I can’t believe I’m saying this: I am excited for The Island in WWE 2K26.
Last year, in my WWE 2K25 review, I didn’t hold back on giving my honest thoughts: it was an underbaked pay-to-win mode I had no interest in. This year, however, things feel different.
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I was recently invited to WWE Creator Fest at WWE HQ, where we had a chance to spend several hours with the game, including venturing through last year’s controversial game mode. Now, this was something we did not do at a hands-on event last year before the Royal Rumble in Indianapolis, so when we could do it this year, I was intrigued. Before I knew it, I was running out of time for the day’s events.
One of the weirdest things I experienced with The Island last year was how empty it felt. Not just in terms of seeing other human players, but just NPCs in general. That’s not the case last year; this place was buzzing. It’s probably because I was welcomed to The Island by the three new faction leaders: CM Punk and the Order of Anarchy, Rhea Ripley and the Order of Shadows, and Cody Rhodes and the Order of Tradition.
For those that don’t recall, last year’s storyline, which saw us doing what we can to gain favor with The Bloodline before defeating Roman Reigns, a power vacuum has resulted in those three factions vying for control of The Island. You’ll need to choose one and pledge loyalty before starting The Island’s campaign proper, and once you do, you’ll immediately interact with some familiar WWE names.
I can’t believe I’m saying this: I am excited for The Island in WWE 2K26.
I actually did a double-take because I didn’t recall the immediate interaction with the WWE superstars from last year, and it’s something they wanted to work on for this year in a conversation with Visual Concepts.
It felt right to join the Order of Anarchy and CM Punk, especially since he was literally in the building, and before long, he was giving me quests and assignments. Now, these weren’t anything to write home about content-wise, but it was nice to fight through some matches with basic parameters. I mentioned this in my overall preview, but the one theme that runs through my hands-on time across WWE 2K26 is its presentation, and that’s something I immediately felt in The Island. This didn’t feel like a randomly tacked-on game mode for whales; it felt like it had a purpose.
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Yes, There Are Still Brand Name Shops on The Island
This feels like the perfect time to address the elephant in the room: those brand-name shops where you can spend money to obtain officially licensed gear are still there. You can still swipe your credit card, purchase VC, and make your character overpowered.
Despite this, throughout my hour or so with The Island, it never felt like I was being forced to do this, nor did I feel like I had to spend VC to complete my matches.
Of course, this is possibly due to the limited time I had with the game. Still, again, this felt more like a natural extension of MyRISE or any other narrative-focused gameplay mode you’d see in a game rather than being a vessel for microtransactions.
This feels like the perfect time to address the elephant in the room: those brand-name shops where you can spend money to obtain officially licensed gear are still there.
Again, full disclosure: my time with The Island was limited. Having said that, it’s far and away the mode I spent the most time with during the event because it was the mode that impressed me the most. I wanted to see where the story was going, I was having fun with the matches at hand, and most importantly, I didn’t feel like I needed to swipe my credit card to progress.
I tried to level up my character’s stats with VC, but the build didn’t have any loaded up, so this wasn’t possible.
If WWE 2K26 can pull off a massive turnaround and make The Island an enjoyable experience, we have a real winner on our hands here. I’m still cautious about what the full experience will look like; we’ve all experienced hitting that wall in a pay-to-win game. If 2K26’s version of The Island can avoid that, though, then you better believe I’m going to be looking to set up a vacation home here.
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