WWE 2K26 has released a new Ringside Report on The Island, an online-only game mode introduced in WWE 2K25 where players embarked on a journey for a chance to earn a WWE contract from Roman Reigns by beating the competition.
In WWE 2K26, The Island has seen dramatic changes in both story and gameplay, and we've rounded them all up for your viewing pleasure.
The first major change is that Roman Reigns is no longer in charge after he was defeated at the end of WWE 2K25's The Island mode's story.
This power vacuum has caused three factions to crawl out of the woodwork and wage war in a bid to take control of the Island of Relevancy for themselves.
- Order of Tradition: This faction, led by Cody Rhodes, is made up of your typical good-guy WWE Superstars who believe in fighting fairly (with some exceptions) and upholding the values of old-school wrestling and sportsmanship.
- Order of Shadows: This faction, led by Rhea Ripley, consists of WWE Superstars with a dark, supernatural edge who are considered outcasts by the general public for being freakish and weird. They aim to claim the Island to get back at society for rejecting them while offering a home for lost souls.
- Order of Anarchy: This faction, led by CM Punk, is exactly what it sounds like. A group of anarchist WWE Superstars who hate the status quo and want to tear it down by any means necessary, whether it's through cutting scathing pipe-bomb promos or kicking butt in the ring.
As the player, you get to decide which faction you want to be a part of and progress through their stories in a non-linear fashion while exploring their special landmark hideouts and PvP arenas.
WWE 2K26's The Island Mode will also include a variety of new gameplay additions and updates to pre-existing features.
Firstly, we have a new arena to fight in called the Scrapyard. This warzone is filled with all kinds of weapons to break your opponent with and high scaffolding platforms that you can climb up and toss your enemy off of to deal massive fall damage.
Other changes include customization options for your MySUPERSAR like Photo Face feature and World Taunts so you can emote at players outside of matches.
There's also a new Prestige System with four progression tiers that unlock access to more power, badges, and rewards the higher your OVR is.
Speaking of progression, WWE 2K26 is introducing a new PvE activity in The Island called Towers. This repeatable feature has you fight through an arcade-style gauntlet with randomly generated matches to earn "Order Reputation" currency that can be used to unlock rewards.
Towers also have Mega-Challenge Events with rarer rewards than the ones found in regular Tower events for players seeking a challenge.
Multiplayer has been greatly expanded in The Island, as you can now do 2-player tag teams with a friend using the new MyTag feature so you can progress through the story or fight in PvP together.
As a result, Triple Threats, Fatal 4-Ways, and 2v2 PvP matches have been added to The Island.
Another new multiplayer feature in The Island is Seasonal Ranked Play, where you fight through rival players online to climb to the top of the leaderboards.
Are you ready to conquer the Island of Relevancy in WWE 2K26?
To be brutally honest, this already sounds way more interesting than WWE 2K25's original The Island mode. It has a more interesting premise with the power struggle between the rival factions, more customization options for your avatar, and more unique PvE and PvP features.
If WWE 2K26's The Island manages to pull off more online servers than its predecessor and not lock a majority of its cosmetics behind real-world currency, this could end up being a really fun game mode to keep players long after they complete MyRise and the CM Punk showcase.
But we'll have to stay tuned to find out as we inch closer to WWE 2K26's launch on March 13, 2026, for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC via Windows and Steam.
What are your thoughts on WWE 2K26's The Island?
Do you think its new gameplay features and story are a huge step-up from 2K25's The Island, or do you think there's much more that could be done to improve it?
If you have any thoughts on the matter, let us know in the comments below.
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