Welcome back, HB Studios.
As a die-hard hockey fan and player, I’m used to both off-seasons and yearly sports video games. I also love Star Trek.
Stay with me.
It’s well-known that every second Star Trek movie is good (whether or not streaming-only films count is debatable), and I feel exactly the same way about the likes of EA’s NHL: buy one year, skip the next. You’ll be right.
Continuing its regular cadence, 2K and HB Studios’ PGA Tour 2K breaks that yearly cycle with a release every other year, and the result is something that feels familiar, yet new. I need 36 holes or so to get back into the groove — but once I’m there, it feels like I’ve never had a break.
It’s a welcome feeling.
To be blunt, there’s nothing new this time around; PGA Tour 2K25 offers a career mode, several multiplayer offerings, and the likes of Topgolf. Nevertheless, you can see how HB Studios has refined what has come before. Just like last time, I gravitated towards the 3-click shot over the traditional Swing Stick; the synchronisation issue I encountered last time never reared its ugly head.
This said, I’ve had just one and a half days to play a pre-release version of PGA Tour 2K25 before its release embargo, and before early access commences. In that time, roughly halfway through, a major update was released that I’m convinced added a new personality into commentary (which nonetheless is still repetitive — “You’ve arrived at a par 5…”).
2K didn’t confirm that was the case, though it advised the update fixed teleporting balls, aim marker issues, Swing Stick problems, and shooting though geometry; I never encountered any of those issues by that point. I also didn’t use Swing Stick, so never opened up the chance for problems.
With limited time, I engaged almost entirely with MyCareer mode, climbing ladders and taking names. While we’re not getting anything like a career mode as compared to EA Sports FC or even NBA 2K, there are a number of improvements that add to the experience.
Chief among those is the choice to engage with all the superfluous stuff. If you don’t care about followers and just want to golf, you can skip interview requests, rival challenges, and even sponsorships to get to the good stuff rather than bashing a confirmation button through seemingly endless menus. It’s a welcome addition that I hope other sports games adopt.
I, however, chose to engage with that content and ended up building a cocky little a-hole of a golfer. He is decidedly a “bold” character inside 2K25’s personality system, thinking nothing but the best of himself and his abilities. He’ll also do things for charity, as he’s not a monster.
That, and it impresses Puma and Titleist.
In terms of refinement, MyCareer could potentially eat up your time with extra practice and tutorial sections, but enables you to claw some of that back with an interactive sim feature. Rather than playing a full round (or more), you can insert yourself into the last four holes of a match, playable within 10 or so minutes. It’s a very welcome feature.
My husband also jumps into PGA Tour when I get a review code, and in our limited, two-consoles-in-one-network arrangement found multiplayer to be serviceable (yet challenging). We also both queried one another how to figure out how wind would impact our shot choices.
I confess that we still haven’t decided upon an answer.
More of 2K’s monetisation has crept in (boo), but it’s all very ignorable if that rubs you the wrong way (yay?). Pre-release issues with quest rewards were so apparent that 2K issued a Locker Code as compensation for the trouble, but I’ve ignored that too with zero impact on my character.
If a two-year cycle can work for golf, it can also work for a review. Two years ago, I wrote that, “small improvements to an existing formula mightn’t be looked highly upon in a yearly cycle, but PGA Tour 2K23 gets away with it because of its cadence.” The same is true for 2K25.
If you’re into golf, this is for you. The same is true if you’re curious. PGA Tour 2K25 heads to Windows PC via Steam, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, and PS5 on 28 February, though those who pay up can play from tomorrow, 21 February.
PGA Tour 2K25 was reviewed using a promotional code on PS5, as provided by the publisher. Click here to learn more about Stevivor’s scoring scale.
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PGA Tour 2K2528 February 2025PC PS5 Xbox Series S & X
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