With the product as hot as it’s ever been, WWE is currently firing on all cylinders with its extracurricular offerings, and that includes WWE 2K25, this year’s edition created by 2K and Visual Concepts. After a largely embarrassing fumble with WWE 2K20, each variation of the game has consistently improved on its predecessor, adding additional options and features and building on the legacy that defines WWE.

2K25 is no different, immersing the player immediately into the storied Bloodline saga, and allowing you to rewrite history for the family. While the game does have some clunkiness and drawbacks, its incredible graphics, as well as the integral and painstaking path it takes to make even the most beginner of players excel, makes this, arguably, 2K’s best offering yet.

Graphics And Visual Updates Are The Strongest

Impressive Looks And Enhanced Visual Damage

WWE 2K25 goes to great lengths to ensure you get everything you can out of this game, and whether you’re a beginner or an experienced player, there’s plenty of opportunity to refresh your skills before diving headfirst into gameplay. If you’re jumping into these kinds of games for the first time, or even if you've been at it for a while, it’s recommended and also best to start in the Performance Center to either enhance or elevate your experience by relearning the basics, the advanced, and the complicated.

An overall the game is the bumps, bruises, and blood features, which provides an extra level of realism to the game experience by making your character look like they’re taking the bumps. Wrestling can be gritty and violent. Why not make a character look like they’ve actually been through it?

There’s a ton of other great upgrades from a visual perspective, including the third-person gameplay and individual camera , which Visual Concepts Creative Director Lynell Jinks - correctly - told us changed the dynamic of the game, from entrances to gameplay itself. 2K25 maintains the impressive graphics and character appearances of its predecessors, and gives an extra layer of realism to its gameplay with the upgraded damage appearance on the character.

A Deep Roster That Has Someone For Everyone

Golden Era to Today, With Everything In Between

From the Golden Era to the Triple H Era, WWE 2K25 boasts the deepest roster ever with over 300 playable characters that span every era of WWE. It's impossible to find a character that you don't know in this game, as even the most lapsed fan will recognize some of the iconic faces in the mix. A few of the more exciting names on this roster list include The Great Muta, "Superstar" Billy Graham and Ravishing Rick Rude, as well as some incredibly surprising names on the DLC lists that include New Jack and Abyss.

Players can receive the Wyatt Sicks Pack which includes Uncle Howdy, Nikki Cross, and the other of the faction if they pre-order through March 13. With such an expansive roster, now fully integrated with the inclusion of intergender wrestling, a long-requested and long-awaited addition to the game, players can easily create an entirely new path through the game and competition.

MyRISE Adds New Level Of Drama To The Game

A Brand New Story To Unlock And Solve

The MyRISE mode of WWE 2K25 continues to build on the groundwork its predecessors laid for it, with an expansive and deep creative character-building profile that allows you to create the next WWE Superstar. This year's MyRISE follows your character as you make your way through the ranks of WWE and uncover the mystery behind "Mutiny", a NXT-based nWo-like faction led by Bayley and Kevin Owens that wrecks havoc on the WWE Universe.

Some sections of MyRISE still leave a bit for the imagination, like the excessive cutaways and somewhat drawn-out dialogue, but it's a fun story advancement nonetheless. The multigender function of MyRISE is also a nice new feature, allowing you to experience both the men's and the women's arc.

Bloodline Showcase Mode Is Second To None

An Incredible Retelling Of A Family Lineage

If you thought WWE 2K24's Showcase with John Cena was a blast, you're really going to love this. Easily the best part of WWE 2K25 is this year's 2K Showcase, which features its cover star, Roman Reigns with his Bloodline family, and allows you to dive deep into their storied history. Each segment of the Showcase is introduced by the Wiseman, Paul Heyman, who weaves a beautiful tapestry of the full background of each member of the Bloodline you'll be competing as in the Showcase segment, and provides you with the opportunity to relive, or change, the course of Bloodline history.

Among the initial Showcase storylines are Yokozuna defeating Hulk Hogan at 1993's King of the Ring, The Headshrinkers righting the wrong of defeating The Steiner Brothers at WrestleMania IX, and perhaps the easiest showdown of the Showcase, "High Chief" Peter Maivia against George "The Animal" Steele in a steel cage match.

While the Showcase is a fantastic dive into the story of the Anoa'i, Fatu, and Maivia families and genuinely the best part of the game, the objectives can be incredibly difficult to achieve in under 90 seconds, even in easy mode, and you end up missing all the unlockable achievements that enhance the gameplay. These frustrations don't take away from the stories or the game itself, but are worth noting.

The Island – Unique or Clunky?

I'm Not Sure I'm Fully Sold On It Just Yet

It feels somewhat daunting to explain "The Island," the brand-new playable section in WWE 2K25, but the easiest and most succinct way to sum this up is that it's an immersive multiplayer world that sees your character competing for a chance to win a WWE contract by impressing Roman Reigns. There are also opportunities to shop for different brands, including Nike, Puma, and the WWE Shop, while building VC through matches and quests set forth by your Tribal Chief and exploring the attractions that are included on The Island, such as The Temple of the Ancestors and The Arcade of Tomorrow.

The Island is, for all intents and purposes, a unique addition to WWE 2K25, but at first glance, it can feel clunky and overwhelming, and it's currently only available for Xbox Series X/S and PS5 players, so not everyone will get to experience this segment of the game. Overall, The Island seems like a fresh and inventive new take inside wrestling video games, giving the player additional options than the standard fare they may be used to.

Our Final Verdict: ScreenRant Gives WWE 2K25 9/10

The Best In The Series To Date

There are some great - and shocking - surprises at the end of both MyRISE and Showcase that fans will love, and these provide a nice bowtie for each story path. Although The Island still leaves some to be desired, additional exploration will make fans love it or hate it without a clear in-between.

WWE 2K25, even with its small drawbacks like the seeming clunkiness of The Island and its almost impossible 90-second completion of objectives in Showcase, is the best offering thus far for the WWE 2K franchise. Showcase remains the best part of the game, with the Bloodline storylines coming alive like never before, and MyRISE continuing to excel as the main driver of the game. Now we wait patiently and see how New Jack's entrance will look in the game this summer.

ScreenRant was provided an Xbox code for the purposes of this review.