WWE 2K25 review: Island of Relevancy

When we asked WWE 2K25’s lead gameplay designer Derek Donahue how Visual Concepts goes about creating games on a yearly schedule, he described working with an annual franchise as a blessing and a curse. “I love it because it means we get to give something to fans every year, and it gives us a chance to see how people engage with something; that informs how the next evolution of it works.” The flip side, of course, is ending up with installments like WWE 2K20, a game so notoriously broken that it became the posterchild for how annualized franchises can go wrong.

Fortunately, WWE 2K25 is not WWE 2K20. It’s much better, toting new features, new match types, and at least one new mode that I foresee proving divisive. Overall, though, it’s a strong showing, and is sure to satisfy wrestling fans looking for their latest fix of virtual grappling.

If you’ve played a WWE 2K title before, such as last year’s WWE 2K24, you should have a good idea of most of the gameplay mechanics. There are light and hard strikes, over a dozen grapples per character, and a bevy of finishing and signature moves to inflict a beating on your opponents. None of that has undergone much change in 2K25, so I won’t belabor you with descriptions of how it all works. The underpinnings are mostly the same, and still provide a strong foundation if you’re interested in a simulation of wrestling. (You can also go into options menus and tweak settings to craft a more arcade experience if that’s your thing.)

The devil is in the details. You can now bring a special guest referee into most match types, which is great fun if you want to screw over the AI or show favoritism when you and your friends get together to play. Intergender matches have returned, so you can take Rhea Ripley on a tear through both halves of WWE’s roster, or, if you’re like me, introduce men and women alike to the concept of Tiffy Time.

There are new match types this year, the best being Bloodline Rules and Underground. The Underground match comes from Raw circa a few years ago, where Shane McMahon hosted fight club-style brawls in seedy locations where the only ways to win were by KO or submission. There are no ring ropes, so you can Irish-whip characters out of the ring and into onlookers before taking the fight outside the ring. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed Underground matches. I’m more of a traditionalist when it comes to wrestling (give me Kurt Angle and Bret Hart in an endless iron man match, please and thanks), but these brawls share more in common with fighting games given the KO requirement, and should be a blast to play with friends who prefer more traditional fighters.

The Bloodlines Rules match is more chaotic. First introduced last year at WrestleMania 40, Bloodline Rules lets you and your opponent summon allies to layeth the smacketh down on one another. It doesn’t take long for the ring to fill up with wrestlers brandishing steel chairs and Kendo sticks. It’s got more in common with a bar fight than a wrestling game, and that’s what makes it fun.

MyRise, MyFaction, and MyGM mode return, but the star attractions this year are the Bloodline Showcase and The Island. Let’s talk about the Island first. It’s a large hub world where you run around doing quests and competing in matches to impress Roman Reigns. The Island itself is a lavish spectacle filled with fun locations to explore, but the virtual currency requirements quickly add up. You can almost feel the game nudging you toward spending real money to buy more virtual coins and stock up on gear; I worry that continuations of this mode could mean WWE 2K soon sharing too much in common with NBA 2K’s egregious microtransactions.

And that’s just for cosmetics. You can also pay virtual currency to increase your character’s attributes, creating a pay-to-win scenario that could make online matches uneven for anyone who chooses to grind out stats instead of opening their wallets.

Fortunately, you can ignore the Island and stick to the game’s other modes, namely Showcase. The idea behind this year’s Showcase is that you get to relive and rewrite history by controlling members of the Bloodline factions and their extended family. For instance, you can play as Roman Reigns going up against Seth Rollins in a rematch from their fantastic Royal Rumble 2022 encounter. You’ll also get the opportunity to crown Tamina as the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank winner by competing in the 2017 match with Charlotte Flaire, Becky Lynch, and other competitors who were there. Paul Heyman narrates the videos that set up each match, and he does an incredible job relaying all the history and gravitas leading into each encounter.

My only gripe with Showcase mode is that winning some matchups feels next to impossible. The women’s Money in the Bank ladder match I mentioned involves five competitors. Do you have any idea how rare it is for four competitors to be out of action long enough to 1) set up a ladder, 2) climb it, and 3) retrieve the briefcase by completing the quicktime minigame? You will. And it will haunt you.

WWE 2K25 is a banner year for the franchise. It’s easily the most refined entry yet, bursting with ways to play and the series’ largest roster to date, which is sure to please virtually everyone no matter which era of wrestling you prefer. (And if your favorite character is missing, you’ll be able to expand the roster once fans start uploading their custom creations.) The Island is hit or miss, but the rest of the package is sure to tide wrestling fans over until 2026.

This review is based on an early digital PlayStation 5 copy supplied by the publisher. WWE 2K25 comes out on March 7, 2025, and will be coming to PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

David Craddock

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.