Not quite down for the count.
It has been eight years since a WWE game was last released on a Nintendo platform. WWE 2K18 was the first since WWE ‘13, and to say it was poorly received would be lying. It’s one of the lowest-rated games on the Nintendo Switch; it resembles more of a slideshow than an actual game, and these problems were never fixed. Instead, developer Yuke’s and publisher 2K abandoned 2K18, thanks to the critical response. But now, WWE has finally made its way to Nintendo again, with a different developer entirely: Visual Concepts. Oh, and it’s a good port now.
Speaking on a technical level, it’s absolutely wild that anything WWE 2K25 does is possible. The Nintendo Switch 2 is a marked improvement over the original Switch when looking purely at specs, but the bad taste left from WWE 2K18 is so bitter that my expectation was, at best, this would just be a passable port. It would work, but it’d be so mediocre I’d play for a few hours before putting it down and doing something else. I was wrong.
It runs amazingly. There are no real noticeable frame drops; the biggest sacrifice you’re making is the visual fidelity and occasional dips in resolution. But if you’re playing on the Nintendo Switch 2 primarily, then you’ve already made peace with this as a possibility. Loading screens are fast, battery life is around three hours from a full charge, and there’s honestly nothing to pick at on a technical level. It plays and looks great docked too, though I’ve found I prefer playing in handheld mode because I can pick it up, play a match or two, then put it down while I do something else. It’s a perfect pick-up and play game.
There are so many stipulations and match types, and the amount of variety made it so I can’t really put WWE 2K25 down. Bored with normal matches? Send people through a table. Bored with table matches? Throw somebody off the top of a cell. The possibilities are massive, and the inclusion of newer stipulations such as Bloodline Rules (anything goes, and allies can interfere to help you win) really shakes up the formula. I’ll find myself putting my Switch 2 aside to do something else, yet gravitating back towards it just so I can beat the hell out of Roman Reigns.
Hell, 2K25 might be one of the best wrestling games, full stop. MyGM mode has proven to be a massive time sink for me, and also extremely stressful; I can never seem to get that perfect match, but one day I’ll do it. I also adore hopping into MyUniverse mode – though I do wish that the promos were more fleshed out. I’d also be interested, now that WWE is embracing the pre-determined reality of the sport, in creating my own storylines, perhaps in an alternative MyGM mode. But these are dreams, not complaints – everything outside of those dreams is great fun, and even the online matches work okay most of the time, a surprising development given that Nintendo doesn’t have a great track record with online. It is worth noting, however, that I’ve had several matches that stutter incredibly badly, so it seems to depend on the mood of the servers at that particular time – but when it works, it works really well.
The big downside is no cross-play, and the Community Creations are exclusive to the platform – you can’t upload images, which severely handicaps the potential of it all. I really wish this wasn’t the case, but it’s seemingly more a Nintendo problem than a 2K problem – Nintendo guidelines are extremely strict, and mean that stuff like this would be a nightmare. Still, there’s a part of me that really wishes I could play matches inside of an AEW ring, or download classic arenas from PPVs gone by.
Something fascinating is the Island mode. This is essentially microtransaction hell, but that’s not why it’s fascinating – it’s fascinating because every last-gen version is missing this mode, including PC. But Visual Concepts seemingly insisted on including it (whether that was to meet profit margins or out of respect for the fans, it’s impossible to say), which makes me really interested to see how future Switch 2 ports treat generation-exclusive modes and features. Is this an exception to a rule? Or is this something we can expect to see going forward consistently?
WWE 2K25 on Nintendo Switch 2 is probably my go-to way to play now – sure, it does sacrifice some visual fidelity, but the benefit of being able to lie in bed, playing a few matches before going to sleep, is just too massive to ignore. There’s no real frame drops; the only downside is the iffy online mode and stuttering when it comes to performance, but a lot of people just want to make their own WWE Universe modes, run around with a title belt, or play as their favourite wrestlers. It’s great fun, and an easy recommendation, especially if you’ve never played the game before.
Score: 8
This review is based on a Switch 2 code provided by the publisher.
