Fans of the wrestling scene have been looking forward to the launch of WWE 2K25 for a while now, and thankfully, the time has finally come. 2K's latest World Wrestling Entertainment title has finally released for everyone — there was a week-long Early Access period for those that purchased one of the pricier editions of the game — and alongside that launch, plenty of reviews from industry publications and outlets have gone live as well, with various critics sharing their thoughts on the title.
At the time of writing, WWE 2K25 has a "Generally Favorable" rating on the review aggregation site Metacritic, with an average score of 82/100 on that site as well as OpenCritic. 24 of the reviews pulled from have been conducted on PS5, while 13 were done on Xbox Series X|S; evaluations on Xbox One, Windows PC, and PS4 have yet to be published. Below, you'll find a roundup of some noteworthy quotes and ratings:
- GamersRD (100/100): "WWE 2K25 is the best wrestling game ever made so far. Visual Concepts has refined the series over the years, and this edition delivers more realistic graphics, polished gameplay, and The Island mode, which is the cherry on top."
- DualShockers (90/100): "Not every mode in WWE 2K25 is a home run; MyFaction still feels like an UltimateTeam-inspired mode that's designed for whales, and The Island gives the same vibe as well. Despite those issues, WWE 2K25 stakes its claim as not just one of the best wrestling games ever made but also an all-time great sports game. There's an impressive amount of content that will keep you busy long after WrestleMania season ends. Showcase is an excellent love letter to The Bloodline, MyGM will keep me busy for who knows how long, and MyRise blew me away with how much I enjoyed the story. For those looking to consume more WWE content with its boon in popularity, you can't go wrong with WWE 2K25."
- GamesRadar+ (80/100): "A truly wonderful wrestling experience, hampered by the determination to drive fans into parting with even more cash. Maybe that's just the way sports sims are now – but it's still a huge shame."
- VGC (80/100): "With a string of improvements across all its existing modes, WWE 2K25 outdoes its predecessor in pretty much every way. The weak link is the new Island mode with its cynical pay-to-win mechanics, but throw a Cena taunt in its face and pretend it doesn't exist and you'll find more than enough elsewhere in the game to keep you entertained for months."
- XboxEra (80/100): "These yearly sports title releases can be tough to review. I don’t get to live in them like so many people reading this will choose to do. From someone who has reviewed the last few, this one feels like a solid iteration on what last year accomplished. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel so much as refines it to run more smoothly. WWE 2K25 is a big game, with an enormous amount of content on offer whether you’re into the online part of it or not."
- Wccftech (65/100): "WWE 2K25 doesn’t manage to build on the momentum created by the last few entries in the series. For every step forward, such as online MyGM or the varied Bloodline 2K Showcase, there’s a step back, like the lifeless MyRise career mode and some questionable changes to core gameplay. The biggest blemish is The Island hub, which excels at separating players from their money and not much else. There’s certainly still fun to be had with WWE 2K25, but the series risks dropping back to the midcard if it continues on this new trajectory."
The general consensus here seems to be that WWE 2K25's core modes like the MyRISE campaign story and the four-player co-op MyGM experience are a step up from 2K's past WWE titles, with reviewers also greatly enjoying the game's wrestling mechanics and its roster of over 300 superstars from WWE history. Critics also praise the quantity of content on offer overall, which is good news for folks worried that WWE 2K25 might not have much longevity.
Notably, one glaring negative mentioned in most reviews is that the game's The Island mode — an open-world explorable WWE-themed park of sorts exclusive to Xbox Series X|S and PS5 — is riddled with egregiously overpriced microtransactions like underwhelming cosmetic items. Unless you're really into customizing your wrestler and have lots of spare cash to burn, it sounds like you should avoid The Island (outside of using it to set up PvP games).
Frankly, I'm not surprised to see unreasonable microtransactions in WWE 2K25 at all, as they've become the norm in sports games from publishers like 2K and Electronic Arts (EA). Still, it's at least good to hear that you don't have to engage with them in order to have a good time, as reviewers have been vocal about the fact that there's plenty to engage with outside of the controversial The Island mode.
All in all, WWE 2K25 seems to be the great wrestling game fans were hoping it'd be, and notably, it even supports partial cross-play and cross-progression. Though its cross-play doesn't work across generations and cross-progression is limited to systems from the same console family, it's still nice that folks can play with people using other platforms and transfer progress between two consoles.
WWE 2K25 is one of this year's best Xbox games and best PC games to pick up if you're a wrestling fan. It may not be on Game Pass, but you can still get it for some nice discounts thanks to CDKeys deals on each of its editions you can check out below.
