PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews

Visual Concepts has done it again, delivering a phenomenal experience and a solid entry with WWE 2K26. Thanks to the new modes, 'The Island' experience, and an overall layer of polish, it provides WWE fans with a fully realized product boasting incredible visual fidelity.

I'm giving this a 95/100, but if the few little bugs are ironed out then it's as close to perfection as a wrestling game has ever been.

WWE 2K26 is one hell of a game, featuring tons of variety across matches and how they play out as well as game modes, giving players plenty of freedom to enjoy.

WWE 2K26 is an impressive game that captures the magic of WWE. It's three games in one, maybe even four, each with remarkable depth and each enriched with a host of new features in this edition. There's always room for improvement, but this is one of the highest peaks in the series.

Despite those issues, the wrestling in WWE 2K26 is outstanding, and the depth of the roster and the updates to the array of modes make this game considerably better than last year’s version. Considering last year’s game was already stellar, it only makes WWE 2K26 that much more impressive.

I tip my hat to the developers for how they are continually able to improve every year. Sure, it’s not a perfect game, but objectively, I believe that WWE 2K26 is the best wrestling game ever made, and that’s the bottom line, because I said so.

WWE 2K26 is a great move forward for the series and the developers have laid down a lot of exciting groundwork that can be expanded upon in future games. The grind is still as bad as ever, though, and the Ringside Pass needs to be changed so the DLC wrestlers can be earned much earlier than they are now. Those issues aside this is a WWE game that I will absolutely be playing through most of this year.

WWE 2K26 refines its formula with more solid gameplay, a deeper MyGM mode, and a polished presentation. The arrival of AAA adds value, although microtransactions remain its biggest weakness.

So no, WWE 2K26 isn't the Best in the World, but it still does a mighty fine job, sorta like when Randy Orton faced Edge in "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" at Backlash 2020, it wasn't the greatest wrestling match, but it was very good-and so to is WWE 2K26.

Without reinventing the formula, WWE 2K26 shows that the franchise has reached an exemplary level of maturity among sports games. The subtle gameplay improvements, the inclusion of new fight types, the exciting Showcase starring CM Punk, and the good replayability of MyRISE make this one of the most complete editions in the series. Despite this, monetization practices continue to plague fans, especially those who want to get the most out of the title.