THQ Nordic is currently in Germany for Gamescom 2022 showcasing All Elite Wrestling’s first ever wrestling video game, AEW Fight Forever. This is great because it means this new 9-minute video gives us our first look at entrances in AEW Fight Forever. It’s also the first full match we’ve been treated to over the last year, and it couldn’t be more fitting pitting Adam Cole against Kenny Omega.
Here’s a look at the most recent gameplay footage, with an intro from Evil Uno and Colt Cabana:
Our Take
The first thing you’ll notice in this video is the shortened entrances, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest. Sure, I love watching wrestlers walk to the ring. It’s something I’m fond of in real life and the virtual squared circle. However, these can become highly repetitive, especially in video games. And in my opinion, if they need to take out half of Kenny Omega’s entrance to show the cleaner girls in the background, or skip right to Adam Cole hitting the boom and getting the Adam Cole Bay Bay chants in the center of the ring, I’m here for it. Those little things make each character unique, and it still shows despite the shortened entrances.
The next thing you’ll notice is the No Mercy-style gameplay. For most of my life, I’ve hoped and prayed we’d get a new rendition of WWF No Mercy. Finally, Kenny Omega, Tony Khan, and the developers at THQ Nordic appear to be making my dreams a reality. The characters look blockier like you’d come to expect from the old N64 games of our past — and I like it. The game also looks rather deep with advanced movesets and other options at your disposal.
Speaking of the gameplay, AEW Fight Forever has a very noticeable No Mercy look and feel to it, and it looks fantastic. We really had not seen much at all up to this point, and I was admittedly getting worried. This video calms some of those fears as things really did look crisp and clean.
In this video, we get our first look at how extensive the movesets look in the menu and just how realistic each move looks. It appears wrestlers can have up to five finishers and five signature moves. To build up a special, you have to wear your opponent down while building up your meter. It looks precisely like No Mercy. The moves in Fight Forever look realistic too. For example, Kenny Omega hitting the One-Winged Angel looked picture perfect. When he took it one step further and did the avalanche version, I marked out. The arcade thud and animation as he hit the mat added a unique touch. The replays looked cool as well.
Everything I watched in this video, from the replay system to the character models and everything in between, makes me think, “wow, this really is next-gen No Mercy.”
Cover Art And Additional information revealed
This isn’t the only AEW Fight Forever news that was released over the last few weeks. We got our first look at Fight Forever’s cover, and the extensive list of match types was released earlier this month, revealing the highly anticipated Exploding Barbed Wired Death Match, among others. THQ Nordic and AEW also confirmed a creation suite and that they would be spending countless resources on making a career mode that is unlike anything we’ve seen in wrestling video games.
There are still a lot of unknowns about AEW Fight Forever. We’re still waiting for a release date, and I’m still concerned that a handful of wrestlers won’t make the final roster. But if these last few weeks of videos and information have proven one thing, it’s that AEW Fight Forever is real and finally coming together it seems. And just like the name states, I’m looking forward to fighting forever.
What are your thoughts on the new AEW Fight Forever gameplay footage? Is this a game you’re excited to play? Let us know in the comments section below!
