Viseo game publisher 2K has revealed a ton of details on WWE 2K24, including its cover stars: Cody Rhodes, Bianca Belair, and Rhea Ripley. This year’s wrestling simulator is getting a host of new features, including a Wrestlemania-themed Showcase mode and a roster filled with legends like Andre the Giant. It launches on March 8 (with an early access release on March 5) for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
The upcoming installment continues the series’ annual cadence after a break in 2019 following the poorly received WWE 2K20. Since then, the series has seen a successful overhaul starting with 2022’s WWE 2K22. This year’s edition builds on that foundation in a number of ways.
Like last year’s WWE 2K23, 2K24 will get several special editions with different superstars gracing the covers. The deluxe version features Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley. The $120 40 Years of Wrestlemania Edition features legends like The Rock. The star of the show, though, is Cody Rhodes, who appears on the standard edition. For the developers at Visual Concepts, who worked with WWE to choose the star, that was an easy decision.
“For me, it was the most obvious choice,” gameplay producer Bryan Williams tells Digital Trends. “Since his return, Cody has been arguably the hottest male talent in the WWE. And he’s maintained that popularity throughout the year, even after taking that unfortunate loss to Roman Reigns at last year’s Wrestlemania. But he is the guy, and not having him on the cover would be akin to an NBA 2K not having the title winners on the cover. He’s that guy!”
All of those stars will appear in this game’s playable roster, along with John Cena, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and The Undertakert.
There’s an emphasis on Wrestlemania this time around. The year’s story mode, cleverly titled MyShowcase of the Immortals, will have players recreating iconic Wrestlemania matches, like one classic bout that saw Hulk Hogan body-slamming Andre the Giant. The 40 Years of Wrestlemania Edition will also give players some extra skins for fighters like Charlotte Flair and “Macho Man” Randy Savage based on some of their more memorable Wrestlemania attire.
Just about every mode is getting a content boost, and 2K24 will also introduce new match types in Special Guest Referee, Ambulance Match, Casket Match, and Gauntlet Match, as well as a four-player update to Backstage Brawls. The core wrestling system is getting a boost with Super Finishers and a new minigame centered around trading blows. The standout MyGM mode is expanding with more match types, trades between brands, and a new level-up system for drafted superstars. MyRise, MyFaction, and Universe all return with new upgrades too.
It seems clear that the developers at Visual Concepts are pretty confident in its foundation after returning to an annual cadence in 2022. When I asked the team how they’re feeling now that they’re three years back into that yearly release cycle, and the developers who responded both expressed excitement about being so firmly back in the swing of it. Creative director Lynell Jinks explains that the team has a much easier job now than it did when rehabilitating the series in 2022.
“When we took that extra time to make WWE 2K22, I would say that was one of the hardest development cycles for us,” Jinks tells Digital Trends. “Not only because we were rewriting the engine and redoing our pipelines, and trying to make the game as good as it was after suffering that defeat of 2K20, [but] the landscape of the WWE was changing so frequently with WWE superstars leaving and coming back. People’s personas and storylines were changing. It made it really hard to play catchup and lockdown looks or movesets or storylines in MyRise because things were changing so frequently.”
WWE 2K24’s standard edition launches on March 8 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Those who buy the deluxe or 40 Years of Wrestlemania editions can start playing on March 5.
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