WWE 2K25 Switch 2 review: 2K redeems itself with the first great Nintendo wrestling game since the N64 era

It’s rare that a game will get a second review on VGC, but the newly released Switch 2 version of WWE 2K25 has an interesting story behind it.

There was a time when the best wrestling games could be found on Nintendo platforms – specifically the Nintendo 64 era, thanks to the legendary trio of AKI Corporation developed titles WCW/nWo Revenge, WWF WrestleMania 2000 and WWF No Mercy.

It could also be argued – though with somewhat less conviction – that the WWE Day of Reckoning titles on GameCube were also among the finest wrestling games of their era. Since then, however, Nintendo fans have been given short shrift to some extent.

While the Wii saw its fair share of WWE games from THQ, they either featured waggle controls or were heavily visually downgraded compared to their Xbox 360 and PS3 siblings. At least it got some WWE games, though: the Wii U didn’t receive a single one.

After missing out on four annual editions in a row, things appeared to be looking up for Nintendo-owning wrestling fans when 2K announced that it was bringing WWE 2K18 to the Switch, but that turned out to be an unmitigated disaster with extreme slowdown and countless game-breaking bugs resulting in a Metacritic score of 35 for the Switch version.

Deciding not to try again, 2K ditched the Switch for the remainder of its lengthy lifespan, meaning Nintendo players have been without an annual WWE 2K game for nearly eight years.

Now, with the release of Switch 2, 2K has decided to try again with a port of WWE 2K25, which was released on other formats back in March. On paper it’s a reason for Nintendo players to celebrate, but they’d be forgiven for being wary of jumping back in given the shambles that was WWE 2K18 on Switch.

Thankfully, those concerns aren’t necessary, because 2K has finally managed to deliver a worthy port on a Nintendo console, giving players their first genuinely brilliant Nintendo wrestling game in generations.

Although 2K25 was also released on PS4 and Xbox One – consoles that have power more similar to that of Switch 2 – 2K has instead attempted to push the boat out and give Nintendo’s new console a port of the current-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X version instead. This means access to The Island mode, something not available on the last-gen versions (or even the PC version).

Naturally, there’s a visual downgrade compared to the PS5 and Xbox Series versions, but it’s not as wild as you’d imagine. Put them side-by-side and the difference is obvious, especially in background detail such as crowds and arenas, but entrances show that the character models are well detailed and loading times are solid enough.

All the modes and match types from the other versions are included on Switch 2, including the new Underground and Bloodline Rules match types, the new backstage arenas, intergender matches and this year’s Showcase mode based on the Bloodline.

As ever, it’s the gameplay where things can live or die, and it’s an almost flawless offering here. In almost every situation everything runs at a solid 60 frames per second, and even when you try to push the game to its limits with an eight-person match it shrugs off your efforts at breaking it and continues to run delightfully smoothly.

When I say ‘almost’, it’s because on occasion the action will switch to a close-up, in an attempt to imitate a TV broadcast, and when this happens the frame rate drops to 30fps. On its own this is far from a deal-breaker, but in certain situations this can make the game a tad harder.

Reversals involve pressing the X button with split-second timing, and one of the pinfall kick-out mini-games involves flicking the right stick upwards with even more precise timing. When the frame rate is halved this can have a genuine effect on your chances of success.

The latter can at least be addressed by switching to a button-bashing mini-game in the Options instead of a timing-based one, but not everyone likes hammering their controller buttons and some modes such as MyFaction force you to use the timing-based method instead.

This brings us to the other main issue with the game, and to be fair it’s not one that’s exclusive to Switch 2. Given that WWE 2K25 was initially released back in March we’re now four months into the game’s life, which means this re-review also gives us a chance to analyse the state of its live service offering post-launch.

MyFaction – which is essentially the game’s version of Ultimate Team / MyTeam, and has players collecting ‘cards’ to build up a roster of superstars – has revealed itself over time to be every bit the money-grabbing mode it was last year.

