I’m a fighting game veteran — and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is one of the best I've played in years

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves marks the triumphant return of a legendary fighting game franchise. This isn’t just a nostalgia trip, as the game features everything to compete with the likes of Street Fighter 6 and Guilty Gear Strive. It’s a fighting game for fighting game fans.

The new REV system offers numerous offensive and defensive options that allow for great player expression and plenty of sick combos. While the game is mechanically deep, it’s relatively simple to get into thanks to the smooth animations and flashy graphics. It also features robust single-player and online modes to keep casual and hardcore players satisfied.

It may have taken a quarter of a century to get here, but Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was well worth the wait. If you’re looking for a change of pace from Mortal Kombat 1 and Tekken 8, this is the game to check out. So far, it’s my favorite fighting game of 2025. Find out why in my full review.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves: The basics

• What is it? Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is the latest installment in the legendary Fatal Fury series. It’s the first Fatal Fury game in over 25 years.
• Who is it for? For fighting game fans looking for deep gameplay mechanics that reward inventive playstyles.
• What’s the price? Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves costs $59 and is available on Steam, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.
• What other games has the developer made? SNK is responsible for classic franchises like Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters, and of course, Fatal Fury.
• Which games are similar to this? Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a 2.5D fighting game similar to Street Fighter 6 and The King of Fighters XV.

Art of fighting

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is one of the most fluid and mechanically rich fighting games I’ve experienced. Gameplay-wise, it’s similar to SNK’s own King of Fighters XV, though it’s also comparable to Street Fighter 6. Attacks feel appropriately weighty thanks to the clean animations and crunchy sound effects, and the diverse character roster has something for everyone. There’s a lot to dig into, gameplay-wise.

City of the Wolves revolves around the new REV System, which you can consider the game’s version of Street Fighter 6’s Drive Gauge. This system allows you to unleash supercharged attacks, which you can also chain together for big combos. However, performing too many REV moves will place you in an overdrive state where you can’t perform REV-based moves. Managing your REV meter is extremely important.

The REV system can be overly offensive, but there are plenty of defensive tools to keep you in the fight. You can parry attacks like in Street Fighter III via the Just Defense mechanic, or use the dedicated REV button to create a small shield in front of you to defend against a character’s special moves. The game’s defensive techniques contrast with the more aggressive elements, creating more balanced fights.

S.P.G., or Selective Potential Gear, is an updated version of the T.O.P.S. system from Garou: Mark of the Wolves. You can set your S.P.G. to one of three positions (start, middle, end) on your health gauge, and it activates when your health enters your chosen S.P.G. position. The lower you set your S.P.G., the more beneficial it becomes. You can also perform REV Blows while in S.P.G., along with the highly cinematic Hidden Gear super moves.

Lastly, you’re able to cancel the animation of certain special moves, which has the benefit of creating more combo opportunities by stopping an attack and launching into another. This is effectively like Roman Canceling in Guilty Gear Strive and works just as seamlessly. Fenting attacks is another tool used to create and extend combos.

City of the Wolves is the epitome of a game that’s simple to learn and difficult to master. But if you’re willing to put in the time to nail down certain combos and techniques, you’ll find a deeply rewarding fighting game experience.

Legend of the hungry wolf

From standard modes like arcade, training and versus, to a full-blown RPG-like mode, City of the Wolves doesn’t skimp on single-player content. If you’re uninterested in engaging with the game’s various online competitive modes, you’ll get a full and rewarding offline experience.

Arcade mode has you battling eight CPU-controlled opponents. Here, you’ll learn what the characters have been doing since the previous game, or meet them for the first time. The comic book-esque cutscenes are fully voiced and highly engaging, even if they’re nothing more than still frames.

Episodes of South Town is the aforementioned RPG mode where you’ll battle a series of increasingly difficult opponents across South Town's three primary regions. You can think of this as a glorified arcade mode, only with brief text-based narration in between fights. You’ll gain experience points and level up, and can even add modifiers that can boost your strength and defense. Though I wish this mode were fully voiced, it’s still fun to engage in side adventures with the game’s characters.

Practice mode is, as you’ve guessed, where you can practice a character’s moves and combos. There are many parameters you can set to let you get the most from training, such as having your CPU opponent perform a specific move you want to learn to counter. The tutorial where you learn you the game’s mechanics isn’t as robust as the same mode in Street Fighter 6, but it teaches you the basics decently enough. The combo trials are nice and can get super challenging.

