WWE 2K23: Early Release Date and Bad Bunny Pre-Order Bonus

WWE 2K23 from developer Visual Concepts, launching March 17, is Year 2 of a dramatic rebuild for the pro wrestling juggernaut in the video-game landscape.

Last year's version, WWE 2K22, was the series' return from a year-long hiatus. It now returns to the annual release cycle once more and the challenges that come with it, especially after 2K22 was such a resounding success and a return to form.

Fittingly, 2K23 is all about returns. It's the first time John Cena has been on the cover of a mainline game since at least 2011. Cody Rhodes, after coming over from All Elite Wrestling for a re-return, is back in a WWE game for the first time in six years. And one of the bigger presentation items is the return of double title entrances.

Pre-order bonuses also make a return, this time in the form of some Bad Bunny goodness.

The singer, who stunned fans with a great performance in a match at WrestleMania 37, is the centerpiece of benefits received by players who pre-order.

Those who pre-order any edition of the game receive Bad Bunny as a playable character. Pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition of the game includes a three-day early-access window (starting March 14) and the following:

• Season Pass

• MyRISE bonuses

• Supercharger Pack

• MyFaction cards

The next step up, the Icon Edition, includes content from the Deluxe, plus the Icon Edition content pack and Ruthless Aggression content pack. The aptly named latter, as expected, includes throwback versions of Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar and Batista, plus the WrestleMania 22 arena.

But it's not all about returns. One of the game's biggest features is the long-anticipated debut of the WarGames match.

Like its supremely popular namesake, 2K23's version of the contest will feature 3v3 and 4v4 showdowns in two side-by-side rings surrounded by steel cages.

The match, which re-debuted in 2017 at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, will feature two players in the ring to start a bout before more competitors are steadily released.

Players can fight in the ring, outside of it, in the space between the two rings (dubbed the trench) and use weapons and the cage itself while trying to win by submission or pinfall.

Players will have plenty of options to tweak the experience, from letting created characters get in on the fun to even tweaking entrance intervals.

Cena, of course, is the featured star of Showcase this year. The documentary-styled experience will again span the entirety of its subject's journey, letting players step into the timeline and have an impact.

In a fun twist to the mode, players will also be able to suit up as Cena's opponents, playing into the themes of his "never give up" attitude and attempting to break up some of the repetitiveness of the mode's gameplay loop from prior years.

Universe Mode and MyFACTION return as well and offer in-depth modes that could function as solo releases at this point. The former will again put players in control of tweaking every little aspect of WWE programming, while the latter is the card-based collect-a-thon.

For players, the return of modes and features wouldn't mean much if the game doesn't come equipped with the expected annual upgrades.

Those upgrades certainly make themselves known in the graphics department, especially in some of the scenes onlookers have seen from Cena in the Showcase mode.

As for gameplay, must-have upgrades such as new reversal animations, new kickout animations and further implementation of the stamina system make good on the fresh feel to in-ring bouts. This, after last year's game overhauled the controls to something more intuitive and modern-feeling.

Should WWE 2K23 match some of the expectations set on the run up to release, this year will avoid a sophomore slump during its return effort while brushing close to being one of the best modern pro wrestling games of the decade.

A tall task, and one players will get to start forming a verdict on when the three-day early-access window starts Tuesday.

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