PGA TOUR 2K25 Review: Gameplay Videos, Features and Impressions on MyCareer

PGA Tour 2K25 from 2K Sports and developer HB Studios marks a return for an on-and-off again series that manages to impress each time it shows up. 

This year, the game’s task is one-upping the 2K23 rendition while the return of the PGA offering from EA Sports continues to lurk in the background, providing some of that classic 2K Sports vs. EA Sports competition. 

At this point, the game quietly has a strong lineage, with HB Studios cutting its teeth on The Golf Club roughly a decade ago before the rebrand in 2020, running up to the 2K23 rendition of the series. 

As such, 2K25 projects to lean heavily into player feedback, which, in turn, would make it a top-tier entry for returning and new players alike—if not take the crown as the best golf game on the market. 

Gameplay

Like other sports games over the years, a superb foundation means 2K25 didn’t have much to dramatically improve. 

Which means, like those other games, the focus went to something else—greater accessibility. 

Some of this accessibility to players of all persuasions happens with the newly-named EvoSwing. Through this, the game works to adapt to a player’s inputs to reduce surprises and a feeling of unfairness. 

The preferable input seems to be setting the right stick to control the swing of clubs, meaning pulling down, then flicking up. That, instead of button presses. Difficulty settings greatly impact how much even the most minute details of stick swings impact the shots on screen. 

Swings are still broken down into four parts defined as contact, rhythm, transition and swing path. It’s easy enough to understand without worrying about those definitions, though. Those who really want to dive into the simulation aspect are free to do so via past features like backspin control and otherwise.

The pursuit of accessibility comes to a head when this more refined control pairs with Perfect Swing, a new difficulty setting that dampens the impact of things out of the player’s control on outcomes. 

None of this is to say there aren’t outright upgrades, of course. New roll physics seem to better reflect outcomes at the end of shots based on the course’s features. And little tweaks, like more freestyle movement before a shot are nice.

Overall, 2K25 will undoubtedly reach a wider player base by placing more options in the hands of players. Gameplay feels fantastic, with only putting the notable apparent difficulty spike while learning the ropes, though your-mileage-may-vary applies.

Graphics and Presentation

Perhaps more than anything else, this was the area 2K25 really needed to make a leap. 

With 2K23, the series found itself rather instantly in second place compared to the EA Sports offering that year. Things weren’t bad, but robotic golfers, expressions, and limited immersion were notable. 

Many of those concerns have disappeared. Golfers look better across the board. They’re not free of some video gameisms, but improved. Quality lighting and shadow work, plus fine details like the sway of plant life and ripples of water across surfaces help. 

Most impressive, though, is the immersion factor. Crowd density and background noise, as well as ambient noise, manage to really add some tension to late holes. Announcer work is good too, but the little details really send things over the top when it comes to sound design—like the rattle of clubs in a bag picked up by a caddie. 

Nearly 30 licensed courses populate the game this year, with some true-to-life and great-looking additions such as the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club. Like how the game is limited to just 11 pros, though (obviously headlined by Tiger Woods), it will be easy for fans to pick out the things missing. 

As a whole, 2K25 nailed the necessary jump here, bringing much of the experience to a next-generation level, resulting in some must-have immersion that every sports game hopes to achieve. 

MyCareer and More

Last time out, the series hit the obvious notes while adding as many 2K Sports staples to the career mode as possible. 

The result felt a little like a skeleton that could use some fleshing out. Not bad, but it was obvious where much of the time spent developing the next entry would go. 

As such, 2K25’s MyCareer feels like a big leap in a handful of ways. 

Players still create a golfer and participate in tournaments, but this time with better surroundings and a continued flirtation with RPG mechanics. 

First up, player agency. The game attempts to address some of the gameplay length concerns that come with a golf game (it’s a similar hurdle for, say, simulation racing games). Here, players can take part in Dynamic Rounds, playing just a stretch of a course. That, or an Interactive Simulation, which lets them hop in and out of the action of a round when desired. 

The mode also smoothly implements tutorial-like training sessions that offer bite-sized goals. It is worthwhile because in the run-up to a weekend event, they can reward attribute boosts. 

It helps that the MyPlayer creator is so robust in terms of appearances before diving into the meat of actual skills and performance. 

There, players can pick from major archetypes: Powerhouse, Technician, Magician, Greenskeeper and Sculptor. Once done, players hit on a standard leveling process, meaning boosted starting attributes based on the archetype selected, then the ability to tack on more points to specific stats over time, which boosts the character’s Overall rating. 

A refined skills system also blocks into five shot types: Tee, Approach, Recovery, Bunker and Green. Massaging a personal weakness with a boost might be a strategy many players take, but it’s not impossible to take a balanced route and find success. 

Beyond the courses, players will refine a character’s personality traits through various interactions. These include the expected items like responses to media questions during pressers, but also how players choose to handle rivalries. 

The game also hits on RPG-like notes with a popularity gauge that is reliant on sponsorships and the like. Tough choices will arise, too, where the path chosen will impact skill points for certain tournaments. 

While not wholly groundbreaking, a new “quests” feature also offers up goals, including career-long tasks for players to track. 

It doesn’t stop there either—there is now progression for equipment, too, beyond just picking out parts like heads and grips. Level Up Tokens, Fittings and EvoTools are ways for players to level up specific items. It’s a nice way to get attached to a favorite tool, for sure. But it also thankfully prevents the “just put the newest thing in the bag” loop from the last game. 

It’s very important to point out that this is a rather large upgrade from 2K23 on the immersion front. The last rendition felt barebones and little more than a list of tournaments roped together by flimsy strings.

Beyond those highlights, the course designer returns with some expanded options. Diving into community creations will once again be a highlight of what is already a game packed with courses. 

In the online realm of the game, leaderboards return, and the online societies are now cross-platform, opening up the player base and shelf life of the game. 

General online play loops in three game modes: Stroke Play, Match Play and Scramble. Perhaps more interesting is the live-service-like structure of Ranked Tours, which includes the expected items like daily and weekly season events, some of which will mimic the real-life happenings of the PGA Tour. 

Following that theme, the Clubhouse Pass (battle pass) returns, this time with free and premium tracks to better match the trends that are slowly becoming more player-friendly across the industry. 

A strong suite of options includes extensive tutorials to help players learn the ropes. But on the performance front, the game does seem to be ironing out some choppiness at times, which will improve with further updates post-launch. 

Conclusion

PGA Tour 2K25 is a high-floor game. It’s like one of those pros who is good for a solid performance every single outing on the scorecards, but without the high upside threat to actually take down the field at a tournament. 

That’s not a bad thing or a knock, either. The game does literally everything well, whether it’s fun gameplay and immersion or some RPG-styled controls that carve out player choice. 

Perhaps most important of all, 2K25 dials in on player feedback. The important items have been addressed and the continued trickle of 2K quality features from other sports games is a boon.

Like its predecessor, 2K25 has the depth to last players for multiple years, should it need to. Even so, it's hard not to get excited about what happens next if the series can really start raising the ceiling, too.