreadful from legend JR (Jim Ross) – sounding flat, dull and just doing it for a pay cheque, to William Regal sounding like Jim Bowen back from the grave.

AEW Fight Forever has a good go for the top spot, but is held back by a few too many rough edges. However if you can overlook them, there is a solid alternative for fans of the square canvas action and hopefully the start of a new series.