PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

[TheBrew101]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

I played the demo quite a bit last night. I do really like the EVO swing. I think the offset meter is a nice addition (with my 65 OVR golfer I was way over par on Master difficulty). I was able to shoot -1 under on Pro level after getting more used to it. I also take back my comment about them breaking putting--that isn't the case. I do prefer the feel of putting in 2K23 over 2K25 though as it feels I have to pull the putter back much further on 2K25.

Graphically I don't see the huge difference some have mentioned. Rocks at Pebble Beach look better in the images I saw but when playing this Demo I can't say I noticed a significant change. It looks ok but not a huge upgrade or on EA golf level.

For the most part this is still going to play like 2K golf which I think is a good thing. It will be a purchase for me.

I still need to see how the Career Mode is. I'm not into the question and answer stuff they have shown so much but I hope they have improved how the AI scoring is as that was the weak point for me.

I also have some concerns about how the fittings and improvements will impact difficulty. I could see just by playing with a few different archetypes that it makes a big difference having those extra skills. So not sure how that plays out (but worst case you can just not apply those for offline play if it becomes too easy).

I guess I would be lying if I said I was blown away. But I did find it fun to play last night and played the Demo for like 2 hours so I think that also says a lot. If they can hit on career mode I think this will be a solid title.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Was really enjoying the challenge of Bias on master difficulty with entry level CAG but had a go with Tiger & it’s so easy to hit straight even if plane is off, that’s no fun cause everyone gonna level up quick.
Why is it you can’t have a challenging game, always has to be made easier with money.

How were you playing as Tiger? Just curious...I thought all the pros were locked out when playing the quick round, and I only could play with him in the trainings?

Also, Tiger is 99 OVR and he has a bunch of skills/shot types already applied to his skill tree. Makes sense it would be much easier to play as him.

Speaking of Tiger, I found this video from GolfWRX of someone playing at Riviera at Tiger, taken at the WMPO - seems it's on Perfect Swing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGh2t5kaGqI

[Aleg77]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

I tried the demo.

Graphically improved, but not at the level of EA PGA. Maybe it also depends on the courses.

The character creation is well done.

The swing is fast, and it doesn't seem like there’s an option to modify it. From Pro difficulty onwards, you need to be precise to hit straight, as it's very easy to pull or push. I like this aspect, as well as all the shot statistics provided afterward, such as open or closed clubface, etc. It would be interesting to explore how the analog stick movement affects the shot.
The shot types are taken directly from EA PGA (power drive, stinger, flop, approach, pitch, etc.), but that makes sense since those are the standard types.
However, the swing lacks rhythm; it’s just pulling down and pushing up the right stick, focusing only on being as precise as possible. You don’t really "feel" the swing, especially on approach shots and around the green.
I’ll need to test it further.

[golfnut67]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

What you say here about the swing being too fast, along with comments above you about how the graphics have turned out not to be much of an improvement at all, makes this a no go for me. I'm disappointed, I was really hoping I would like it.

I don't. I played one hole on the demo, backed out of it, and that will be the last time I play it. That ridiculously fast swing animation, especially the back swing, is what killed 2k golf for me. I was hoping so much that it had been slowed down, or that there was a setting or a slider in the EVO aspect that allowed you to change the tempo of the swing on a macro level.

No golfer in the world swings anywhere near that fast. It's faster than a baseball player trying to swing at a 103mph pitch. In fact, no golfer in the world could draw his club all the way back on his back swing anywhere near that fast, even if he was trying to do it as a joke or a test. It kills the game for me.

That along with how the graphics magically are not much of an improvement vs how they appeared in the trailer and the pictures makes this a definite pass for me. I'm glad to see that many of you who are long time 2k players are seeing tweaks and depth that you like, and will get enjoyment out of the game. Like I said before, I want it, very much so, to be very successful to bolster resources for what I hope is a brand new game on a new engine in a year or two.

To me, this is what I feared it would be before I saw the trailer and some brief teaser clips of players hitting the ball--yet another two-fisted squeeze to get the very last drop out of the Unity engine. I'm bummed.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

I'm really glad they put out a demo, and I get why they used TPC Scottsdale (timing with the Phoenix Open), but they should have put it at Pebble Beach or Riviera or somewhere else. Scottsdale is not a visually interesting course, and they made it so bright...I think it washes everything out. It doesn't look all that great, unless you really look at some specific details.

