WWE 2K25 Review – Bloodline Rules
After a major roadblock a few years ago, the WWE 2K series has really been on a roll lately. The last few entries have done a standout job of building on one another and adding new features here and there to really push the series forward.
With WrestleMania XLI quickly approaching, it’s the perfect time to check out the all-new WWE 2K25. Does it manage to hit a finsher or does it fall flat and get pinned? Our review gives a detailed breakdown on why this is worth a look for wrestling fans.
Undisputed Championship
Over the last few years, developer Visual Concepts has managed to hone in on what makes the gameplay work in this series and gradually improved it each year. Once having gameplay that felt way too complicated, WWE 2K25 continues the trend of the last few years by making the gameplay feel much more accessible, yet never feeling like it is too easy or simplistic. The general gameplay is just as it has been the last couple of years, though with a few tweaks here and there. Square and X (PlayStation controller) are used for light and heavy attacks, respectively, while Circle is used to grapple. Triangle is used to do reversals and counter the opponent when pressed at just the right time. From there, you must use wrestler’s combos to build up the Special Meter and unleash Signature attacks. There is also the Finisher Meter, which has three stocks that can be stored at a time to use Finisher moves or Super Finishers if you have all three filled. These are really easy to chain together too, which makes each match move at a fast pace.
WWE 2K has introduced varying pin mini-games over the years, and now it’s time for a new Submission mini-game that you can choose to use instead of the previous button-mashing-related one. Similarly, there is now a meter-based option where you can slide a meter around using L2 and R2 to cover the opponent’s area and then force them into Submission. I really enjoyed this new variation and instantly made it my default as it felt a lot more intense to fit the feeling of a submission rather than the basic button mashing of the original.
Not seen since WWE 2K19, another requested feature is back with chain wrestling in this year’s game. After locking up with another wrestler, you can execute a chain wrestling mini-game up to twice in one match. Upon the start, you’ll see a circular option appear with three choices that include Switch, Drive, and Attack to start. Upon selecting one of them, it will go to a circular meter where you and the opponent try to move the left analog stick in different ways to try to either execute the move or get out of it. After doing the Switch maneuver, you will get the additional option to Wrench and sometimes to attack by pressing Square. This is one of the more complicated systems within the game, but is well worth utilizing if you can master it.
WWE 2K25 also boasts a massive roster of over 300 playable wrestlers that span many years of the company. While I am personally sad we did not get Joe Hendry (yes, WE BELIEVE) in the game as he’s with TNA and that newer contract with WWE was signed more recently, I’m still holding out hope he comes in future DLC. Even so, the roster is huge, with lots of different options to choose from. The visuals for each superstar are still very impressive in the game, with the game seeming to look better and better each and every year graphically. This carries over into the various arenas and especially the introductions for each superstar. The attention to detail with theme music and everything is top-notch for every entrance.
Making the game even better is the introduction of intergender wrestling for the first time in the franchise, which allows for all kinds of different matchups using the large roster. While this doesn’t happen much in real life, it’s a fantastic addition here that fans have been asking for over the years. With no restrictions on the table, you can have that dream match of Rhea Ripley taking out her frustrations on Dominik Mysterio or just do a random tag match like Tiffany Stratton and Jey Uso vs. Bianca Belair and Jacob Fatu.
As for new match types, WWE 2K25 introduces Bloodline Rules and Underground matches into the mix. This already joins a lineup of other match variations from past years that include Hell in a Cell, Wargames, and even the always-fun Special Guest Referee match. Bloodline Rules essentially has a lack of rules where you can call in other people to help like the Bloodline matches we’ve seen over the last few years in WWE, which can cause lots of chaos. Underground matches take place in a ring without ropes, which is a rather unique setup with fans directly around you.
2K Showcase: The Bloodline’s Dynasty mode starts off with a really cool recreation of WrestleMania XL Night 2’s Main Event, where Cody Rhodes finished his story by defeating Roman Reigns, starting where John Cena comes in to help and going from there. This is very well done, though I wish we could have had some audio clips taken from the actual match be more prominent rather than small voice lines you could hardly hear.
