Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

SNK revives the long-dormant fighting game franchise with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, setting the stage for a big comeback with a multi-layered combat system, a major esports tournament and controversial guest characters.

The first Fatal Fury was released in 1991, right in the middle of the fighting game boom of the 1990s. Three main instalments were released, as well as sub-series, until 1999, when Garou: Mark of the Wolves was released as the final instalment in the series. That was 26 years ago, and now SNK is reviving the series with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, developed by KOF Studio (King of Fighters). It is the seventh main instalment in the Fatal Fury series.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a 2.5D fighting game, and it revives the classic two-plane system used in the first Fatal Fury games and later discarded, but only in one stage, where you can dodge by jumping forward or backward, so to speak in the foreground and background. It's a shame that more attention was paid to this feature. On the other hand, the fights themselves are quite impressive. For example, there is the Rev system. This is based on a rev meter that fills up with offensive and defensive actions. This allows the player to perform enhanced attacks, chain attacks, break through enemy attacks (if SPG is active) or block them. However, it is also possible to overheat if the rev meter fills up too much, temporarily weakening the character. This makes the combat system tactical and reactive. Combination attacks, just defence, braking, dodging attacks, feints and S.P.G. (Selective Potential Gear; stronger attacks when the health bar reaches certain points) give the fights more depth.

There are two control schemes available, designed to appeal to both newcomers and veterans: Arcade Style relies on precise, technical inputs, while Smart Style allows players to perform special moves and combos using directional inputs and single button presses. Still, the learning curve could be a little smoother.

While the combat system is well thought out, the 17-strong roster at launch could definitely be fleshed out, even if the characters seem diverse. The roster includes Terry Bogard, Rock Howard, Hotaru Futaba and Mai Shiranui, as well as newcomers such as Preecha and Vox Reaper, and celebrity and controversial fighters such as footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and musician DJ Salvatore Ganacci. The latter two may be famous, but they don't really fit in with the fighting game's roster. Five more characters will be added as DLC fighters in Season Pass 1, which is included in the Standard Edition. Andy Bogard, Chun-Li, Joe Higash, Ken Masters and Mr Big are planned, with the guest characters from Street Fighter being a much more organic addition than the two real-life celebrities.

In addition to the standard arcade mode, there is a single-player RPG mode called Episodes of South Town. Players take on opponents in a variety of fighting conditions, leveling up the fighter, building up a variety of skills and dominating the opposition. The concept is reminiscent of Street Fighter VI's World Tour, but is much stricter, simpler and less exciting. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves comes with rollback netcode and cross-platform functionality. Match modes include Ranked Match, Casual Match and Room Match. And there are AI learning fight clones. The developers said: "AI technology studies your play style while you fight online, and automatically creates clones of both you and the rest of the player base. Go one-on-one with clones yourself, or set yours loose against others!"

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was released on 24 April 2025 for PC (Epic Games Store, Steam), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X|S. There was also a short Advanced Access period (without a separate edition), which then went straight into the release, apart from a special pre-order skin. Only the Special Edition is available for €59.99, which also includes the Season Pass.

SNK is also looking to position the game as an esports title. The SNK World Championship 2025 will see players compete for the top spot in the SNK fighting game world. Qualifying tournaments will be held in various regions around the world, culminating in a final tournament in the USA at the end of 2025. In addition to The King of Fighters XV and Samurai Shodown qualifiers, this year's tournament will feature Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves as a main title. The total prize pool for all City of the Wolves tournaments (qualifiers and finals) is over €2,500,000 with a grand prize of €1,500,000 for the champion.

To make a long story short, SNK (Shin Nihon Kikaku, meaning New Japan Project) was founded in 1978 in Osaka, Japan. Initially, the company specialised in arcade games. In the 1990s, the company enjoyed great success with the Neo Geo (arcade platform and home console) and game series such as Fatal Fury, Metal Slug, Samurai Shodown and The King of Fighters. Following economic difficulties and the decline of the arcade market, SNK filed for bankruptcy in 2001. The trademark rights and intellectual property were acquired by the newly formed Playmore Corporation, which was renamed SNK Playmore in 2003. The company went on to produce new games for consoles, mobile and arcade machines, including sequels and new editions of well-known SNK series - as well as its own Pachislot machines in the early years of the new millennium.

Ownership changed hands in 2015. Chinese web and mobile games company 37Games and asset management firm Orient Securities formed a joint venture to invest in Ledo Millennium, a subsidiary of Leyou. Through Ledo, the joint venture acquired a majority stake in SNK Playmore. This led to a change in strategy, away from arcade machines and towards console games, mobile and character licensing. In late 2016, the company was renamed SNK Corporation, and The King of Fighters XIV was released after a long hiatus from the franchise. In 2020, there was another change in ownership, as the Saudi Arabian non-profit organisation MiSK Foundation (more specifically, its subsidiary Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC)), controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, gradually increased its stake and by 2022 had acquired approximately 96% of the shares. One of the goals of the MiSK Foundation is to diversify Saudi Arabia's economy beyond the oil sector. SNK was delisted from the Korea Stock Exchange in 2022.

Conclusion

A well-executed revival of a cult fighting game series, with a compelling combat system but a limited roster with some out-of-place celebrities.

Features

• Good, multi-layered, tactical combat system
• Stylish and unique visual identity
• Rollback netcode and crossplay