WWE 2K25’s intergender wrestling offers a familiar but fun spin on an already great formula

We go hands on with this year's WWE 2K game, which looks to be refining an already great formula using a suite of new modes and options. Fresh off watching this year’s WWE Royal Rumble on Netflix at the weekend, it’d be fair to say that I headed into my WWE 2K25 preview session more hyped than ever to see what changes developer Visual Concepts has in store this year. My main question was: will it be more the same? For the most part, yes, but then it’s hard to complain too much, considering that this is a yearly sports franchise that has been in extremely rude health lately. Ever since 2K Games skipped out WWE 2K21 to refocus and polish, the franchise has given us wrestling fans more of what we want, with the return of quirkier modes and full-fledged campaign offerings more reminiscent of the WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw golden era. Improvements and additions are again incremental here, but after three hours playing, I’m excited to explore WWE 2K25 fully at launch.

Of course, one of WWE 2K25’s big additions this year is the return of intergender wrestling matches. And although it feels a bit silly to fist pump the air for a change that would’ve been incredibly easy for 2K to implement, it’s still exciting to now be able to pit these two titanic rosters against one another. My preview build gave me access to a small selection of women’s wrestlers, including Mami herself, Rhea Ripley, and so I promptly got to work going toe-to-toe with Jey Uso as part of a backstage brawl. Watching them duke it out was undoubtedly a thrill, and it’s nice to see WWE believe in its talent so much that there’s seemingly no restriction on what kind of modes intergender matches can be used in. At one point, I constructed a 10-person Royal Rumble, for instance, starting off as Natalya, where I succeeded in eliminating The Rock.

The gameplay itself is where changes in WWE 2K25 are the most incremental. I say this because it’s still the case that two face buttons are used to let you dish out light and heavy attacks as desired, while the B and/or Circle button is reserved for initiating grabs. It’s a simple control scheme that might appear basic on the surface, but in reality makes the in-game WWE experience easy for newcomers to understand, with an additional degree of risk and complexity coming into play when you realise the importance of countering. The system still can lead to frustrating scenarios where I’m hammering buttons in the hopes of my wrestler getting up quicker, yet even this can be combated through the use of quick recoveries (should your meter be filled to the appropriate level). The actual act of wrestling appears mostly the same, then, aside from the new ability to dive from the barricades.

One thing the WWE 2K games always do well is putting you in control of elements you usually wouldn’t be able to as a humble viewer. Even more so now by being able to pit, say, Liv Morgan against LA Knight in a one-on-one title match. However, Visual Concepts has taken this a touch further this year thanks to new entrance camera controls. Whereas before, I’d have a habit of skipping these sequences to get to the meat of the action, the ability to now change from multiple angles – and even switch to a third-person view – makes these glamourous match entrances even more of an event than they already were. I can finally gain a semblance of what it must be like for these superstars as they walk towards the ring and feel just a fraction of the buzz they likely do. It’s definitely a simple addition, but one that’s still effective and cool.

The other main element of WWE 2K25 I was given access to in my preview build was this year’s showcase mode. Whereas previous years have taken to highlighting the career highlights of Rey Mysterio, failed matches of John Cena, and some of Wrestlemania’s most iconic matches, I can already tell that 2K25’s version promises to be pretty unique. Named The Bloodline’s Dynasty, the subject of showcase mode this time around is focused on letting you influence, change, or relive some of the best matches surrounding one of wrestling’s most iconic families. It’s great for variety since it means you get to span rosters as well as decades. One showcase match I played, for example, was Nia Jax vs Lyra Valkyria in the final match of 2024’s Queen of the Ring tournament. As a fan who’s wanted to see Jax do more with the Bloodline story for some time, it’s good to see her paid respect to in this way.

Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns at 2022’s Royal Rumble was equally awesome to play out, if only as a way to change the outcome of the real-life disqualification result. As well as reliving events, however, showcase looks to be emphasising great matches long-time wrestling fans have dreamed of, in this case the Wild Samoans against who else but the Dudley Boys? One element I was sad to see seemingly dropped from showcase matches is the way that your recreated move sets would cleanly transition to actual TV footage from the event. In all three I got to try, this was nowhere to be seen, which made sense for the Wild Samoans’ make-believe tag team match, but it left the two others somewhat lacking. Sure, previous WWE 2K games had a habit of lingering on these moments too long, but I don’t think the solution was to rid showcase matches of them entirely.