The opening match ends with Cody countering Roman’s attack and finishing him off with three Cross Rhodes, which seems like a bit of a weird start for what is a Bloodline-centric Showcase mode by showing their Tribal Chief losing. However, this leads to a narration by the Wise Man himself, Paul Heyman, about the history of the Bloodline and how this family built a lineage that will continue regardless of the events of WrestleMania XL. The focus this time in Showcase mode is on the Anoa’i, Fatu, and Maivia family, including the likes of Roman Reigns, Rikishi, and, of course, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
This all starts with the classic King of the Ring match from 1993, where Yokozuna faces off against Hulk Hogan to try to regain the WWE Championship. Naturally, Paul Heyman introduces each of the matches complete with real-life clips in a documentary style as we have come to expect from Showcase mode. This also includes interviews with Roman Reigns, Solo Sikoa, and more to better tell these stories from a personal perspective, Heyman. As someone who actually did not get into wrestling until the last decade or so, these are always some of my favorite parts of the games each year, where I can learn some of the most important history of the WWE and the wrestlers that have made it so special.
As always, each Showcase match consists of a list of objectives for you to complete in order that correspond with the actual events of the match. You can just beat up the opponent and win the match through whatever means, but you really lose out on a lot if you do that. There are some objectives that are optional and time-based, which you can always go back and try to get later. By winning the match, you will get certain rewards and then if you get all of the objectives complete, you will unlock additional rewards as well.
Showcase mode is not always true to history either, as a number of the matches ask you to change the outcome from how they originally ended. For instance, one of the best is the 2022 Royal Rumble match between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, which originally ended in disqualification. However, now you get the chance to win the match outright as Roman and take out the years of frustration he has had on Rollins since the breakup of The Shield. There are also some more classic matches where you are supposed to change history, including Rikishi vs. “Stone Cold” Steve Austin at No Mercy 2000, where “Stone Cold” was originally arrested and the match ended as a no contest, but now you get to finish the match as it was originally intended.
MyRise is back again as the game’s main story mode, where you create a male or female superstar and play through their career after being #1 overall in the WWE Draft. The big change this year is that MyRise is connected between the Men’s and Women’s Division, so both of your created MyRise characters will play a part in the overall story. There are also more story paths for you to experience, so the game has an extra save slot so that you can go back and try out the different paths along the way. From the MyRise Hub, you will have the opportunity to pick how you want to move forward by choosing between the available story options. There are Bold stories, Comedic stories, Scheming stories, and Ally stories to choose from, as well as Live Event match opportunities at times that can really help you earn more upgrade points.
MyRise offers one of the better stories we’ve seen from a WWE game in a while, as a rival group known as NXT Mutiny is trying to take over WWE as a whole as the top brand, and your created character is right in the middle of it. Regardless of whether you select a male or female superstar to start, you will end up having to create the other during the story mode as they both come into play together. From there, you will have the opportunity to switch between the two as the story dictates, which I thought was a cool way to handle this game mode. Rather than separating everything like in the past, having a unified mode helped make MyRise stand out above past years easily.
Rather than trying to mix the main story mode and an open-world setting like in NBA 2K, WWE 2K25 has kept them separate by having both the MyRise and the all-new The Island game modes. On the Island of Relevancy, as named by Roman Reigns, you must create an entirely separate MySuperstar from scratch to use, with the option of a Men’s or Women’s Superstar.
After first creating the character and jumping into the Island, the setup seems really cool with the layout and design. It’s definitely reminiscent of NBA 2K’s The City but has a bit of a different feel. Every part of the Island is based on a name brand, a wrestler, or a wrestling faction in WWE. When you first jump in you will see stores for Fanatics and Nike, but then you start to branch out and find other areas. This includes areas like a church area based around Undertaker known as the Deadlands, Hero HQ themed around Cody Rhodes, a Rhea Ripley tattoo shop, and even Damage CTRL Computer Repair. The Island isn’t huge, but the references are jampacked in it for sure.
The Island starts to falter with the fetch quest-style mission structure. It’s a case of getting a text from Roman or someone, running to the next area and talking to a person and initiating the next match, or find out who you have to talk to next. Oftentimes, there isn’t even any reason for a quest other than to have you run around. A great example of this was one of the earlier quests where you are trying to get special video game armor from Johnny Gargano and Dakota Kai at the recommendation of Xavier Woods. However, after winning a match against Kai, it has a quest for you to go talk to Woods again, where all he tells you is to go talk to Kai and Gargano again. It felt like pointless padding and really turned me off of this mode pretty early. The sad thing is it doesn’t any much better in those regards either.
Unlike NBA 2K, there is no fast travel or faster method of getting around other than running, which still feels rather slow. Then, when you speak to people, there’s no voice acting or animations and only static in-game model recreations of the people you’re talking to. The only time you get anything different is when Roman leaves you a video message to view, which is always elevated by his performance and the presence of Paul Heyman.
