Rugby 25

About

Rugby 25 is a single player and multiplayer sport game. It was developed by Big Ant Studios and was released on February 13, 2025. It received negative reviews from players.

"Rugby 25" is an exciting rugby video game now available in Early Access on Steam. It offers a realistic and immersive rugby experience, from local clubs to international tournaments, and allows players to influence its development. Although teams are not finalized in the Early Access version, it provides a promising glimpse into the most comprehensive Rugby video game to date.

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37%

Audience ScoreBased on 372 reviews

graphics20 positive mentions

gameplay31 negative mentions

The game features a large number of licensed teams and players, which adds to the overall experience.
The graphics and player likenesses are impressive, showcasing significant effort in visual presentation.
The game has shown improvement over time with updates, indicating potential for future development.

Gameplay is clunky and unresponsive, with issues in passing, tackling, and rucking mechanics that hinder the overall experience.
Frequent crashes and bugs make the game frustrating and often unplayable, leading to a poor user experience.
The AI behavior is erratic, with players often running out of position and failing to execute basic rugby strategies.

gameplay
175 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
67%
18%
The gameplay of Rugby 25 has received mixed to negative feedback, with many players citing clunky mechanics, bugs, and a lack of depth as major issues. While some improvements have been noted through updates, the core gameplay remains frustrating and unresponsive, leading to a consensus that the game prioritizes licensing over solid mechanics. Overall, despite its potential, the gameplay experience is currently seen as underwhelming and in need of significant refinement.
- “Gameplay is honestly not bad when you get a hang of the controls.”
- “At first, I couldn't stand the gameplay, but as more and more patches and fixes have been released, the gameplay has become really enjoyable.”
- “Overall gameplay and fluidity has improved along with some nice quality of life changes such as in menu music/tutorials.”
- “Not worth it at all, they spent all the money on licensing for clubs and competitions but the gameplay is trash.”
- “The gameplay is unplayable and you can't even have fun editing players or rosters, which removes a lot of potential fun from the game from a sports simulation aspect.”
- “The gameplay is terrible, glitchy, and dull.”
graphics
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
44%
7%
The graphics in Rugby 25 have received mixed reviews, with many praising their quality and detail, particularly in player models and animations, making it one of the best-looking rugby games to date. However, some users have criticized the graphics for not living up to expectations set by promotional materials, describing them as inconsistent, especially during gameplay. Overall, while the visuals are a highlight, they are overshadowed by significant gameplay issues that detract from the overall experience.
- “By far it is the graphically spectacular game of rugby union ever made.”
- “The graphics and licensing make for a very immersive experience relative to previous rugby games, and the career mode seems quite fleshed out.”
- “The graphics are great, the animations are pretty decent too.”
- “The graphics are dogwater, nothing like the release trailer.”
- “The graphics look worse than 08 and I hope the full game is better.”
- “The graphics make the game look like it was released ten years ago.”
stability
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability is widely criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, glitches, and clunky gameplay that significantly detract from the experience. While some acknowledge improvements over time and potential for future updates, many find the game currently unplayable due to issues like freezing during matches, inconsistent passing, and AI problems. Overall, it appears to be an unfinished product that requires substantial attention to reach its potential.
- “79th minute in a career match and the ruck just freezes and no penalty. I left the game running for a while and after an hour of in-game stoppage time (140 mins), I just closed the app and had to replay the match.”
- “Unfortunately, it's an incomplete and unfinished game full of bugs and glitches. Patch updates are frequent, fair play to the developers, but come on, really?”
- “They seem to have spent all their money on marketing and have released a buggy game that honestly is so bad to play, and clearly no rugby fans or anyone with knowledge of the game was involved either.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is derived from its numerous glitches and oversights, such as absurdly fast passes that go out of bounds and players becoming seemingly invincible, leading to a mix of frustration and amusement. Players find the developers' lack of attention to detail, especially in fundamental gameplay mechanics like place kicking, unintentionally comedic. Overall, while the game has serious flaws, these quirks provide some unintentional laughs.
- “Occasional hilarious 1000mph passes from the scrum half direct into touch from a ruck on the other side of the pitch.”
- “That player sometimes becomes immortal and can't be tackled, which is kind of funny.”
- “I ended up just laughing at it.”
atmosphere
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
Reviewers consistently highlight a lack of atmosphere in the stadiums, noting that commentary often contradicts the on-screen action and that crowd noise feels muted, undermining immersion. While some mention that the stadiums are structurally sound, the overall experience is described as lacking the vibrant energy expected from live sports events.
- “It smashes this to pieces in terms of structure, intuitiveness, fun factor, atmosphere, and immersion.”
- “- suitable atmosphere for games.”
- “Commentators frequently saying the complete opposite of what's happening; the crowd might as well be whispering (one English-accented man saying 'come on Ireland!' in a full house Aviva Stadium, for example). There's zero sense of atmosphere.”
- “Zero atmosphere in the stadiums.”
- “Atmosphere in the stadiums.”
optimization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's optimization has been criticized for its performance, especially given its outdated graphics compared to other major sports titles like NBA 2K, Madden, and FIFA. Users noted that while player management features are flexible, the overall performance and loading times need significant improvement, particularly with the potential benefits of technologies like DirectStorage.
- “The game allowed me to swap every single player except the injured one, so Sam Prendergast played 40 minutes with a damaged PCL and seemingly no loss to performance!”
- “Performance should be a lot better knowing that the graphics are several generations behind compared to NBA 2K, Madden, and FIFA!”
- “I know they don't have the same budget, but come on, at least improve the performance and the loading times with DirectStorage!”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
33%
The music in the game has received positive feedback, with users praising the banging soundtrack, licensed teams, and crowd chants that enhance the overall experience. Additionally, improvements in menu music and tutorials contribute to a more enjoyable gameplay atmosphere, despite some concerns about gameplay mechanics.
- “Overall gameplay and fluidity have improved along with some nice quality of life changes such as in menu music and tutorials.”
- “Really want to like this game because of the graphics, menu design, UI, licensed teams, crowd chants, soundtrack, and cinematics.”
- “Banging soundtrack”
- “Really want to like this game because of the graphics, menu design, UI, licensed teams, crowd chants, soundtrack, and cinematics, but I just dislike the current state of gameplay mechanics.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly due to cumbersome menus for team adjustments that lack quick-scroll options, making the process feel more laborious than enjoyable.
- “The menus to adjust your team are tedious; there are no quick-scroll options, making the process frustrating.”
- “Grinding feels like a never-ending chore, with repetitive tasks that offer little reward.”
- “The amount of time required to level up is excessive, leading to burnout rather than enjoyment.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's replayability is hindered by questionable player positioning choices, such as assigning a lock as a kicker and inconsistencies in secondary positions, which may frustrate players seeking a more authentic experience.
- “Scott Barrett was set as the Crusaders' kicker for some reason. I know he’s the All Blacks captain and a talented player, but he’s a lock and definitely not a kicker. A few players had random secondary positions in their playable positions that they don’t play in real life, but didn’t have the secondary positions they do play in when not in their main position.”
- “The lack of variety in gameplay makes it hard to find motivation to replay the game. Once you've experienced the main story, there's little incentive to dive back in.”
- “After completing the game, I found that there were no meaningful choices or different outcomes to explore, which severely limits its replayability.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy is criticized for being unstable and buggy, suggesting that the game was released prematurely as a cash grab during the 6 Nations event.
- “It's unstable, buggy, and clearly released early in a cash grab.”
- “The monetization system feels exploitative and detracts from the overall experience.”
- “I feel pressured to spend money to enjoy the game fully, which is frustrating.”