But the videos shown of Pebble and Riviera seem much better...at least those courses have better lighting.

Here's a video with a very clickbait-y title that is in no way actually true (these are NOT the "BEST Graphics in Gaming History!" - LOL), but it does show even more off of Pebble using the replay system: https://youtu.be/hsKeFjvPgYE?si=Hh7nbvsQHV9EvKfw

The swing seems to be super divisive. I don't actually know how I feel about it yet. I like that the short game is harder, but it also seems it's gonna actually get very easy once you level up. I've seen some high-level TGCT players who've already carded -5 or better on "True Sim" settings (no scout cam, no green grids) with Legend swing difficulty. And this are with MyPlayers rated 70 OVR or worse.

Need lots more time with it, but am not as impressed as I thought I'd be, given the videos that were released before this demo came out. The demo might actually be kind of hurting it in my eyes...

[golfnut67]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

The demo is definitely hurting it, because it's revealing the truth.

But as you and others have said, hats off to them for releasing a demo this far in advance of release. That is very commendable indeed. Almost nobody does that these days.

And you're correct about Scottsdale instead of PB or Riviera, those certainly look better in the pictures, and they are much more aesthetically pleasing courses anyway.

Not to stir the pot or be conspiratorial about it, the fact that they chose Scottsdale, one of the more bland courses, over almost any other course might be very telling in a couple of ways.


Either they chose that one because it is one of the least graphically intense courses to render, so that the demo played smoothly with no glitching for everyone (and based on comments here, even that didn't happen), or PB, Riviera and others aren't completed yet, buggy, or too graphically intensive for a lot of systems.

[Aleg77]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

What you say here about the swing being too fast, along with comments above you about how the graphics have turned out not to be much of an improvement at all, makes this a no go for me. I'm disappointed, I was really hoping I would like it.

I don't. I played one hole on the demo, backed out of it, and that will be the last time I play it. That ridiculously fast swing animation, especially the back swing, is what killed 2k golf for me. I was hoping so much that it had been slowed down, or that there was a setting or a slider in the EVO aspect that allowed you to change the tempo of the swing on a macro level.

No golfer in the world swings anywhere near that fast. It's faster than a baseball player trying to swing at a 103mph pitch. In fact, no golfer in the world could draw his club all the way back on his back swing anywhere near that fast, even if he was trying to do it as a joke or a test. It kills the game for me.

That along with how the graphics magically are not much of an improvement vs how they appeared in the trailer and the pictures makes this a definite pass for me. I'm glad to see that many of you who are long time 2k players are seeing tweaks and depth that you like, and will get enjoyment out of the game. Like I said before, I want it, very much so, to be very successful to bolster resources for what I hope is a brand new game on a new engine in a year or two.

To me, this is what I feared it would be before I saw the trailer and some brief teaser clips of players hitting the ball--yet another two-fisted squeeze to get the very last drop out of the Unity engine. I'm bummed.

Everything you wrote is exactly what I was thinking. There's no point in adding indicators for club path, open or closed face at impact, etc., if the backswing animation looks like it's powered by a spring. Maybe it's just an old build of the game, but like this, it's unwatchable. Yesterday, I was trying to control the shot—nothing. If you lower the stick more gently, you should get a slower backswing, and vice versa. Here, nothing changes. I wonder what the PRO suggestions were even for.

That said, the ball flight is actually well done, and the trajectories are realistic. Maybe with the 3-click mode, you perceive the swing speed less. Let's see.

[golfnut67]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

That's a good point about the shot types being very difficult to gauge because of the lack of feel, and the speed of the swing. I hadn't even thought about that. There's just absolutely no "touch" to this swing. Whipsaw back, whipsaw forward, no matter how you try to slow it down.

The only thing you can really control is how hard you hit it with the follow through, or how far you bring the club back, which is just impossible for me to figure out how to do with this game, even with hundreds of hours in 2k21 and 23 before the EA game came out.


That lack of a slower, more natural/nuanced swing animation forced me (and I guess most others) to really hone in on club choice and distance positioning, which are certainly major parts of a swing, to try to control how far the ball goes. I could just never get good at half swings, 3/4 swings, etc. It's just so fast and instantaneous when you touch the controller and start to pull back.

