Developer – Visual Concepts

Publisher – 2K Sports

Platforms – PC, Xbox, PlayStation 4/5

The lack of an easy to recommend wrestling title this generation has been a bit frustrating. 2K took a wise step, and brought the developers of the NBA 2K series to develop. Their talent and skill, along with a higher budget and an a year break have come together to deliver the best new WWE 2K entry in years.

Now right off the bat, I’m not going to fool anybody with my wrestling knowledge, real, virtual, or otherwise. I usually approach these games from a casual point of view and tend to like arcade style games just as much as any sim title.

Now when executed well, sim wrestling games can combine the nuances of the squared circle, but keep it accessible for skill levels like mine. The older WWE games nailed that mix perfectly.

I did try some wrestling indie games recently, but despite their deep customization, the actual wrestling was a bit too hardcore for me. I could never truly get comfortable with the genre’s mechanics, so I respected most wrestling games from a distance.

With WWE 2K22, they make huge strides in bringing in casual players such as myself, without sacrificing the depth hardcore fans would want.

WWE 2K22 features extensive tutorials and a new simplified control scheme, which can really help especially with it’s complicated gameplay.

Outside of the core gameplay and good visuals, the customization is easily the star of the show. WWE 2K features a pretty fun character creator, that allows you the room to make some good looking, or absurd looking wrestlers in their Monday Night Raw best. Even better, is the absolutely intense suite of options for making venues, belts and move sets.

The tools available are built off the back of the previous titles, and even in the games early life cycle you can find hundreds of great fan created content online to download from the community.

The career mode is solid, if a bit bare bone. Building up a wrestler is silly fun, and despite missing some of wrestling more iconic figures, the career mode will take you on a satisfying climb.

Online fairs well, with several options to tweak and customize how long and short a session is, and I never had problems hopping online and competing.

The only real knocks I have is the content offering. Now some returning modes are already available from previous games, they have returned with a more limited offering. I’m hoping to see them officially implemented, so the career mode can properly take advantage. The learning curve is also pretty steep despite the new casual friendly controls. It is a fair bit easier to get into than the prior entries in the franchise, but it’s not quite at that casual entry level that some of the genre’s classic titles were able to pull off.

WWE 2K22 is a well-rounded and fun wrestling experience. The lack of content is felt, but excellent community tools help alleviate some of those growing pains.