AEW Fight Forever is the company's first attempt at making a video game. The title has been long in the works, having been announced years before their release this June. Nonetheless, Fight Forever is developed by Yuke's and promised to be a return to the arcade-style gameplay of the old days.
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Nonetheless, this release isn't the only wrestling to come out this year, as WWE 2K23 came out in the spring. While one franchise has been running much longer than the other, it still seems apt to compare the two titles. While they have a lot in common, the WWE and AEW games do have major differences.
10 AEW Fight Forever: Creativity
Whenever the team at Yuke's began making AEW Fight Forever, they decided to make a title that wasn't like their previous work. Before parting ways with 2K, the team famously made the WWE's simulation-style video games for years.
To their credit, Yuke's succeeded, as their game feels much different than any other wrestling game out there right now. The game feels creative and new, as they've taken a different approach to how the title feels. Furthermore, the inclusion of different match types, the ability to choose your character's diet in story mode, and more all show the effort behind Fight Forever.
9 WWE 2K23: Management Modes
In case one isn't aware, AEW Fight Forever doesn't have a GM mode or a Universe-style mode. There's online play, a career mode, minigames, and more. But if you're looking for a management-style mode, you will be disappointed.
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In contrast, that is one of the best things that the WWE 2K franchise has today. Both the Universe and GM Modes are incredibly fun modes and great ways to sink a lot of time into the game. Sadly, Fight Forever has nothing similar.
8 AEW Fight Forever: Career Mode
While AEW Fight Forever might be lacking in content in terms of a management style mode, their career mode is excellent. While it's their first crack at a career mode, they still found a way to easily blow past WWE 2K23 and their MyRise mode.
While WWE 2K23's story mode feels like you're just wasting time, Fight Forever's Road To Elite is excellent. It's a standard career mode, but the type of control that you have over your character and the choices you make feel important.
7 WWE 2K23: Roster
Let's just get this one out of the way early. Yes, AEW Fight Forever's roster is very solid, as they have all the major stars of the company, including CM Punk, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, and more.
That being said, the WWE 2K23 roster is understandably much deeper and better. The company has been around for decades, and the number of legends that they still have signed leads to a deep roster year in, and year out.
6 AEW Fight Forever: Return of Owen Hart
While WWE 2K23 might have an edge in terms of the number of legends, AEW Fight Forever has them beaten in one area. That area is the return of the great and legendary Owen Hart to video gamers.
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Since his tragic passing in 1999, the Hart family has been understandably protective of his legacy. However, Owen Hart is a part of the roster of AEW Fight Forever, his first video game appearance since Legends of Wrestling in 2004.
5 WWE 2K23: Graphics
AEW Fight Forever's biggest issue is probably the graphics, which is a good, and bad thing in some respects. It's clear that the development team went for a more arcade, cartoony look, which is fine, but it still looks rough at times.
Beyond the style of Fight Forever, it's not just a visually appealing game generally. In comparison, WWE 2K23 looks incredible. While it's obvious that a simulation-style game will look more like real-life than an arcade one, everything is more visually appealing in the WWE title.
4 AEW Fight Forever: Minigames
Whenever Yuke's set out to create AEW Fight Forever, the team seemingly wanted to make it a distinct, arcade experience. To their credit, while the gameplay works well in that way, they also have modes that you would expect in an arcade game.
That means that the game has various, Mario Party-style minigames. While they won't keep your time as much as the actual game itself will, it's incredibly fun for groups of friends who might not even like AEW or wrestling in general.
3 WWE 2K23: Variety of Modes
In terms of content, AEW Fight Forever will hold your attention for a bit. Playing standard matches is fun, and so is the Road to Elite career mode and even the minigames are pretty cool. Sadly, there's not much to do outside of that.
WWE 2K23 and it's the amount of content kind of gets taken for granted in that regard. Universe Mode, GM Mode, MyFaction, MyRise, and more, all give the nod to WWE in terms of the variety of game modes.
2 AEW Fight Forever: Match Types
If there's one flaw that WWE 2K games have today, it's that everything feels pretty much the same. Whenever you're playing in a TLC match, it doesn't feel like your character is really being affected in the way that they should.
In comparison, AEW Fight Forever makes every match type feel different. For example, in the barbed wire exploding deathmatch, your character takes massive damage throughout, which would be expected. That's just one example. While Fight Forever has fewer match types than 2K23, it doesn't feel like it.
1 WWE 2K23: Fluidity
The biggest issue that AEW Fight Forever has is that the game itself just feels a little choppy. The title doesn't feel bad per se, and it is their first attempt. But, at times, it can feel unresponsive, and a bit dull.
That is not something that can be said about WWE 2K23. While there are many flaws with the game, it feels fluid and responsive, as stringing together combinations is extremely easy.
