Who would know that, out of all the people, not WWE nor AEW, but one single guy, McDickie, would get the ideal formula for a wrestling game for current standards, which is not boring realism (never was and never will be) or lame over the top cartoonish action (Battlegrounds and all that shit): is just a fluid, charismatic and fun game.

It's an amazing game, the wrestlers are recognizable despite the graphic quality, which is still pretty charming and brings a really rich roster with the option to do whatever you want with it. What it lacks in a perfeccionist aesthetic, compensates in game mechanics which WWE doesn't have the balls to put.

Has a really great attention to detail and mechanics which add to a clever realism that doesn't need to show itself constantly for it to show it's worth its presence. A really great career mode both for GM and Wrestler (somehow richer than WWE's latest) with unexpectable progressions and roads with deaths of wrestlers, actual injuries, shoot fights, rivalries, promos, dialogues, absurdism, rival promotions events, and, without exageration, much more.

I would say the chaotic nature of the game, a really fun one, comes from the roots of something like WWE'12's Universe Mode, which was never topped because of a lack of courage for something that was so fun; unexpected events all of the time, never getting tiring.

Matches are epic, dynamic, unpredictable and with absurd freedom, moves are hard htiting, double tag team moves are insane, extreme matches are bloody brutal, high flyers fly like angels and powerhouses are genuinely scary. Customization in wrestlers, matches, ring and everything else is sublime, with ropes, ring size/type, crowd appearence, lights, and all of that with a few clicks.

Such freedom lets you create the absurd on your own, with you actually owning this game and what you can do with it. McDickie took the pros from every single one of his games (not only wrestling), the formulas, the open world, dialogues, prototypes from Wrestling Revolution and previous creations, and just made one of the best wrestling game in the last 10 years. Hoping for a new Weekend Warriors version with this much ammount of work.

Reviewed on Nov 29, 2023


1 Comment


4 months ago

Great review, I think it's worth mentioning that Mat has been working on a chaos infused wrestling universe since before the 2010s! If you dive into his development history on his website, he has wrestling games dating back to 2004-2008. Seriously one of the GOATs.