It offers a constant slew of ‘Persona’ cards which unlock alternate outfits not just in MyTeam but in all other modes too, but in most situations it’s all but impossible to unlock these through normal grinding.

Instead, getting these Persona cards requires a combination of a lot of money (to buy a bunch of limited-time packs), a lot of luck (to get the specific cards you’re looking for) and a hell of a lot of skill (some Personas have to be unlocked through challenges, many of which stack the odds against you to a ridiculous degree).

This would be bad enough were it confined to MyFaction, but every time a Persona card is released there it also appears in the roster in every other mode as “?????”.

It’s particularly galling for those who choose to spend $129.99 / £119.99 on the game’s most expensive version, the Bloodline Edition, which adds a bunch of DLC characters but – because of the MyFaction Persona cards – still sees the roster with 51 locked “?????” at the time of writing, many of which are now near-impossible to unlock.

It’s particularly galling for those who choose to spend $129.99 / £119.99 on the game’s most expensive version, the Bloodline Edition, which adds a bunch of DLC characters but – because of the MyFaction Persona cards – still sees the roster with 51 locked “?????” at the time of writing, many of which are now near-impossible to unlock.

We’re once again asking 2K to consider a one-off fee at the end of the game’s life which unlocks all of these Persona characters and makes the roster ‘complete’, but we don’t see it happening.

Another thing which exacerbates this is the lack of cross-platform progress. Players have to sign into a 2K account to play online, but their progress is still separate on each platform. I’ve put about 150 hours into the Xbox Series X version since launch and unlocked a bunch of Persona characters there, so it’s frustrating to essentially be starting from scratch again on Switch 2 instead of being able to continue my MyFaction, MyRise and Universe progress on the move.

The Community Creations feature is also not cross-platform on Switch 2, which is a big blow. Despite being based on the PS5 and Xbox Series versions, Switch 2 players can’t access the huge library of player-uploaded wrestlers available on those formats and instead have to access a far smaller library of wrestlers created on Switch 2. This is perhaps due to the Nintendo version not allowing players to upload their own images (a case of Nintendo wanting to avoid obvious dodgy pics?) but it’s frustrating nonetheless.

On a positive flip side, the mode we thought would be more problematic has turned out not to be the case. The Island is an open-world adventure where you run around talking to other superstars and taking on various tasks, but despite boasting a bunch of shops and countless customisation items which can be bought with the game’s virtual currency these can all be easily avoided for the most part and are far less intrusive than MyFaction’s Persona cards.

Indeed, with the subsequent addition of the second and third chapters, The Island has over time become a surprisingly enjoyable diversion with a pleasantly old-school feel, from the static dialogue screens to the very silly tasks, to the fact that it unlocks (similarly silly) wrestlers and custom parts through normal gameplay.

“The Island has over time become a surprisingly enjoyable diversion with a pleasantly old-school feel, from the static dialogue screens to the very silly tasks, to the fact that it unlocks (similarly silly) wrestlers and custom parts through normal gameplay.”

The result of all this is that the Switch 2 version of WWE 2K25 is a worthy port despite featuring some issues, some of which are already present on the other versions of the game. The sheer number of modes and the enormous roster (unlockables aside) means it’s very easy to put a lot of time into it without ever having to touch the modes that don’t appeal to you.

What’s more, the fact it’s based on the current-gen versions whereas the PC version is based on the last-gen ones means players looking to enjoy WWE 2K25 on handheld would clearly be better off playing it on Switch 2 than on Steam Deck, given the extra features available.

There’s room for improvement here. Some of this is unique to Switch 2 – the drop to 30fps for occasional close-ups affects some timing-based gameplay and it really does need Community Creations parity with PS5 and Xbox Series next time – while other issues, such as how MyFaction and its Persona outfits have been handled, are the same across the board regardless of format.

Despite this, however, the good far outweighs the bad here, meaning Nintendo owners finally have a genuinely brilliant WWE game for arguably the first time since it was even known as WWE.