3 click doesn't interest me and a lot of other players, but yes that may be the answer for you to enjoy the other aspects of this game. It certainly seems like they've added quite a lot of depth with the EVO swings and other aspects of Career mode, etc.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Well, this is interesting...

https://x.com/DR_golfdesign/status/1887054518711353736

"Discovering the replay camera tools, I found that the swing animation - while looking fine in real time - leaves some stuff to work on when you get up close and slow it down. The down swing has a kink in it halfway through, and the clubhead never really hits the ball."

CrazyCanuck's response:

https://x.com/Crazycanuck1985/status/1887167657675518012

"Showed this to the devs at breakfast just now. They are aware of it but it sounds like that is something almost impossible to fix with the frame rate. Everything is on display with the super slow motion. Doesn't affect the shot result at all."

This is the club at impact...it's like a foot behind the ball.



Maybe this is why the swing is so fast...to hide this. Eek.

[Dawgfan1]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Maybe it's just me, but I could not disagree more on the swing speed. I've only played 36 holes but to me it's the smoothest-feeling stick swing I've played in a golf game for full shots (TW14, EA PGA, and 2K25 is my admittedly small sample size). TW14's is a bit faster and maybe too fast on shorter shots, and EA PGA's always felt too slow and too easy to me. The speed here feels natural, maybe a few ticks fast compared to real life but not that much imo. It would be nice to give players options or different swings to let them experiment with a speed they'd like, but I could see that making slower swings easier in competitive settings (maybe make those alternative speeds offline-only?).

I don't know if I would pay much mind to what some are shooting right now with True Sim settings, there will always be crazy good players who can shoot under par with ease on the hardest settings. What really matters is what the difficulty ends up being on a personal level. From what I've seen though of some competitive 2K23 players, the swing doesn't seem to be a super hard transition for them. Maybe the bias should be more on higher difficulties, I'm not sure. The power meter being visible I think may be making partial shots easier than they should be on Pro and Master difficulty.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

I don't know if I would pay much mind to what some are shooting right now with True Sim settings, there will always be crazy good players who can shoot under par with ease on the hardest settings. What really matters is what the difficulty ends up being on a personal level. From what I've seen though of some competitive 2K23 players, the swing doesn't seem to be a super hard transition for them. Maybe the bias should be more on higher difficulties, I'm not sure. The power meter being visible I think may be making partial shots easier than they should be on Pro and Master difficulty.

Agree on the personal level side of it, but these are folks (yes, they are really, really good) are shooting that low of score on that high of difficulty with no better than a 70 OVR and low-level clubs and fittings. They will only get better.

I think this will the translate into our own personal game, too. Once we get up to 99 OVR with maxed out skill trees and the shot types, can even the higher AI difficulties in career mode keep up? Could potentially end up like EA PGA, where I have AI at the top level difficulty, play on sim settings, and rout the field with ease.

Obviously it's yet to be seen, but there's lots of calls in the chats I'm in with both really good and really mediocre TGCT players saying the swing will be way too easy once everyone levels up. There's even talk of starting all of TGCTours on Legend...

The community designer turned HB employee SleepyPanda is already asking for as many videos as the TGCTours people can provide to show how easy the game is. So I guess it means they might tweak somethings in the future.

We are still very early stages here, but I do think there are some concerns and questions with the changes they've made. There are positives, too.

It seems this "First Look" is more of a tech test, and the "Early Access" will be a "beta" for any updates they make between now and then.

[Aleg77]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Maybe it's just me, but I could not disagree more on the swing speed. I've only played 36 holes but to me it's the smoothest-feeling stick swing I've played in a golf game for full shots (TW14, EA PGA, and 2K25 is my admittedly small sample size). TW14's is a bit faster and maybe too fast on shorter shots, and EA PGA's always felt too slow and too easy to me. The speed here feels natural, maybe a few ticks fast compared to real life but not that much imo. It would be nice to give players options or different swings to let them experiment with a speed they'd like, but I could see that making slower swings easier in competitive settings (maybe make those alternative speeds offline-only?).

I don't know if I would pay much mind to what some are shooting right now with True Sim settings, there will always be crazy good players who can shoot under par with ease on the hardest settings. What really matters is what the difficulty ends up being on a personal level. From what I've seen though of some competitive 2K23 players, the swing doesn't seem to be a super hard transition for them. Maybe the bias should be more on higher difficulties, I'm not sure. The power meter being visible I think may be making partial shots easier than they should be on Pro and Master difficulty.

