WWE 2K25

Genre: Pro Wrestling

Players: 1-8 Competitive / Team Competitive (Local / Online)

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Review:

I’ll start this review by putting things into proper context – I don’t follow Pro Wrestling, and I don’t follow Pro Wrestling videogames. While I have reviewed a few smaller games in the genre, the last time I played a major AAA Pro Wrestling game release was on the Nintendo 64, which as I understand it is something of a golden age for the genre. Comparatively, by most accounts I haven’t missed much when it comes to Nintendo Switch AAA Pro Wrestling games, as general consensus seems to be that until recently the genre hasn’t been in the best shape, at least on Nintendo Switch, with WWE 2K18 providing YouTube with a plethora of embarrassing glitchy videos, and WWE Battlegrounds being an odd, goofy stopgap game that no one was really asking for.

Or at least, that’s been my view from the outside looking in. But with the series coming to the Nintendo Switch 2 under a new developer (well, on Nintendo platforms, anyway), there seemed high hopes that this game would avoid the fate of earlier games on Nintendo Switch, and so I decided to come back from AAA Wrestling Game retirement and step back into the ring.

Released in 2025 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch 2, WWE 2K25 adds new gameplay mechanics like “chain wrestling”, the new “giant” class of fighter, new gimmick match types like “Underground” and “Bloodline Rules”, and reintroducing intergender matches for the first time in the series since 2009.

On Nintendo Switch 2, WWE 2K25 looks… okay. Honestly, I think Nintendo Switch 2 is capable of more than this, and the 3D character models for fighters still seem well within the uncanny valley as far as I’m concerned.

When it comes to the gameplay, I generally avoid reviewing yearly sports franchises because too often they’re not welcoming to players who don’t already know how to play the game from prior years’ releases, but to its credit WWE 2K25 has an extensive tutorial and its core mechanics are fairly easy to figure out: Y and B for light and heavy attacks, X for dodges, A for grapples, ZL for running, L and R for moving around a grappled opponent or interacting with the turnstiles, and right stick to change the position of a downed opponent or attempt a pin. On the other hand, countering attacks when you’re receiving the hurt generally involves timed button presses in response to prompts or various simple minigames.

In theory, this is all straightforward enough, but in practice I think it runs into a major problem the moment you start to get into trouble. The timed button presses have a window that seems far too stingy, and try as I might I couldn’t manage to activate them in time. This made for a lot of one-sided matches – either I would dominate by not letting the opponent get in an attack, or the opponent would land an attack and I’d be helpless to fend them off until they got a final pin in on me.

Is this a “git gud” problem? I suppose it’s possible. But I can hold my own in plenty of Fighting games and other Action games that require precision inputs, so I can’t help but feel like this is a gatekeeping thing – much like how other yearly AAA Sports games count on players already understanding the gameplay and controls, WWE 2K25 seems to expect players to already be naturally primed for the timing needed to repel attacks.

Between the unimpressive visuals and gameplay that simply isn’t accessible for newcomers, I can’t recommend WWE 2K25 to folks like me, players who haven’t been following the WWE 2K games prior to now. If you’re someone who’s been following the series and wants a read on this game, you’re better off getting that from someone else. But if you’re a player with a more casual interest in the franchise, like me, then I suggest you leave this one to the returning champions and find another arena to call your own.

tl;dr – WWE 2K25 is the first WWE game on a Nintendo platform in a half a decade, and while it may not be the embarrassment that WWE 2K18 is, I can’t recommend this to players who don’t already enjoy the series, thanks to extremely stingy timing required to repel attacks, and unimpressive visuals. If you’re a fan of the series you may feel differently about this game, but if you’re not a regular in the ring, this is not a good game to make your Pro Wrestling debut.

Grade: C

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