WWE 2K25 Hands-On Impressions – Bloodline Infusion

What is WWE 2K’s next move now that the franchise is no longer on the defensive? After the disastrous WWE 2K20 and a year off to recoup, developer Visual Concepts has been slowly building a new foundation piece-by-piece, leading up to the really-quite-solid WWE 2K24. So, with most of the most obvious holes in WWE 2K’s game patched up, what now? It seems the new direction may be turning the series into a more of a playground for wrestling fans, rather than a more straightforward sim-like approach, with WWE 2K25 offering up new features like The Island hub and things verboten on actual WWE programming, like intergender wrestling.

Does WWE 2K25 build on the series’ momentum or does it let off the pressure? I recently had the opportunity to travel to Indianapolis to go hands-on with WWE 2K25 amid the backdrop of this year’s Royal Rumble. During my demo I was able to sample WWE 2K25’s tweaked in-ring mechanics, new Bloodline-focused 2K Showcase, and more. While there’s still more I need to tackle before I can render a final verdict, you can roll on for my pre-show impressions.

If you’ve played WWE 2K24, you largely know what to expect from WWE 2K25’s between-the-ropes fare. Over the past few years, Visual Concepts has added some much-needed depth and finesse to the WWE 2K action, offering new ways to change the momentum of matches like combo breakers and dodges, and simpler, better-designed mechanics for fundamentals like pins and submissions. This year, the list of truly original additions is short, with one of the big “new” mechanics being the return of chain wrestling, last seen in the ill-fated WWE 2K20. Triggered at the beginning of some (but not all) matches, the minigame tasks you with trading holds and reversals by anticipating your opponent’s moves.

I must admit, I’m somewhat ambivalent about the return of chain wrestling. Sure, the mechanic works well enough, and is a more interesting way to determine who gets the advantage at the beginning of a match than simply “Who punches first?” Animations and transitions also have seem to have been improved making chain wrestling feel more polished than before. That said, following WWE 2K20, Visual Concepts largely deemphasized gimmicks like chain wrestling, and I’m hoping the series doesn’t allow itself to fall victim to minigame creep again, even if some individual minigames are fun enough to play.

I’ve long advocated for Visual Concepts to push the WWE 2K franchise in the direction of faster, more versatile, fighting-game-style mechanics, and it feels like they’re edging away from that again. Case in point, blocking has been removed from WWE 2K25. Admittedly, I didn’t use blocks all that often in the last few WWE 2K titles, but some sort of functional blocking system is really core to any sort of serious combat-based video game. While you still have reversals, breakers, and dodges at your disposal to stymie your opponent’s attacks, I’d like to see Visual Concepts reconsider their jettisoning of blocks.

Perhaps my favorite new WWE 2K25 gameplay features is one of its least promoted – the new Giant fighting style. Giants now have an extra bar of “armor,” which essentially makes them impervious to certain attacks (with funny, unique animations playing when the giant shrugs off a punch or brushes aside a grapple attempt). Once the giant’s armor is worn down, they’ll play more like a regular wrestler, and, at least in theory, their limited invulnerability will be balanced by them not being able to do certain more acrobatic moves. While we’ll see how balanced the giants really are, playing as them now feels genuinely unique, and I wouldn’t mind seeing other WWE 2K fighting styles updated to stand apart more.

Of course, there’s one other very noticeable change to the in-ring action, as male and female Superstars are now free to tussle. Of course, intergender wrestling is a divisive topic -- I’m not always a great fan of it in real life, but I’m also all for letting people have their fun within the largely consequence-free world of video games. Wisely, certain features, like blood and bruising, are turned off in intergender matches, but otherwise, it’s pretty much anything goes. This does occasionally lead to some odd incongruities, such as a match I had between Nia Jax and Ethan Page where Jax was acting like a giant, even though she’s actually shorter than Page. But ultimately, if we all survived three-plus decades of Ryu and Chun-Li throwing fireball at one another, Rhea and Dom putting each other through a table or two isn’t anything to get overly fussed about.

Visually, WWE 2K25 has received a modest, but still noticeable, upgrade of the type I’ve come to expect from the series in recent years. The lighting feels better this time around, bringing a new level of realism and depth to the wrestlers, and the series’ sometimes-unruly hair tech has been tamed somewhat. While we’ll have to wait and see how the full roster fares, the small selection of wrestlers we were allowed to play with at the preview event looked strikingly true-to-life, with a lot of effort clearly put toward getting the Bloodline members looking just right.

In terms of ways to play, “The Bloodline’s Dynasty” 2K Showcase builds nicely on the positive upgrades the mode received last year. While I never had any particular issue with it, the “Slingshot” technology that blended live historical footage with gameplay has been canned. There are still relatively lengthy non-interactive “cutscenes” included in some Showcase matches, but they’re now rendered in-engine. The Slingshot tech getting the boot was probably unavoidable as the Bloodline Showcase moves away from strictly recreating history this year, with the addition of matches that let you change history and “dream” showdowns that never happened in the real world. This adds some much-needed variety to the Showcase experience, which sometimes felt like a bit of a grind in years past. The dream meeting between the Wild Samoans and Dudley Boyz was probably my favorite Showcase match I had the chance to play at the preview event, as it had very straightforward objectives that largely let you play how you pleased.

And that’s about all I can definitively say about WWE 2K25 at the moment. 2K Games has set a second embargo for the new Underground match type, which I’ll be able to talk later this week. Beyond that, two of the more intriguing, and potentially divisive, additions – The Island hub and the Bloodline Rules match type – weren’t shown to us. It feels like a lot is riding on The Island, and to be fair, similar hubs like The City in the NBA 2K games have helped foster a strong sense of community surrounding that franchise. By the same token, NBA 2K’s hubs have also been criticized for their sometimes-overbearing monetization, which leaves me to wonder if Visual Concepts has managed the delicate ropewalk required to make The Island a success.

Current Thoughts on WWE 2K25

WWE 2K25 seems to be largely more of a good thing, but despite playing the game for hours, my hands-on time felt a bit like one of those slick vignettes WWE shows before debuting a new Superstar – flashy, promising, but somewhat short on specifics. I remain cautiously optimistic, but I’m still waiting to see what WWE 2K25 can really do between the ropes.

If you’d like to know a bit more about what to expect from WWE 2K25, do check out my interview with the game’s producers. And again, look for my thoughts on the game’s new Underground match type later in the week.

WWE 2K25 launches on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5 on March 14, although those who buy the Deadman or Bloodline special editions can play a week early on March 7.

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