AEW: Fight Forever Elite Edition

I'll be honest with you: I went into Fight Forever expecting a nostalgia cash-in, and I came out with genuinely mixed feelings that took a while to sort through. The core in-ring action is the strongest argument for buying. YUKE'S director Hideyuki Iwashita, who helmed WWF No Mercy and WCW/NWO Revenge on the N64, is back at the wheel here, and it shows the moment you lock up in your first singles match. Grapple inputs tied to face buttons, a momentum-based system that gates signatures and finishers, fast three-to-four minute matches on default difficulty - it all clicks quickly and feels deliberate. Each wrestler has distinct move properties too: MJF literally drops to his knees and begs instead of dodging, which is the kind of character-specific detail that makes a roster feel alive rather than interchangeable. The Elite Edition bundles in a solid chunk of additional content on top of the base game: Matt Hardy and Broken Matt Hardy, FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) plus the JoinUs and Deth Race-X minigames, The Bunny and Keith Lee alongside MJF Car Thrash and Sloth Sling, and the HOOK and Danhausen pack. Post-launch seasons added wrestlers like Toni Storm, The Acclaimed, Swerve Strickland, Claudio Castagnoli, Adam Copeland, Jay White, and Samoa Joe, plus new arenas, a tournament mode, and the Beat the Elite arcade-ladder mode where you run a gauntlet of ten opponents to reach an Elite member. On paper, that is a reasonable amount of content growth from launch. Here is where it gets complicated. The match variety includes Casino Battle Royale, Ladder matches, Falls Count Anywhere, Unsanctioned Lights Out (with over 40 weapons from barbed wire mops to nail bats), and the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch where the ring itself detonates on a timer. That last mode is genuinely ridiculous and fun. The Road to Elite career mode runs four chapters with branching story routes depending on your match results, which gives it some replayability. What it lacks is depth in the create-a-wrestler toolset, which reviewers broadly described as thin compared to what the genre's competition offers. Multi-person matches also get chaotic in a way that reads more as engine strain than intentional design, and online lobbies have a reputation for slow matchmaking. Steam user reviews sit at a mixed 59%, which tracks with the split between people who love the arcade feel and those who came in expecting simulation-level production values. For a wrestling fan who grew up with the AKI engine games and wants to play as Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, Orange Cassidy, Britt Baker, or Cody Rhodes in something that controls like a modern take on that era, Fight Forever delivers on the specific promise it makes. For anyone hoping for the depth of universe modes, deep creation suites, or the presentation polish of WWE 2K titles, this will feel like a budget release dressed up in a higher price bracket. The Elite Edition's bundled DLC makes it the smarter entry point if you're going in, since several of the best post-launch additions require it or subsequent season passes.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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