Take-Two Interactive's open-world experiences in titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption are best in class. But like most WWE game fans, I was unsure a wrestling game needed anything along those lines. Roman Reigns and his "Wiseman" Paul Heyman often talk about him being alone on the Island of Relevancy. After WWE 2K25's launch, the Tribal Chief may find himself alone on this game's Island.
The Island, as 2K describes it, is an "interactive world made up of four districts built around different WWE themes." In The Island's storyline, the Bloodline is hiring. You'll need to impress Roman Reigns with your created wrestler to prove you have what it takes to join one of the most powerful families in wrestling history.
After dipping into Early Access, I tried out GM Mode and found a whole host of new improvements. I didn't want to stop running my own show, but I want to tell you readers about everything the game has to offer. I dug into MyFACTION. I'm still getting used to a wrestling game adding a card collecting mode but it is what it is. I'll admit it can get addictive, which of course is how it's designed. I tried online ranked and though it's early, 2K's notoriously problematic server held up in all my matches so far.
Then I went onto The Island. Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman talked to me about this big opportunity. Then Paul Heyman talked to me some more and noted that he really didn't have time to talk to me. He'd been doing so for about six minutes at this point, but who I am to argue with a WWE Hall of Famer? Heyman then gave me a pager of sorts and sent me a message to make sure it was working. For somebody that doesn't have time to talk, I can't get rid of him.
He passed me off to the ever entertaining R-Truth, who asked me to meet him across the map.
At this point, I was approaching the 10-minute mark and even your average JPRG would have let me do something interactive by now. I got to the building R-Truth wanted me to go into, and then the game loaded for 10 more minutes. I finally restarted it, thinking something had glitched out. After some online research, I found out that 10-minute load times when entering buildings are not uncommon. I have to go back, because I'm going to do a review for you folks. But it's hard to imagine anybody not doing this for content will put up with this nonsense for very long.
The servers don't go live for everyone until March 14. If The Island is this glitchy with a tenth of the game's eventual population in here, what in the name of Ricky Steamboat will happen when everyone arrives?
The Island is obviously lifted from NBA 2K's The City, which is like the neighborhoods the franchise used to have only more grindy and less enjoyable. These experiences aren't for players, they're for stockholders. Nothing describes modern gaming than designing a mode people don't want to play, and then charging them to skip it for the rewards at the end.