While half the sporting genre cries out for reinvention, the WWE 2K series has turned itself into one of the most fun, replayable sims around. Going hands-on with WWE 2K25 hours before this year's Royal Rumble is therefore an experience I've been excited about for weeks. There's no need for a total overhaul here, as was necessitated by the dismal WWE 2K20. Deliver more match types, an updated roster and a few other surprises, and 75% of the job is done.
Mercifully, developer Visual Concepts is in sync with that approach. New match types such as intergender and underground bouts freshen up your day-to-day options. Roster additions include Kelani Jordan and Sol Ruca from NXT, and some welcome yesteryear names I'll get to shortly. And those surprise elements include neat twists to the long-standing Showcase mode, new backstage areas to fight in, user-defined camera angles during entrances, and myriad additional details.
It's the intergender matches that many will hone in on, following the rise of dominant female grapplers such as Rhea Ripley and Nia Jax. Putting them in the ring against the likes of The Rock – or Dominik Mysterio, who our Ripley enjoys slinging around with glee – is really satisfying. Blood is turned off for these bouts, but otherwise anything goes. The game's weight detection keeps things believable – Bianca Belair can't powerbomb Bronson Reed – and it's possible to have thoroughly immersive bouts across the sexes. Cool.
One factor fans may weigh in concerns ratings. For instance, while we can't specify numbers, Belair is rated higher than the majority of male wrestlers – making her the favourite to win any match, even against male Hall Of Famers. Creative director Lynell Jinks says that's the magic of gaming, likening it to Chun Li vs Ken: "The ratings are the ratings. The things that make Bianca special are her speed and her power, and those things matter in our game. It's like playing Street Fighter when you take a female character and play against a male character. It just works."
The Big Show(case)
How about last year? In our WWE 2K24 review we called it "a brilliant, bombastic, bruising brawler", awarding a hefty four stars.
2K always places a huge focus on Showcase mode pre-launch, which can feel like a diversionary tactic. After all, this is an element most fans tick off within a fortnight of release, just to get all the unlockables. Longevity comes elsewhere. Even so, this year's instalment feels like a step up from previous iterations. It's based around The Bloodline – the Samoan dynasty who've dominated WWE over the last half-decade – and has given Visual Concepts license to shake things up.
Showcase now utilises three different match types: you can revisit history, change history, or create history. Past contests such as Nia Jax vs Lyra Valkyria from Queen of the Ring 2024 see you reliving the bout as it was, while Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins at Royal Rumble 2022 is resuscitated – but with a different finish, unique to the game. Rather than being disqualified, this time around Reigns spears Rollins out of his boots for the win.
Those are examples of revisiting and changing history; it's creating history within Showcase that's most novel. The example I get my grapple-ready mitts on is the Wild Samoans vs the Dudley Boyz, in a tag-team tornado tables match. With two generations between those legendary pairings it would never have been possible in reality, but really is a formidable experience in game form. Paul Heyman's pre-match intro sets the scene perfectly, and being able to deploy Afa and Sika in a videogame for the first time will delight veteran fans. I won't spoil the match objectives, but it certainly delivers.
Ah yes, Showcase objectives. Here's another component that is going to cause fan consternation. Some objectives are now timed – such as using Jax to samoan drop Valkyria twice in 45 seconds. Fail, and you don't get your unlockable at the end of that match. Ouch. "It's for challenges and for replayabliity," says Jinks of this decision. "[In Showcase], some people don't like to do all the objectives, and some do. [We want to] give people a reason to either play it again or have an extra challenge. I think back to the old school days of Gran Turimso, where you had to do all these things to get your licence."
Afa and Sika (along with Captain Lou Albano, as a manager) aren't the only welcome additions to the roster. Naomi returns after an three-year absence, monstrous Bloodline lieutenant Jacob Fatu gets a debut and feels brilliantly bulky and heavy hitting, while the new NXT contingent includes Ethan Page, Kelani Jordan, and Sol Ruca. A 2K rep tells us the final list will surpass 300, and be the series' deepest ever. We'll have a guide to all those names as soon as it's unveiled.
Hart of Glass
"We still have a lot of respect for Yuke's."
It's important to understand that, to the WWE 2K community, gameplay is only part of the puzzle. Whether it's new CAW parts, belt options or other finer details, longstanding players comb the series' intricacies each year. Even at pre-release stage, these feel encouraging. For instance, a new backstage brawl area incorporates the WWE Archives, with a ton of easter eggs to find. You can leap off an old WrestleMania sign, tussle around Bret Hart and Lita standees, or sling an opponent into a glass cabinet containing the legendary WWE winged eagle title belt – smashing it to pieces in the process.
Even cooler is the option to manually adjust camera angles during entrances. Tap X (on Xbox) to bring up the Spectate view, Y for a third person camera, or B for an animated view whereby you can free roam with the left and right sticks. In this way you end up playing director yourself, watching each intro to a finish. It's very cool, although some will notice similarities to AEW Fight Forever.
Jinks round things off by admitting that it's been great to have a rival to complete against over the past 18 months. "Competition is healthy," he says. "I come from NFL 2K and NBA 2K, where there was always competition pushing us to go further every year. [Yuke's] did an honorable job of trying to put out a game that reflects their IP [with AEW Fight Forever]. There are some cool, interesting things that they've done, and we still have a lot of respect for Yuke's. Now we're like: let's see what we can do and take it a step further." We'll find out how much further in GR's upcoming WWE 2K25 review – which you can expect in early March.
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