Are you daring enough to fight forever?
It's time to shatter expectations. It's time to reach for the stars, and achieve the impossible.
— Road to Elite introduction
AEW: Fight Forever is a Wrestling Game based on All Elite Wrestling, developed under the supervision of Kenny Omega and AEW Games by Yuke's (of WWE Video Games fame until 2018) and published by THQ Nordic for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It was released on June 29, 2023.
Created as a throwback to more arcade-style wrestling games of the 1990s as popularized by WWF No Mercy, Fight Forever features a simplified fighting system in comparison to the WWE's contemporary games, with an easy-to-pick-up control style that allows players to immediately take to the ring and slug it out with the all-star roster of the AEW, from CM Punk and Bryan Danielson to Jeff Hardy and Sting, all the way up to the Cleaner himself, Kenny Omega. Complimenting the pick-up-and-play gameplay is a suite of creation options for players to make their own rings, teams, and wrestlers. The main attraction of the game is "Road to Elite", a career mode that lets players live out a calendar year of AEW action, where their every action, from the frienships and rivalries they forge to the matches they win or lose, affect the outcome of the story!
Tropes
- Achievement System: There is an in-game achievement system - as well as an external one - that rewards the player for completing certain tasks. Not only is there set in stone achievements, but they change from day and to week.
- Battle Royale Game: Released in a post-release update on August 24, 2023, the game has a battle royale mode called "Stadium Stampede," based on the match type of the same name. In it, thirty players compete to be the last champion standing, using an assortment of weapons at their disposal.
- Been There, Shaped History: In Road to Elite, created wrestlers can have an impact on events from AEW history, from fighting in the first-ever Double or Nothing PPV to CM Punk's debut match to challenging Riho for AEW's first Women's Championship title. These events are often accompanied by FMVs of those events in the real world.
- Book Ends: Road to Elite begins with the player participating in the Casino Battle Royale at Double or Nothing (or a Fatal Four-Way match for female wrestlers), and ends with a match at Double or Nothing.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- When being served geoduck (a large saltwater clam, no relation to actual ducks) in Seattle, WA, the waitress helpfully explains that it is actually pronounced "gooey-duck". The player character notes that she was particularly helpful on account of the scene having no voiceovers.
- When challenging the Young Bucks to AEW Pop Quiz in Road to Elite, the player character quips that they're not intimidated because the player chose them over the Bucks.
- Broke the Rating Scale: While your matches are rated out of five stars after every one, it's possible to exceed five stars and there are even hidden challenges for doing so.
- Character Customization: As well as the ability to create your own characters, as well as making their entrances and movesets, you have the ability to customise the movesets and entrances of real life wrestlers that are playable. You can only alter the stats of custom creations, however.
- Curse: Included with the Hookhausen DLC is a skill called "Danhausen's Curse." When performed successfully, it can reduce their momentum meter. However, the curse also has the potential to backfire.
- Desperation Attack: An equippable ability in the game is "Desperation Impulse," which allows a wrestler who is in danger to perform a move that impacts the opponent's meter. These moves range from a surprise roll-up pin to spitting mist in their face, to even performing a low blow.
- Fanservice: In the in-game shop, you can purchase a bunny outfit and a maid costume for female created wrestlers.
- Foreshadowing: In the 3C block of Road to Elite, you are betrayed by a wrestler you chose to be your companion. What is that chapter called? "Relationship Problems".
- Food Porn: Eating out while on tour gives you a chance to sample local cuisines, from Jacksonville's fried gator to Washington DC-style pizza. The Flavor Text (pun unavoidable) for each city's signature dish make them all the more appetizing.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Lampshaded. The game points out that you can always play minigames with The Elite in Road to Elite, even if you're feuding with them.
- Groin Attack: You can equip a low blow, whether as part of a rising attack or as a Desperation Impulse ability. And much like the games it's inspired by, the blow is punctuated by the sound of a bell.
