David Craddock
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ShackNewsLatest Reviews
When we asked WWE 2K25’s lead gameplay designer Derek Donahue how Visual Concepts goes about creating games on a yearly schedule, he described working with an annual franchise as a blessing and a curse. “I love it because it means we get to give something to fans every year, and it gives us a chance to see how people engage with something; that informs how the next evolution of it works.” The flip side, of course, is ending up with installments like WWE 2K20, a game so notoriously broken that it became the posterchild for how annualized franchises can go wrong.
WWE 2K24 is packed with features. Some you know, while others are new or have been given fresh coats of paint. Showcase mode is worth the price of admission alone, but the diverse roster and deep systems kept me playing for hours. No matter what your story is, you’ll have fun finishing it and starting others.
Instead of creating your own character and customizing every pixel down to the shape of your eyebrows, you play as a character—William, who's based on a real samurai of the same name, minus all the supernatural elements. And get this: William talks. Cutscenes are sparsely used to move things along, but I was able to skip them without missing any gameplay beats, yet engaging enough that players interested in a more traditional narrative will enjoy them.