I was really hyped for the idea of The Island when I first heard about it, but it was a major disappointment overall. This is especially a letdown considering how well nearly everything else in the game is handled. The WWE 2K series had done a good job at leaving VC as only being necessary for unlocks and MyFaction mode, but now it’s infected yet another where it’s even more integral with the leveling system and any gear that you may want. I just found myself keeping the default clothes I was given most of the time because of how pricy the items were. For instance, the Becky & Seth’s Driporium store charges upwards of 18,000 VC for a jacket, 6,000 VC for a basic shirt, and 6,000 VC for a hat. This is the very definition of nickel and diming and is always my least favorite part of NBA 2K as well.
Ultimately, The Island was an experiment with some potential but ended up being a letdown in this year’s game. With the lack of integration with other modes. including MySuperstar not being able to be imported or exported, it feels like this was a late addition to the game while everything else was nice and polished. It definitely was my least favorite part of the game this year, but I do have faith in the development team to take feedback and fix it through updates or by next year’s game.
MyGM is also back again in WWE 2K25, letting you take full control of one of the WWE brands and take it to the top. As soon as you enter MyGM, you will notice the major addition to the mode this year that fans have been begging for over the last few years: online play. While online play has some limits, such as disallowing custom GMs and rosters, it is great to see the mode go global. Otherwise, MyGM is much of what you have come to expect in recent iterations, where you choose from a list of GMs, this time 18 total, or a custom Superstar that you have created.
The GM options include the likes of current GMs Nick Aldis, Adam Pearce, and Ava for SmackDown, RAW, and NXT, respectively, but also has others you can pick such as Mick Foley, Paul Heyman, Miss Elizabeth, and CM Punk. As for the brand, you can select SmackDown, RAW, NXT, NXT 2.0, WCW, ECW, and even the game-exclusive NXT Mutiny from the MyRise story mode. Each GM and brand has special abilities that you can utilize as well, so it makes the decision all the more important. I’ve found MyGM to be one of the more addictive game modes in the series over the last few years, and this year is no different. Taking on other GMs for the top spot in the ratings is a lot of fun and is a nice change of pace from the other game modes.
Universe mode is back as well, with the option of Superstar mode or Classic mode. with the latter giving you much more freedom in the mode. Superstar mode has you just picking a specific Superstar and playing through their matches that you do not simulate. With this, you can choose to have your specific superstar get in rivalries, set up matches, change shows, and more. Sandbox, on the other hand, opens things up further and lets you pretty much set up everything across the shows week to week for everyone. You can choose who has the championships, edit each of the shows down to even the day they air 0n, as well as anything you could have done with just a Superstar, but now for the whole roster. This does get a bit overwhelming at times with what you’re doing here, but it’s a lot of fun regardless.
The collectible card-based mode MyFaction returns for another year and is mostly what you would expect it to be. MyFaction does have some nice improvements like new features, stages, and the replacement of Proving Grounds with World Tour within it. However, this is the one mode besides The Island that microtransactions really do come into play if you don’t want to grind for more VC to spend on packs or in the marketplace, so it’s the most polarizing of the returning modes like it is each and every year depending on what type of player you are.
Verdict
WWE 2K25 continues the positive trend that the series has been on for a few years now by getting better and better with each iteration. The gameplay continues to feel natural and works as an accessible system for players of all skill sets to be able to enjoy. Showcase mode is always a standout feature with its documentary style, and this year does a stellar job at showcasing the history of the Bloodline over the years, which is very fitting considering how integral they are to the history of WWE and professional wrestling as a whole. MyRise is the best it’s ever been, with a combined storyline that also makes great use of the new intergender feature in the game. Unfortunately, the one major disappointment in the game is the all-new The Island mode, which focuses way too much on microtransactions and felt like a major step down from much of the rest of the game, albeit with some potential for the future in there at least. Even with that said, WWE 2K25 is so good pretty much everywhere else by perfectly building on the last few years and creating the ultimate wrestling game that is out there right now.
Score: 9/10
Pros:
- Well-polished and accessible gameplay
- Captivating Showcase mode (more Paul Heyman is always good)
- MyRise’s combined storyline
- Intergender wrestling is finally being added
- The return of chain wrestling
Cons:
- The Island as a whole
- Annoying microtransactions in a couple of game modes
WWE 2K25 was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.
Stay connected to MP1st and the latest news by following us on Bluesky, X, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Google News.
I’ve only completed MYRise and the storyline is well written, i have no intention of playing certain game modes like MYFaction because of the micro transactions.