- Guest Fighter: Owen Hart appears in the game as an unlockable wrestler, due to a partnership between AEW and The Owen Hart Foundation.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the Road to Elite block 2C, Brodie Lee can meet you while you’re eating at a resturant and makes reference to how you could be teaming up with him in an alternate universe, a reference to block 2B, where you do join him.
- Mini-Game: Players can participate in minigames, organized by the Best Friends in Road to Elite. These games range from memory challenges to Simon Says (or Penta Says, in this game) to home run challenges. Winning these games in Road to Elite earns you extra skill points and fight money.
- Mirror Match:
- Appears at one point as a storyline in Road to Elite: Before the Double or Nothing PPV match in Chapter 4B, your character's self-doubt manifests as a shadowy doppleganger you have to defeat to muster the courage to go out and fight in the main event.
- You can also do mirror matches by themselves, you don't even need to change outfits! You can have two identical Kenny Omega's wrestling each other.
- Pro Wrestling Is Real: In the game's logic and the logic of Road to the Elite, wrestling is treated as an entirely real sport. When you encounter people during activities in Road to Elite, they talk as if the storylines you are in are real. When you get injured by being put through a table in block 3C, it is a real injury or when you beat the Young Bucks for their jobs as EVPs of the company in block 4A, you are actually put into that position.
- Railroading: You are not allowed to increase the time limit on the Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match, meaning that it will always explode after 2 minutes.
- Secret Character: There are multiple examples of this trope in this game, such as:
- Owen Hart, who you can unlock by winning 100 matches in exhibition mode.
- Brodie Lee, who you unlock by finishing the Dark Order storyline in the Road to Elite.
- Paul Wight, who you can unlock by defeating him in Who's Ribbing Me? storyline in Road to Elite.
- Self-Deprecation: The Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch has an unlockable alternate ending, which recreates the infamous ending to the actual match between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley at Revolution 2021. Why is this considered Self-Deprecation? The game labels this explosion type as the "Historic" explosion.
- The Starscream:
- In block 2A of Road to Elite, similar to in AEW's history, MJF leads a coup from within the Inner Circle, betraying Chris Jericho in order to strike out on his own and found the Pinnacle.
- In block 3C of Rode to Elite, you pick a wrestler who becomes your friend, unfortunately, they team up with another wrestler and betray you, forcing you to face them both in a handicap match.
- Shout-Out:
- Sometimes when eating out, your character in Road to Elite may muse "Warrior needs food badly" as well as "Get in my belly."
- Eating soul food in Atlanta may lead to a run-in with Bryan Danielson who, after a brief conversation about food and wrestling, says he should probably go before "Dwayne smells what we're cooking".
- Story Branching: Road to Elite has different story branches depending on player actions and the outcomes of matches.
- Take That!: As to be expected of a company known for calling out its competitor, the end of the storyline in 4A has a distinctive shot at their rival company, WWE. After defeating the Young Bucks at Double or Nothing, making you the Executive Vice President of the company, your character will make a reference to two very controversial storylines from that company's past."Now to decide which one will bark like a dog, and which one will dress up like a hand."
- Taunt Button: Much like the WWE games that this game was heavily inspired from, you can taunt, which allows you to build up your momentum. In this game - much like the other AKI games of the past - it also serves the function of activating your finishing move.
- Toast of Tardiness: Discussed when eating avocado toast in LA. Riho insists it's a played-out trope, but concedes she's done it before, since Japanese kids don't always have time to sit down for breakfast.
- Too Many Belts: It's possible to hold up to five championships simultaneously, resulting in a secret entrance where your wrestler hold all the belts at the same time.
- Virtual Paper Doll: In a very limited way, you can change the outfits of the playable real life wrestlers in the game. But not really, you can only really give them a new t-shirt.
- We Used to Be Friends: In block 3C, after you are betrayed by the wrestler who you chose to be your friend. Your player character gives a scathing speech towards them and their partner.You two are a perfect pair... of jackasses! I'm happy to cash out and leave your little games behind!
- Would Hit a Girl: You can pit men against women in any match type, even the Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatch.