When you want a break from fighting, you can head to the gallery and check out the cinemas and artwork you’ve unlocked. If you’re a completionist like me, you’ll have a blast unlocking all this content by completing Arcade Mode and Episodes of South Town. There’s even a jukebox section containing music from every Fatal Fury game, along with others from Art of Fighting and King of Fighters. There are a lot of Fatal Fury and SNK easter eggs for newcomers and veterans to enjoy.

World heroes

The game’s PS5 servers weren’t live when I was testing and writing this review. That said, I participated in the game’s open betas that happened a few weeks ago. I’ll detail my experience there and also run down some of the basic online features.

As expected from a modern fighting game, you’re able to jump into ranked or casual matches that pair you against random online opponents. There are also room matches where you can invite friends and set specific parameters, such as the number of rounds and time limits. Ranked is for competitive-minded players who want to test their skills among the best, while casual and room matches are for those who want to have fun and not worry about ranks.

Like the previous beta, you select your skill level while creating your online profile. I don’t like this since higher-level players can set themselves as beginners and crush actual newbies. During the beta, some players dished out multi-hit combos on me, which let me know they weren’t beginners at all. Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 have you participating in several placement matches to determine your skill level, which I feel is fairer than the honor system City of the Wolves utilizes.

Matchmaking is the lingering question for City of the Wolves. During the betas, it would sometimes take forever to find matches. And even if you did, you might experience severe lag or even disconnects. Things improved in the last beta, with faster and more stable matches. Hopefully, the online will be just as good (or better) when public servers go live.

Mark of the Wolves

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves features a comic book-inspired art style that sets it apart from other fighting games out there. The deep black outlines and shading, along with vibrant colors, make for a visually striking experience. Cut scenes are even framed like comic book panels, which is also very appealing.

I’m ambivalent about the game’s backgrounds. None of them look bad, and I like seeing all the nods to previous Fatal Fury and SNK games hidden throughout. However, with some exceptions, the backgrounds don’t have the same art style that makes the characters so unique. This could be intentional to help the fighters easier to track on-screen, but I would have preferred more visual synergy between the characters and backgrounds.

The sound design is overall good to my ears. Attacks sound appropriately vicious, as do all the booming effects. Music is pretty diverse, ranging from ‘70s-inspired funk tracks to hard-hitting, heavy metal-infused tunes. I also like the excellent English voice cast, who do an admirable job of making their characters feel believable.

The newcomers

I won’t begrudge SNK for introducing guest characters into City of the Wolves. After all, I’m stoked to play as Street Fighter 6’s Ken and Chun-Li when they arrive via the upcoming season 1 DLC. Those are fictional characters from another fighting game franchise, which makes sense. However, the same isn’t true for the glaring guest characters in Fatal Fury’s starting roster.

The two characters in question are Cristiano Ronaldo and Salvatore Ganacci. You’ve probably heard of the former since he’s a famous soccer player, but unless you’re into electronic dance music, I doubt you know about the latter. Instead of being fictional versions of real people like LeBron James in MultiVersus or Shaquille O’Neal in Shaq Fu, Ronaldo and Ganacci are literally themselves in City of the Wolves.

I would be more forgiving if these guys at least looked like Fatal Fury or SNK characters. Instead, they feel like obvious marketing plants. I can understand having Ronaldo in the game since he has hundreds of millions of followers on social media who might buy City of the Wolves. However, I don’t think this game will sell millions more copies because of a Swedish DJ.

To be fair, Ronaldo and Gannachi are mechanically sound characters who can be fun to play as. However, given how they’re only in the game to sell extra copies, it’s hard to ignore their inclusion. Hopefully, we won’t see any more real-world people show up in an upcoming seasonal update. Leave room for some actual SNK characters!

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves: Verdict

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a superlative fighting game that rivals its competitors. Its distinctive roster, deep gameplay mechanics, gorgeous art style and abundant single and multiplayer modes will keep you engaged for the long haul. This is doubly true since the upcoming season 1 DLC is free for everyone who owns the game.

Though I don’t care for the real-world guest characters, there’s little else I don’t like. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves delivers a complete and rewarding experience. If you’re looking for a new fighting game to sink your fangs into, don’t miss out on this modern classic.