Reactions to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:AEW Fight Forever have been mixed, and that's being generous. The fledgling wrestling promotion's first crack at a video game has absolutely delivered on the promise of recapturing the magic of WWF No Mercy and the early SmackDown games. It’s different than what WWE has had to offer for as long as I c✅an remember, and that’s absolutely what it needed to be.
However, the game as a whole leaves a lot to be desired. After cycling through its various match types, trying its minigames, and going through Road To Elite with two different wrestlers, there is no reason for me to go back and keep playing. I’ve seen everything the game has to offer, and without a Universe-style sandbox or a GM mode to keep me enticed, just two weeks after its release, it already seems likely that I’ll never play it again. Then the first trailer for its Stadium🅺 Stampede mode dropped.
Additional wrestlers coming to the game via DLC had 𒉰already been announced, desperately needed as the roster is pretty small and already outdated due to how long the game has been in development. In fact, two of them were available at an additional cost the day after launch. That felt a little iffy to me, but that’s a conversation for another time. I’m here to talk about Stadium Stampede, an update coming to Fight Forever free of charge, and it looks like it offers more than a couple of extra wrestlers ever could.
If you haven't already seen the trailer for it, do yourself a favor and check it out above before you keep reading. Much like AEW's actual Stadium Stampede matches, Fight Forever's take on the concept looks absolutely bonkers. While the limit in a real AEW ring appears to be strapping a firework to your boot and kicking your opponent in the face, Fight Forever's Stadium Stampede lets you shoot people off goalposts or trample them with a horse. You know, typical wrasslin’ stuff.
Despite being just 30 seconds long, every time I’ve watched the trailer I’ve noticed something else wild going on in the background that makes me even more eager to dive in and try this out. I'm also yet to figure out why Scorpio Sky throws himself off a balcony into a bunch of unused chairs. Perhaps he's trying to escape AEW's version of Fortnite's storm. Yes, this appears to be Fight Forever's very own take on the already somewhat-saturated battle royale genre, but honestly, that only makes me want to play it even more. It’s also a free download, although the trailer doesn’t make it clear whether that’s for people who own a copy of Fight Forever, or if like Warzone, you don’t actuಌally need the base game to play it.
It might not be fair, but Fight Forever needed to be more than what it was at launch to really set itself apart from WWE 2K23. Its limited options meant it didn't hit that bare minimum for a lot of people, myself included. If Stadium Stampede had been included at launch, it would have probably hopped over that bar with relative ease. The cherry on top of the No Mercy homage cake it needed, taking it from a cool game you'll play for a week and never touch again to something you think about every day.
Stadium Stampede has been shown off soon enough after Fight Forever's release that the window of opportunity has not yet slammed shut. If Stadium Stampede can be rolled out soon – it currently has no release date – then it may well keep those launch players playing. I know I'll be diving back in.
As frustrating as it can be watching a studio flaunt what's to come for an incomplete game you've already paid for, I do understand why AEW and Yuke's felt the need to just get the game out there. Having first mentioned it at the tail end of 2019, wrestling fans, who are used to getting a new WWE game every year, were getting a little impatient. They needed to just get Fight Forever out the door in passable shape, hope people stick with it, and then expand on the game in the months that follow.
Stadium Stampede could be the big new addition that pushes Fight Forever from an okay game to a great one that people keep playing for months. While I'm certainly not expecting it to become a high-ranking BR game alongside the likes of PUBG and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Apex Legends, especially since I've currently got nothing more than a 30-second trailer to go on, it could follow a similar, albeit much smaller, path to the one Fortnite found itself on. That Road To Elite, the mode everyone at AEW Games appeared to be the most excited about pre-launch, ends up being what Save The World was to Fortnite. Eventually left behind as Stadium Stampede marches on and becomes its own thing. Getting ahead of myself there? Maybe a little. I’m just eager for this game to be a success, and Stadium Stampede may well be the key.