I didn’t complain about the fluidity of the swing but rather about its speed in the animation. The backswing is too fast and jerky. It lacks harmony. This results in the impossibility of making half-swings or full shots that give me different distances based on speed.

What I want is an animation that changes according to how I move the stick. I want to hit 120 meters with a 7-iron, and I want to do it based on the speed I give to the clubhead. If I swing at 90 mph, I’ll get one distance; if I swing at 70 mph, I’ll get another, always with the same club and the same swing amplitude.

Maybe I’m asking too much, but in 2025, I believe a small step in this direction should be possible. Instead, it feels like we’re still stuck with simply changing the club and always hitting at full power.

In EA PGA, it’s true that the swing is slower, but that slowness helps to control the tempo a bit more (even though it’s still far from perfect).

This speed doesn’t matter as much on the tee shot as it does around the green and in the approaches. Also, it seems to me (but I'm not sure about this) that you can’t change your stance, which was something you could do in TW14, which I still remember as the best golf game ever.

It's nice to talk about golf though :vai avanti:

[Will I Am]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

If it's too easy they just need to back off on the improvement leveling up gives you.

[Dawgfan1]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Agree on the personal level side of it, but these are folks (yes, they are really, really good) are shooting that low of score on that high of difficulty with no better than a 70 OVR and low-level clubs and fittings. They will only get better.

I think this will the translate into our own personal game, too. Once we get up to 99 OVR with maxed out skill trees and the shot types, can even the higher AI difficulties in career mode keep up? Could potentially end up like EA PGA, where I have AI at the top level difficulty, play on sim settings, and rout the field with ease.

Obviously it's yet to be seen, but there's lots of calls in the chats I'm in with both really good and really mediocre TGCT players saying the swing will be way too easy once everyone levels up. There's even talk of starting all of TGCTours on Legend...

The community designer turned HB employee SleepyPanda is already asking for as many videos as the TGCTours people can provide to show how easy the game is. So I guess it means they might tweak somethings in the future.

We are still very early stages here, but I do think there are some concerns and questions with the changes they've made. There are positives, too.

It seems this "First Look" is more of a tech test, and the "Early Access" will be a "beta" for any updates they make between now and then.

That's all fair, I had not expected the game to be much harder on a competitive level than 2K23 but you have more of an insight on the TGCTours community so that talk does seem concerning. I'm glad the demo is there so more feedback can be given to the devs to allow some things to be tweaked before full release. Maybe the devs made the swing penalties too little punishing on higher overalls (that's what it seems with the pro golfers) to avoid alienating too many with the diagonal swing?

On a personal level with career mode I'm not expecting the game to be as easy as EA PGA was at the highest overalls. EA's Sim difficulty was fun, but from what I saw it seemed similar to Master difficulty on 2K23 score-wise. I also felt like, even when forcing diagonal swings on every shot and no practice swings, I could always go at least -2 or -3 every round. 100 AI did raise the scores but it seemed it was raising them to the same scores across all tournaments so it never felt right to me (I feel like the AI slider was supposed to be for the playing partners only and any changes to other CPUs was unintentional). Obviously none of us know what higher overalls in 2K25 will really play like until we can play as the pros, but I'm expecting the game will give me more of a challenge to keep coming back than EA did. EA did a lot right with the core tournament experience and immersion, but I could never get the difficulty I wanted in career mode.

[golfnut67]

Re: PGA Tour 2K25 Demo Available Today, Post Your Impressions

Well, this is interesting...

https://x.com/DR_golfdesign/status/1887054518711353736

"Discovering the replay camera tools, I found that the swing animation - while looking fine in real time - leaves some stuff to work on when you get up close and slow it down. The down swing has a kink in it halfway through, and the clubhead never really hits the ball."

CrazyCanuck's response:

https://x.com/Crazycanuck1985/status/1887167657675518012

"Showed this to the devs at breakfast just now. They are aware of it but it sounds like that is something almost impossible to fix with the frame rate. Everything is on display with the super slow motion. Doesn't affect the shot result at all."

This is the club at impact...it's like a foot behind the ball.



Maybe this is why the swing is so fast...to hide this. Eek.

Holy ****!

Wow. Just wow. It all makes sense now. I'm guessing this has been the case all the way back to 2k21 and even TGC games.