On Tuesday, I shared everything I learned from my developer session on the ever-so-popular MyGM mode and creation suite. Both modes are getting a ton of new features and enhancements. Beyond those elements, now it’s time to discuss the MyRise and MyFaction game modes. Here’s everything I learned from my WWE 2K23 developer session.
MyRise
One of the best new features in this year’s MyRise campaign is the ability to pick what type of superstar you want your CAW to be. In the past, you would have to work your way up from developmental (NXT) and earn your roster spot. Now, MyRise kicks off with your wrestler’s debut on the main roster, with each person getting to decide whether they want to be a Legacy wrestler, otherwise known as a second-generation Superstar. Or you can be the uber-athletic, once-in-a-lifetime talent, otherwise known as The Lock. Each path will bring you a different story and lead you on a unique journey to becoming a WWE main eventer.
Another critical aspect of WWE 2K23 — and wrestling in general — is backstage politics. Here, gamers will be given a plethora of new decisions and choices to make that will impact their wrestlers in several ways. Here’s what the 2K23 development team had to say when asked about what kind of choices are in store for gamers in WWE 2K23.
Developer Q&A On My Rise
Question: “What kind of choices are in store for players when it comes to playing politics behind the scenes in MyRise?”
Answer: “Oh, well, this is a fun one. I mean, the dream of MyRise is that you get to control your own superstar, right? The reality of WWE is that it’s a big team with a lot of opinions. A lot of backstage producers, a lot of different ways to get over both in the ring and outside with fans. So we wanted to have some fun to give you some choices in terms of, you know, say a producer comes to you with an idea for your match coming tonight. You can say, yeah, I’m on board with that, or you can say, “screw you, I don’t want to do that even a little bit at all.”
And, what we were able to leverage this year with some of the behind-the-scenes tactics that don’t necessarily get as much of the flashy attention is make those choices pay off in a way where sometimes you’ll see an immediate reaction based on the choice you made. And sometimes, you might not see your reaction or consequences — dare I use that word — until much later in your play career. So, we are really, really excited about that. Because not only does it lend a more true-to-life veneer over the entire experience. But it allows for some replayability. So, you go through the Legacy one time, and you might make one choice on your first playthrough and decide you want to, you know, get your feet wet again. Then, you can go back and make the opposite choice and see something entirely different because of that.
MyFaction
For the first time in WWE 2K history, gamers can now take their factions online to compete against other players from all over the country. So if you and your friends want to recreate the nWo or a more up-to-date Bullet Club and compete worldwide, you can. Unfortunately, this is limited to only two players at the moment, but it’s still a monumental change for MyFaction. And should give wrestling fans everywhere something to play for.
The developers also promised to update the game mode with many new live events and challenges throughout the year. This should keep gamers interested and coming back for more. 2K promises that these challenges will test a wrestler’s skill levels, but successfully overcoming these challenges will result in a ton of new “goodies” as well. For example, this year, Visual Concepts introduced a new pink diamond tier card, making each wrestler much more powerful. The cards also got shiny new graphics that the developers referred to as a “night and day” from the last installment.
Developer Q&A On MyFaction
Question: “MyFaction offers us live service mechanics like new or old gimmicks. Will they transport over to the normal game after unlocking them? Or will it be 100% exclusive to MyFaction?”
Answer: “Currently, the way that the system works is it is exclusive to MyFaction. And the reason behind that is that is when we’re making the decision to move forward with the live team, it’s a very small team that’s running MyFaction throughout the year while the rest of the development team is busy working on the next iteration of the game. If we were to pull every person that has to be involved with creating characters — like full-on characters from entrances, victory scenes, commentary, all of the things that go into making a character — that next version of the game will never get done.
So there are certain concessions we have to make in order for us to create these characters and offer updates to the superstars that are constantly evolving without impacting, or hurting, or jeopardizing the next version of the game. So one day, hopefully, we’re hoping to grow that live ops team, but we try to do our best to make sure that we are trying to hit some of those high-profile updates throughout the year for MyFaction.”
Bottom Line
MyRise is changing the game in WWE 2K23 with the addition of “The Legacy” and “The Lock” character types. Starting on the main roster is a welcomed addition from previous installments and should give a new perspective to the game mode. Much like its real-life counterpart, backstage politics play a critical role in this year’s game and should help breathe new life into MyRise. It also seems like most of your decisions will impact your wrestler in a number of ways.
MyFaction is allowing gamers to play online with their friends (two players only at this point) while unlocking a ton of newly designed cards and other unlockables.
