The Road to WrestleMania 41 is upon us. And that means quite a lot of things. The Royal Rumble is only days away. Wrestling fans are about to lose all their money in Las Vegas. And we just got our first look at WWE 2K25.
2K has not been shy about teasing many new additions and returns in this newest installment in the yearly franchise. Promising game changing developments to make WWE 2K25 the best one yet. But are 2K truly focusing on what matters? Or will it all be smoke and mirrors to distract from the series’ nagging weaknesses?
Here are 5 changes the WWE 2K series are in desperate need of. There are plenty more than these 5. But 5 felt like the right number for WWE 2K25. Here’s hoping at least some of these are addressed, and don’t go ignored like so many other issues in these games.
Accurate Character Models
One of the most persistent issues every WWE 2K game seems to face, is the faces. Accurately capturing the looks of the current roster can not be as hard as they make it out to be every single year. Especially since their faces are plastered on everything WWE can manage to sell.
There have been some hilariously bad models over the years. And they’ve seen an overall improvement as WWE 2K continues to improve their graphics engine. However, there are plenty of models that need updating. And, given the early screenshots and gameplay clips, it seems some of these problems will be addressed. As Bayley was in desperate need of an overhaul.
The Role Model’s Model
Lots of people play WWE 2K to play as their favorite wrestlers. Not play at artistic representations of their favorite wrestlers drawn from memory. And with the graphical capabilities in video games being as high as they are, there’s no excuse for a lack of accuracy.
Reconstructed Stage Designs
This one feels like only a matter of time. Given that WWE’s newfound success under the direction of Paul “Triple H” Levesque has seen WWE scale back on the size of their stages for both TV and Premium Live Events. Opting to open up more seats in the arena instead of showing off how big their TV can be.
And, unfortunately, WWE 2K’s entrance system is not equipped to handle this. Every entrance animation is a set length. And every arena uses one ramp size. Which means arenas with more intimate settings will have massive awkward gaps between the screens and the crowd. Because the game needs the ramp to be a specific length.
The Best in the World
With how many arenas have smaller sets, it’s starting to feel necessary to change their way of doing things. There’s no reason the WrestleMania ramp should be as long as the NXT ramp.
The Great MyFaction Replacement
MyFaction is an inherently evil game mode. Designed only to drain your wallets after you’ve already dropped $60 to $120 on it. All to collect meaningless digital trading cards with no actual value that don’t even transfer over between games.
It wasn’t a big issue at first. As you could completely ignore it and miss out on nothing. Though it did serve as the bane of 100% completionists. That changed drastically in WWE 2K24 with the introduction of Persona cards. Special MyFaction cards that, when obtained, would unlock that new character for play in the rest of the game.
I’m ready to go on a MyFaction Revenge Tour
A cool idea in concept ruined by greed. As the requirements for obtaining Persona cards quickly became annoying, repetitive, and near-impossible without dropping real-world money on it. I say bring back Towers from WWE 2K19, and have those be where Persona cards are unlocked.
The Iron Survivor Challenge
There’s really no reason for NXT’s newest jewel in its crown to make its WWE 2K debut this year. Though it took 2K a whole 6 years to add WarGames, so who knows. The Iron Survivor Challenge is the greatest new match type in quite some time. Steadily making a name for itself like yearly staples such as the Elimination Chamber or Money in the Bank match.
It shouldn’t be too hard to add, either. Most of the elements of the match are already present in other match types in the game. 5-man matches, gauntlet matches, time limits, and the Iron Man-type points system. The only new mechanic they’d have to add is the penalty box. I’m no programmer, but I can’t imagine it’s too hard to program a wrestler to roll out of the ring and stand in a box for a bit.
Hopefully 2K25 is better than The Judgment Day
One of the best ways to increase a WWE 2K game’s replayability is to feature a variety of fun match types to play either on your own or with friends. And The Iron Survivor Challenge would make an incredible addition to the matches already available. The confirmation of the NXT Underground match in 2K25 gives me hope this is on the horizon.
Putting the MY in MyRise
MyRise – formerly known as MyCareer – is WWE 2K’s equivalent of a story mode. And it’s taken many different forms over the years. From an open sandbox with little structure to a linear narrative with minimal player input on the outcome.
The problem with the new story-based format is that the success of the mode depends heavily on the quality of the narrative. And given that there are two separate stories, one for men and one for women, it leaves even more room for the stories to fall flat. Which they often do. Mostly down to poor execution, or a general lack of player agency.
WOOOOAAAAHHH
2K needs to find a better balance for MyRise. One with a sense of narrative and storylines like we see on TV. While also allowing players to have a say in their own careers. Where their wins and losses actually matter, and they get to make crucial decisions with drastic differences. I could go on, but these are just some of the changes I’d like to see in WWE 2K25.
