Just Dance 2025is more or less exactly what fans have come to expect from the long-running Ubisoft franchise, bringing creative choreography and new songs but not much else to the table. Since it first debuted in 2009, the series has undoubtedly grown significantly, receiving a myriad of technological upgrades and even amassing a large amount of its own lore. However, now on its 16th mainline entry,there seems to be less room for large-scale growth from year to year, with recent releases focusing more on incremental changes alongside new set lists.
This lack of major innovation between the entries of the last few years isn’t even necessarily a bad thing - for many players,Just Danceis a casual game largely used for multiplayer fun or quick sweat sessions, and doesn’t necessitate reinventing the wheel annually. That being said, as someone who alsoreviewedJust Dance 2024,the large lack of distinction between that entry and this one was very clear- including some of its shortcomings.2025is, for better or worse, largely a lateral move though it does include a few features and collaborations some fans may be interested in.
One ofJust Dance 2025’s most hotly-touted additions is a partnership with Ariana Grande, which includes five tracks by the singer as well as an in-game event, though this begins at launch, so I wasn’t able to see its details during my review. The game has also partnered withSpongeBob SquarePantsto celebrate its 25th anniversary, including the original song “SpongeBob’s Birthday” and corresponding map. It should be noted that while none of these aforementioned songs were missing,the early review access was sadly missing 14 from the overall tracklist, including some of the most anticipated like Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso.”
Just Dance 2025’s Dancing & Song Selection
An Eclectic Array Of Songs With Creative Choreography
Just Dance 2025’ssong lineup feels a bit more retro than other recent releases. While it does include some of the past year’s big hits like “LUNCH” by Billie Eilish and Grande’s “yes, and?” it also has many older titles like “Basket Case” by Green Day and “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga. As usual, there are also a few Ubisoft originals by The Just Dance Band, like the festively-timed “Halloween’s Here,” and there are a few other especially kid-friendly tracks alongside that, like “The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)" by The Tokens.
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A bigger trend in2025is alternate versions of several songs. Some of these are part of an effort by developers to make this entry more accessible; three tracks -“Espresso,” “Basket Case,” and “Poker Face” - have versions with different routines that are designed to be played sitting down. There are others that simply offer alternate maps and choreography - Madonna’s “Vogue,” for example, has both the normal version and a Ballroom Version. There are also Extreme Versions for three songs with much harder choreography: Grande’s “One Last Time,” BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom,” and Doja Cat’s “Paint the Town Red.”
Outside of these, a large portion of2025’s dance choreography is largely quite easy. Most songs fall under either one or two on the game’s difficulty scale, though a few songs have the option to choose between trainers with varying hardness levels. However,theJust Danceseries isn’t so much about a challengeas it is about being afun party gamethat’s enjoyable for a wide audience, and the dances included with the songs I was able to play were just that, albeit sometimes simplistic.
Just Dance 2025’s Extra Features
Customization & Different Ways To Play
Just as in previous releases from the past few years, there are several sections of cosmetics fans can utilize inJust Dance 2025’s Locker Room. Players’ characters - which are linked to a Ubisoft Connect account - will transfer over any existing XP and level ranking from progression made in previous games, as well as unlocked items.There are avatars themselves, as well as backgrounds, borders, aliases, badges, emotes, scoring effects, and victory celebrations, and though they don’t serve any functional purpose, it was nonetheless enjoyable to do things like change my in-dance scoring to the Spooky theme.
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Though technically a feature that first appeared as a2024update,2025marks the first entry that at release offers custom playlists instead of just utilizing those made by Ubisoft. This has undoubtedly been one of the most hotly-requested features for years, and the ability to add up to 30 songs is a great way to curate the experience. Speaking of playlists, it’s unclear if2025will come with a new one continuing thefranchise’s surprisingly elaborate loreas it has previously.2024added its Dance with the Swan playlist post-review window, and it’s possible2025may do the same.
Custom playlists are perhaps the most exciting new feature, though2025has also furthered the series’ camera controller options since last year. Players can now utilize their phone’s camera pointed at them while dancing in lieu of a controller for all songs featured in2025, though only for one player. This did require a somewhat sizable amount of light and stepping back pretty far from the television, but for those with ample space itcertainly felt much more free-form than dancing with a Switch controller or phone in hand.
Final Thoughts & Review Score
A Solid Entry That Doesn’t Reinvent The Wheel
The game does have some technical and monetary shortcomings. Players are able to download up to 40 songs inJust Dance 2025for offline play, but outside of this, they are required to be online and logged into a Ubisoft Connect account at all times. Even with a solid internet connection,this did cause some lag for me when shifting between menus, and the login time whenever opening the title wasn’t exactly speedy.
Though the game has a $50 price tag,- a free trial for which is included with purchase - and it’s also the first entry to also offer standalone smaller DLC packs of songs to buy. The latter will be a positive for some, as it’s a cheaper alternative to buying the full version of a past release, though an option to also buy single songs would’ve been a nice touch. Currently, there are only three DLC packs of six songs available, but that will likely increase over time.
Just Danceis a franchise built on the concept of being a breezy, fun, lighthearted gameplay experience where the main deciding factor for players each year is whether or not they like the setlist. Particularly with the lineup this year, which includes several songs by a singular artist as well as multiple alternate versions of the same song, it may be a weaker showing for some, especially for the price.Just Dance 2025brings very few surprises with it, but it does maintain the same core gameplay fans have come to love with a handful of improvements.
Just Dance 2025 Edition
Disclaimer: As discussed in the review, some content forJust Dance 25was not available pre-launch and is therefore not factored into this review.Screen Rantwas provided with a Nintendo Switch code for the purpose of this review.
