WWE 2K26 Review

With the Road to Wrestlemania in full swing, 2K and Visual Concepts return to give us more virtual graps in the form of WWE 2K26. Since 2022, the series has gone from strength to strength with new modes, superstars and more added with every release. With a purported 400+ strong roster and several new match types including Inferno and I Quit, it’s easy to make the case that this is the most complete wrestling game yet. The in ring action is equally excellent too, with more impact and weight behind attacks as well as refining the physics of interactions.

We also have a new stamina meter to contend with. This year reversals and attacks all drain the yellow bar around our health. Let it get too low and it turns purple, preventing us from running and, crucially, reversing. It can take a while to get used to, but we need to factor in regular breaks between attacks rather than going all out at all times. It gives the matches a slightly slower feel at times, but at the very least my human opponents will be happy as I’ve been known to be quite the reversal demon in past games.

 However, like a heel turn that’s been building for months, there’s a worrying addition to this year’s outing; adoption of a season pass model for DLC that, while non-expiring, adds yet more of a grind to get to the good stuff.

Cover star CM Punk gets the showcase treatment this year, and the look back at his career – both real and in what-if scenarios – is great. With video packages from Punk himself bookending each match, it really comes across as a love letter to the Second City Saint. We get to right the wrongs of his loss to Brock Lesnar at Summerslam 2013, or take on superstars he never had the chance to in WWE for real. The objectives in each match ensure we hit the beats, with the Slingshot technology (that Punk seems very impressed by in his speeches) taking over at key points to show us a virtual recreation of these. 

It can be quite tricky at times to complete them all and win the match, with the AI far more reversal-happy than previous years. I lost a few right at the end after all three of my finisher stocks were depleted by being reversed, but the variety and challenge were still enjoyable all the same. Maybe some mid-match checkpoints or keeping completed goals on repeat attempts might have made it a bit too easy, but at the same time might reduce any frustration. I lost one right at the bell as Punk decided to drop kick the ref rather than his opponent, and as soon as they recovered I was disqualified. But overall the match types, opponents and objectives are enjoyable enough to pull us through the 20-odd fights.

The Showcase is where I’ve spent most of my time with 2K26, though there are a plethora of other modes here once again. MyRise takes us on a journey as the Archetype returning from a 2 year absence from WWE. Available in both male and female storylines, and with branching paths and scenes, there’s a lot to dig into here. I’ve not finished the story yet but I have enjoyed what I’ve played for the most part. At points we must have a series of exhibition matches with randomly assigned, custom superstars to build up points for progression as well as attributes, and while I get the idea, I’d much rather just progress the story and have optional fights to contend with if I want. 

MyFaction, Universe and MyGM return, offering players the chance to ‘run’ the WWE in their own way, with incredibly deep customisation options. Rosters, match types, storylines, rivalries and much more are at our disposal, and teenage Jamie would have revelled in this amount of depth. A work colleague of mine is deep into his year long Universe from 2K25, and has already been planning his new start in this year’s outing. It really is pitched as a forever game, and much like last year, if this is the only wrestling game you get you’ll likely be good for a long time to come outside of roster updates and changes. 

I was not a fan of The Island’s debut last year, finding it underwhelming in gameplay and performance, as well as the ever-present need to accrue VC (either in game or with real money) to upgrade our character. While that last part may still be true unfortunately, I will say what I’ve played of The Island feels somewhat improved. We pick from one of three factions to give our story some flavour (siding with either Rhea Ripley, Cody Rhodes, or CM Punk), but from there the general gist is the same. Towers are new roguelike additions that have us competing in several match types in a row without failing, and offer rewards for repeated completion. The scrapyard gives us other, more brawl-focussed matches, and we can of course just challenge other players to various matches as well. Being fully voiced this year by the WWE Superstars and various other cast gives it much better first impressions, and while the grind to level up and reach new OVR’s is somewhat appealing, I suspect that it will remain my least played mode overall, especially as the character we create is Island specific, meaning with this, MyRIse and general play we potentially have three custom stars to maintain at least. 

And that’s without even looking at the creation suite, where we can make superstars, entrances, signs, match types, arenas and so much more. For those who have the time and inclination, you will not go wanting in WWE 2K26. The options are deep and insanely packed, and you could easily spend the rest of the year just building new stars to play with in the various modes. 

