The Wrestling Code: The Summer 2021 Update

Two months ago, I gushed at Virtual Basement’s love letter to indie wrestling and gamers, The Wrestling Code. So far, it has no release date, but every month the company reveals a new person in the roster or a graphical test. We know these games are slated for the next-gen consoles and PC, but aside from some tweets, there is so much we don’t know.

The Wrestling Code Summer updates

But what we do know is a goldmine. Each week a new morsel of good news hits the internet. In the past month Hassan, Makoto, Daffney, Ashton Starr, and Kurt Angle have been added to the roster. For those keeping score at home, that means you could have a battle royal with Raven, Sandman, Brian Cage, Tay Conti, RVD, Tommy Dreamer, Sabu, Thunder Rosa, Solo Darling, Sami Callihan, The Alpha Female, and Jay Lethal. I could go on and name 90 other wrestlers, but you should just check out the roster.

The most recent video is two mocap models testing out wrestling moves. As we speak, the gameplay is being tweaked and the company promises to work just as hard on the gameplay physics as they did on getting such a diverse roster.  Recently, Origin PC donated equipment to Virtual Basement to help them produce the game faster. With inspiration from WWF No Mercy and Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain, there’s no reason to expect that this game will be anything less than polished and hard-hitting.

Virtual Basement released a tech preview featuring Muhammad Hassan in a ring of fire in the desert, mouthing off to the camera. He explains that he worked hard his whole life only to be exiled from greatness. The textures look super clean and the model looks accurate. Hassan’s face looks a little stiff and motionless in the eyes, but this is alpha footage.

If this game is as good as the Twitter press says, and I am holding my breath, then it will be the most ambitious game in wrestling history.