Hello ladies, gentlemen and those of a non-binary nature, my name is Daibhi and this is the Gamerhub. It’s fair to say two things to kick off this review. First and foremost, I am a wrestling fan. In fact, I’m a pretty big wrestling fan (and not just of WWE). Secondly, I’m a fairly big pro wrestling gaming fan, with my first game of this genre played having been WWF’s No Mercy. So yes gamers, I’m that old. WWE games in the past have had mixed results. There have been excellent games (like Smackdown Vs Raw 2007), middling games that haven’t stood out but still been fun to play (such as WWE Battlegrounds), games that have had nothing to do with wrestling itself (like WWE Crush Hour) and then the stinkers. The ones that I would stuff into the proverbial cart reading “send to OVW”. Poor Spirit Squad, there were some decent wrestlers in that stable. Ones like the nightmare that was WWE 2K20. But where does the latest offering rank on that list? Does it make us feel the way we did when we saw Cody Rhodes finally unseat Roman Reigns? Does it make us feel the way we did when Diesel won the WWF Championship in 1993? Or is it as rage inducing as Jinder Mahal winning the WWE title? Well, read on and find out.

Introduction

WWE 2K25 is the latest in a long line of video games made for the world’s biggest wrestling company, but actually the first in one regard: This is the first game made while WWE isn’t under primary ownership of Titan Sports and Vince McMahon. I’m not going to get into whether that’s a good thing, as we don’t really do that sort of thing here at Gamerhub, but it is interesting to note that. It’s the 11th game made by WWE 2K and was developed by Visual Concepts.
It’s fair to say that the WWE Universe lost its mind when this game’s trailer dropped on February the 6th this year, and this is shaping up to be one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year. If my email inbox is anything to be believed, you all really wanted us to review this game, and I’m not the only one in the office who has got themselves a copy of this game for review. Darren, if you’re reading this, thank you. So let’s dive right into what this game is, and what works.

Gameplay

As far as good gameplay is concerned, there’s a lot to like in WWE 2K25. There are several new innovations made to this game’s formula that really work. For example: Intergender matches. You read that correctly. I’m not sure whether adding them was simply a case of catching up with AEW: Fight Forever, or whether this was added for more multiplayer fun, but if you want to see Becky Lynch giving Seth Rollins a bloody good kicking, well, you’re in luck, as intergender matches are now a thing. This works particularly well in the multi-man/woman/person matches such as the Royal Rumble, as I enjoyed being Alexa Bliss and knocking Cody out of a custom-made Rumble.

No, that isn’t what you should do with a bottle of Prime…

The next awesome thing about this game is the sheer depth of the tutorial mode. Yes, I hear you, the folks that like to just “pick up and play”, but if you want to get really good at this game, learning to play it on the fly isn’t going to cut it. The tutorial takes you through every mode of play, and every move that your character can perform in this game. Plus, the Paulrus himself (Paul Heyman) is the guy talking you through it, or, if you suck at it as much as I do, trash-talking you through it. Pro tip here: If you’re after a laugh while learning, deliberately fail a couple of times and listen to the best talker in modern wrestling trash-talk you. It’s genuinely hilarious. My only gripe with this is that every game is someone’s first game, and I can pretty much imagine younger gamers getting offended when Paul Heyman calls them “skidmarks on the toilet bowl of life” or something akin to that.
Also, whilst I couldn’t find a way of putting it into the last paragraph, there’s the return of chain wrestling. The rock-paper-scissors format to keep momentum going during matches and keeping a good flow during longer modes of play. The tutorial about this goes really in-depth, and if this is your first wrestling game, completing the tutorial on this will really help as you go through the game modes. Speaking of which…

Game Modes

I’ll get the first bit out of the way, as it’s only one of two negative aspects about the game- WWE’s online mode, The Island, sucks. It sucks more than seeing Billy Gunn’s career getting eviscerated for the umpteenth time by The Rock. It sucks more than The Rock inserting himself into last year’s WrestleMania main event. For any Basketball fans reading this review, this is basically MyCity from the NBA games and fiddling around with this made me feel grimy and as if I needed a shower. Spending money for expensive things that only affect the online play sucks, and I really, really hated it. I liked the fact that previous games in the WWE 2K Franchise didn’t do this, and I wish that this mode could be yeeted from the game harder than fans chant “yeet” every time Jey Uso makes his way to the ring. It’s about as predatory and money grubbing as games get, and it was really unwelcome here. Also, the story to get you into this mode makes about as much sense as the mistreatment of Shinsuke Nakamura.

