After more than two decades, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves has returned—who’d have thought that 2025 would be the year? SNK’s latest entry in the series brings a unique visual style that stands out in the current renaissance of fighting games that we’re witnessing. Leaps and bounds ahead of The King of Fighters XV in terms of visuals, this is the first time since KOFXIII that SNK has found an art style that really fits its style.
We got a chance to get our feet wet in the latest SNK brawler during the open beta and learned the ins and outs of the upcoming title. And the trailers weren’t lying; the game really didn’t disappoint, barring some relatively minor annoyances that can be ironed out, SNK has a gem on its hands with Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.
The Core Is Impeccable
Visually speaking, although the art style is unique, it clearly lacks the polish of a big-budget fighter like Street Fighter 6 or Tekken 8, but SNK makes up for it with phenomenal art direction and design.
The core gameplay loop is where City of the Wolves truly shines. It’s a well-rounded fighting game with great defense mechanics (something most fighters are straying away from), a loose combo system that has seemingly endless routes and room for growth, and an overall feel that the game isn’t being dumbed down to appease the new crowd. This is a game made for fighting game fans, with little to no compromises made to cater to newcomers. Features like different jump types, guard cancels, and various defensive mechanics add depth to the experience. The Rev and SPG system is the icing on the already amazing cake that borrows some ideas from Street Fighter 6. But don’t they say Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?
For better or for worse, SNK has decided to keep the inputs very strict compared to other fighters. Shortcuts and multiple methods of doing specials aren’t a thing in City of the Wolves, something that seems a step too far in making the input complicated for newcomers. Especially when you consider the lack of a “modern” or easier control scheme.
The most glaring issue in this regard is the lack of simple macros, which, for a four-button fighter, is baffling. Players cannot map two attacks to a single button, leaving so many extra buttons unused. This becomes a major problem with doing feint cancels which, albeit an advanced move, doesn’t need to be complicated further by forcing players to manually press the feint buttons each time.
Technical Issues & Online Play
There are some minor technical issues like stages with low FPS, but these will likely be ironed out by the time the game comes out. But one of the bigger problems during the beta was the bland and poorly designed tutorial mode. The terminology is confusing, and the tutorials fail to teach all the game’s mechanics, and those who are unfamiliar with fighting games can easily be overwhelmed. Compared to the good tutorials in Street Fighter 6 or the excellent ones in Arc System Works’ games, City of the Wolves falls short in the onboarding process.
Now for the meat and potatoes: while many of the issues previously mentioned might be fixed in time for release, there are others that seem pretty final. The lobby system is one of them. While functional and feature-rich, it has a frustrating mouse cursor that can only be controlled with buttons and not an actual mouse, but why? Add the laggy UI and UX on top, and you have yourself a subpar navigation experience, at least thus far.
Online play is another mixed bag. The connections are decent but that is only if you can find a match. Players in less populated areas are going to spend more time looking at the “finding match” screen than throwing around power geysers. The ranking system is also divisive, resembling that of Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter V. Once you reach S rank, you’ll remain at that rank with every character, meaning switching characters pits you against other S-rank players instead of starting fresh.
But despite all of that, under all of the minor issues on top, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a game designed for dedicated fighting game fans by people who genuinely love fighting games. Most of the problems can be buffed out using fan feedback, and let’s not forget that fighting games are constantly improving after release, not to mention all the characters, stages, and extra content still on the way. Let’s not forget that Ken and Chun-Li from Street Fighter 6 are making their way to City of the Wolves as Season 1 DLC characters.
The game’s deep mechanics and uncompromising approach to gameplay will appeal to veterans, and who knows, this might be the tough love the FGC needs. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is coming out on April 24 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and PC.