Time and inclination are two things you will need for the new DLC approach though, and it’s here that things start to sour for me. 

Instead of DLC drops as in the past, where we’d get a new batch of superstars every few months, we now have the Season Pass, an all encompassing tracker that levels up and offers rewards in the free tier, from new emotes and creation suite items, up to the DLC superstars that are behind the premium, paid tier. On paper, this sounds like a decent idea; giving players more incentive to play and unlock stuff throughout the year rather than in one lump. Season Passes don’t expire, and we can chop and change which we’re working towards as and when new ones come out. Almost all modes contribute to the RXP used to unlock tiers, with things like the Island and MyFaction offering the best rewards, but simply playing (and winning) matches is said to gain us a good chunk of RXP too. 

As of writing, I’ve played at least 18 hours of WWE 2K26 across exhibitions, Showcase, and MyRise mainly, and have only just hit level 8 out  of 40. With a new season reported to drop almost monthly, I can already see that I’ll have little to no hope of completing one fully personally, and it’s worth bearing that in mind. While they don’t expire, there’s no guarantee that any particular superstar you pick up the season pass for will be easily accessible, and to me that seems like a step backwards. 

In this instance, with Season One, my favourite wrestler – Bray Wyatt – is only unlocked at the maximum level 40. Which means if I want to use just the regular character – not even the Fiend or Final Fiend, which are locked behind the far ends of Showcase and MyRise respectively – then I’m going to need to play dozens of more hours at least. Now, full transparency, we received review code for 2K26 which included the season pass, but even then I feel somewhat miffed that I’m expected to put that much time in for one default character that included a lot more variants almost from the off last year. 

And, if I can’t find the time or simply don’t want to, then it’s either pay to unlock tiers or just don’t have access to him. The same is true for all of the other DLC superstars here, and while I’ve unlocked a few by now, there are a lot more that I haven’t. And if anything, this new DLC model is actively dis-incentiving me to play it as I can’t play with characters I’ve already paid for (again, review code received but the point stands)  in the Season Pass. For example, last year Penta was added in one of the last packs, and I jumped in, played several matches with him and some of the others, and had a great time. When the inevitable Very Nice, Very Evil Danhausen gets added down the line (at least, I hope he’s one of the additions) who’s to say it won’t take hours to finally unlock him, or any one of the other missing stars that are added.

Of course, it’s probably not an accident that the modes that encourage microtransactions also offer the biggest rewards to the RXP, and this feels particularly egregious in its current execution. Visual Concepts have promised to assess the feedback at launch and will look to make adjustments as needed, but I do worry that this will become the norm. It is, for me, a huge blemish on what is otherwise a fantastic game. There’s a lot here, and perhaps trying to encourage players to play longer is felt needed to see more uptake of the various modes, but that also then puts more casual players on the back foot by locking off more content unless they either live in 2K26 or stump up even more money. Personally, I’d be happy to see a game with even half of the modes here if it meant removing the season pass. MyFaction, MyGM and Universe all feel like three spins on the same idea, and are always my least played, whereas what I really like about the last few games especially are the Showcases and MyRise stories on top of the various exhibition match ups. 

I’m ranting now, but it really does feel like a backwards step to the DLC approach and adds a sour note to what is an otherwise very good game. Some players will no doubt be happy with the default roster, and it is a large albeit nerfed one, but the constant scrolling past blacked out names just feels like it’s egging players on to play longer, or worse, spend more. The Monday Night War edition is a whopping £140, and to then lock off DLC behind a time and/or money paywall doesn’t sit right with me.

Conclusion

A downer to end with, but I do want to reiterate that the game otherwise is excellent in terms of quality. The roster (at least what is unlocked to start with) is stacked, the match types are more varied than ever, and there are so many modes here to play with I am honestly staggered how anyone could find the time to explore them all properly. Showcase does CM Punk justice, while MyRise is a great character builder for our custom superstar, and the creation suite is even more mind boggling in its scope than ever. If you’re even remotely into the world of professional wrestling, then WWE 2K26 is an absolute no brainer as the best game of graps out there.