There are amazing modes, however, so don’t let the online mode put you off. The MyRise mode in this game is every bit as good as it was in WWE 2K24. For those who don’t know what this is, you play as your own personalised character, and this time, you play as a WWE Superstar on the main roster, battling an invasion from the NXT brand in a year-long battle to find out which will be the last brand standing. There’s a lot to love here, with a nice “choose-your-own-adventure” feel to it, as you get to choose what your character says to influence the storylines. Seriously, with the exception of the goofy voice acting, this mode is brilliant, and I love it.
There’s also the Showcase mode to rave about this year. Last year’s Showcase was excellent, and the quality only continues this year. The Showcase mode this year focuses on the infamous Bloodline saga, with the interplay of the Maivia, Fatu and Anoa’I families. This might seem tiresome to anyone who’s watched WWE for the past few years, but this mode chronicles the important points of all of this, with Paul Heyman narrating the whole thing. Heyman’s clearly having a ball here, and he’s chewing the scenery left, right and centre.

Wrestling roster

This might be the biggest roster ever put into a WWE video game. That’s no exaggeration, either. It genuinely is. This game has a completed roster of 385 playable characters, ranging from everyone on SmackDown, RAW, NXT, and Legends. There are some really deep cuts in here too. I might be wrong about this, but I believe that this is the first time we’ve ever had Bull Nakano in a video game. For those who don’t know who she was, half of the reason why women’s wrestling is so popular right now is because of the trail that she blazed. Sadly, Bray Wyatt is also on this game in the Legends section, owing to his untimely death not so long ago. One of my personal favourite deep cuts on this game is the inclusion of George “The Animal” Steele. Long before Terry Bollea grew a moustache, before Rick Flair decided to wear a Rolex watch, the most popular wrestler in the world was Bruno Sammartino. He’s been in a few games, but his biggest villain, George “The Animal” Steele is usually the reserve of history books or podcasts with Jim Cornette. Now, we can play as him and recreate his match at the third Madison Square Gardens against Bruno.

Alternatively, you could relive RVD’s Career

It also seems that WWE and Visual Concepts are aware of the memes surrounding their wrestlers. Jey Uso yells “Yeet” before superkicking, Roman Reigns’ different eras draw different reactions from the crowds, and the one everyone joked about is true: John Cena can turn invisible for brief points in this game. That particular point has been the most difficult to keep quiet about. Dear lord, it’s hilarious. Well, part of him does, anyway. If you complete the MyRise mode and get all the stars with Cody Rhodes as your ally, you unlock John Cena circa 2012. This version of his power isn’t invincibility, or getting another finisher with momentum, but that his head briefly turns invisible. Thanks, Visual Concepts, this got a genuine belly laugh out of me.

Problems

No game is perfect, and there is a couple of points where this game isn’t great. The Island mode absolutely sucks and seems to be designed to suck every last penny out of your wallet. I absolutely despise this mode, and I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only one. The story makes no sense, the online support means that the lag can be quite serious at times, and I really don’t like it. Although, being able to play as Cody Rhodes with a pair of Air Jordan 1’s was funny. Hello AEW fans, you’re not going to hate this game.
My other issue is the bugs and glitches. There are a few, like the game crashing during local multiplayer modes. Seriously, I don’t know how local ladder matches get done dirty every game so consistently. This one isn’t as bad as 2K22’s notorious vortex of death, but it really does make this part suck a bit. MyRise will crash on you at times, and don’t get me started on the Showcase’s endless freezes. That being said, the reason this isn’t getting a huge paragraph is the new patch due on the 17th of March. Particularly for those on older consoles, this might be the best thing to wait for before buying a copy of this game.

Final thoughts

This is probably the best WWE 2K game yet, with a lot of fun to be had at most points. From the voice acting of Paul Heyman, to the sheer scale of this game, the best phrase I can use for this game is “flawed but brilliant”, and a lot of the issues I had with my playthrough before this game launched were patched up on Day 1. This means a lot of the previous criticism I had for this game suddenly became irrelevant.
The glitches and bugs this game currently has as of the 16th of March 2025 are under threat, and most of them will go. The only real issue I have with this game is the online-only mode called The Island, which is simply a problem across all of the 2K games and it needs to go.
There’s a lot to like. The soundtrack slaps, the foley sounds are better than they have ever been, and the roster is a huge one that respects both the past, present and future of WWE. If this is the future of WWE’s games now that Vincent Kennedy McMahon is gone, then that future’s a bright one indeed.

I give this game a joystick rating of…

4.3/5 Joysticks

For The Gamerhub community, I’ve been Daibhi and you are all legends.

See you at WrestleMania!