AEW Fight Forever: Updating AEW’s first venture into video games

On the boot heels of AEW Fight Forever coming out in November, more gameplay footage is coming out from THQ Nordic.

AEW Fight Forever has been providing some exciting footage at Gamecom 2022 and The Tokyo Game Show 2022. THQ  Nordic revealed six wrestlers, new fighting mechanics, and wrestling entrances. While we might still have some unanswered questions, we have our curiosities tickled.

The entrances will include voice work from the wrestlers. CM Punk yells “It’s clobbering time.” Adam Cole yells “Adam Cole Bay Bay” as he enters the ring. Thunder Rosa also exclaims something in her entrance, but the sound is very low in the footage.

Wrestling reversals are shown through the matches. In the CM Punk/Kenny Omega match, CM Punk goes for a running strike, but Kenny cancels it with his grapple. Kenny hits some punches to the face, but CM Punk is able to block some. Hikaru Shida is able to catch Thunder Rosa’s kick and spin her around. Paul Wight cancels Adam Cole’s grapple and hits a cobra clutch slam from behind. The most groundbreaking reversal is when CM Punk caught Kenny Omega mid-air.

My guess is that AEW is going for the traditional “hit the reversal button at the perfect time to reverse your opponent’s move.” That seems to be the only way to make a reversal system in a game, but it is my least favorite wrestling mechanic. If AEW Fight Forever is making the player hit a button to score a reversal then THQ has not put in any button indicators in their latest demo footage.

The hair animation looks the same since Gamecom’s demo: plastic seaweed floating underwater. It fits with the smooth and cartoony graphic style. Hikaru Shida looks very shiny and clean as if she was a freshly plastic molded figurine. It’s not a bad look, but I reckon the WWE camp will accuse it of being too kiddish.

Here’s my legitimate concern for AEW Fight Forever. The portable gaming market has not seen a well-regarded franchise wrestling game since Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. WWE 2K18 tried to put its franchise on the Nintendo Switch, but the hardware failed to keep up with the game. The critics slammed the game and the WWE vowed never to put their professional games on that system ever again (WWE Battle Ground is kind of a side project).

Now AEW Fight Forever has their full game on the Switch. It makes sense to have it on a Nintendo console because No Mercy was on the N64. There’s a chance that AEW Fight Forever will be unplayable because the Switch hardware can’t keep up with it. No one wants a wrestling game with slowdowns and glitches. I almost wish that AEW Fight Forever was making a custom game for the Switch that worked around its hardware. A straight port that costs $60 might not live up to the hype like PS5, PC, and Xbox X. I am crossing my fingers and holding my breath for this one because I really want to play a wrestling game on the go.

If the Nintendo Switch fails then it will prove that professional wrestling games cannot be put on the portable. On the other hand, the Steam Deck might make their PC version portable and show Nintendo how it’s done.