Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves^[a] is a 2025 fighting game developed by KOF Studio and published by SNK. It is the seventh main installment in the Fatal Fury series and the first new entry in 26 years, following Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1999). The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on April 24, 2025.^[3] Upon release, it received generally positive reviews from critics.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
Developer(s)	KOF Studio
Publisher(s)	SNK
Director(s)	Hayato Konya
Series	Fatal Fury
Engine	Unreal Engine 4[1]
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S
Release	April 24, 2025[2]
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Single-player multiplayer

Gameplay

Gameplay in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is similar to that of its predecessor, with combat taking place on a two-dimensional movement plane, though one stage does allow the use of the two-lane system from earlier Fatal Fury games.^[4] Several mechanics from Mark of the Wolves are retained in City of the Wolves, including the T.O.P. system, renamed the "Selective Potential Gear" (S.P.G.) system; and the "Just Defense" mechanic, which features an expanded "Hyper Defense" variation designed to protect against attacks that hit multiple times. In addition to basic normal moves and special moves, players can also gain access to "Gear" super attacks by filling two meters at the bottom of their screen. Spending one meter will perform an Ignition Gear attack, while both meters can be spent to perform a more powerful Redline Gear attack. The most powerful super move, the Hidden Gear, requires both bars to be spent while the S.P.G. is active.^[5]

A new mechanic introduced in the game is the "Rev System". Players can perform multiple types of Rev abilities, including "Rev Arts", enhanced versions of a character's special moves; "Rev Blow", an attack that can help put distance between the two characters; "Rev Accel", which assists in chaining attacks together to create combos; and "Rev Guard", a defensive block which pushes opponents away as their attack connects. Using these techniques gradually causes the character's Rev Gauge to fill; when full, the character will enter an Overheat state and be unable to use any Rev abilities until it fully depletes. The affected player can drain their gauge more quickly by actively approaching and attacking their opponent.^[5] The game offers two control schemes for players to choose from: "Arcade Style", which features traditional controls akin to previous entries in the series, and "Smart Style", a simplified control scheme that allows players to perform attacks and combos using only basic directional inputs and single button presses, though certain abilities are inaccessible in Smart Style.^[5]

In addition to the standard arcade mode, the game features a single player mode called "Episodes of South Town". This mode features RPG mechanics and has players selecting challenge missions scattered around a South Town map to earn experience points and additional skills for their chosen character.^[2] Progressing in this mode will unlock new outfits, colors, and patterns with which to customize the characters in the "Color Edit" mode.^[2] Music from other Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting games can also be played during battles or using an in-game jukebox.^[2] The game supports online multiplayer, including rollback netcode and cross-platform play.^[2]

Characters

Main articles: Characters of the Fatal Fury series and Characters of the Art of Fighting series

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves features 17 characters in its base roster, with an additional five planned as part of its first season of downloadable content.^[2] While the previous game, Mark of the Wolves, featured an almost entirely new roster of playable fighters, City of the Wolves marks the return of several characters from the earlier Fatal Fury games, along with characters originating from Fatal Fury's sister series, Art of Fighting.^[6]

City of the Wolves is the first Fatal Fury game to feature guest characters not created by SNK. Real life professional footballer Cristiano Ronaldo and DJ Salvatore Ganacci appear as playable characters in the game's base roster.^[7][8] The first season of DLC is also set to include two characters from Capcom's Street Fighter franchise.^[9]

Newcomers are marked in bold, while guest characters are marked in italics.

Base game roster

• B. Jenet^[10]
• Billy Kane^[11]
• Cristiano Ronaldo^[7]
• Fallen Rock (Boss)^[i]
• Gato^[12]
• Hokutomaru^[13]
• Hotaru Futaba^[14]
• Kain R. Heinlein^[6]
• Kevin Rian^[15]
• Kim Dong Hwan^[16]
• Mai Shiranui^[2]
• Marco Rodrigues^[17]
• Nightmare Geese (Boss)^[i]
• Preecha^[14]
• Rock Howard^[14]
• Salvatore Ganacci^[8]
• Terry Bogard^[14]
• Tizoc^[14]
• Vox Reaper^[10]

1. Unplayable boss

DLC characters

• Andy Bogard^[6]
• Chun-Li^[9]
• Joe Higashi^[6]
• Ken Masters^[9]
• Mr. Big^[6]

Plot

A year after the King of Fighters: Maximum Mayhem tournament,^[b] Rock Howard and Kain R. Heinlein's investigations have determined the whereabouts of Marie Heinlein, Rock's mother and Kain's sister who was believed deceased. They learn that Mr. Big is holding her captive, demanding the legacy of Rock's deceased father Geese Howard as ransom. Rock goes to Geese's former right hand, Billy Kane, who reveals that among the items in Geese's legacy are the Sacred Scrolls of Jin, magic relics which he had preserved despite Geese ordering they be destroyed before his death.^[c] Billy agrees to give Rock the legacy, but it is stolen by an unknown figure.

Days later, an invitation is sent out by Franz Stroheim for a new King of Fighters tournament in Second South Town, with the stolen legacy offered as the prize. During the tournament, Kain and Billy negotiate with Big for Marie's safe return and protect her from Big's former underling Jack Turner, while Rock reunites with his adoptive father Terry Bogard and goes on to win the tournament. As the others return to Geese Tower with Marie, Jack appears and attacks Big, injuring Marie. Seeing this, Rock's intense emotions resonate with the scrolls, causing him to become possessed and forcing Terry and the others to fight him.

During the battle, Rock and Billy experience visions revealing that Geese left Marie to hide her and Rock from his enemies, and that a curse on the Sacred Scrolls of Jin allows those descended from the Jin family to be possessed by their ancestors; because Geese is descended from the Jins through his father Rudolph Krauser von Stroheim, he ordered the scrolls destroyed to protect Rock. Rock is defeated and returns to normal, and happily reunites with his mother while the others burn the scrolls. In the aftermath, Marie goes to live together with Kain, and Billy agrees to keep the rest of Geese's legacy safe. Terry, believing Rock is now strong enough to stand on his own, goes back to South Town, with Rock thanking Terry for raising him and promising to meet again.

Development and marketing

In 2005, during the KOF Year-End Party fan event, SNK Playmore illustrator Falcoon mentioned that a sequel to Garou: Mark of the Wolves was around 70% complete for the Neo Geo by the SNK team. Falcoon also confirmed that one of the new characters meant to appear was a student of legacy Fatal Fury character Joe Higashi.^[18] In July 2006, SNK Playmore reported that they were still working on the sequel, saying that they would use modern high-resolution graphics instead of the resolution quality level seen in the original game.^[19] During an interview in March 2008, SNK Playmore USA developers commented that there was not any concrete schedule of demands for the game and that they planned to make the sequel with some new technology.^[20]

In June 2016, SNK revealed artwork and sprites of the cast of the cancelled Neo Geo version.^[21] SNK director Nobuyuki Kuroki stated in February 2020 that he was personally interested in 'reviving' the Fatal Fury series.^[22]

During EVO 2022, it was revealed that a new Fatal Fury game was officially in development at SNK.^[11] At EVO 2023, SNK announced the game's title to be Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and revealed a first look at the gameplay, demonstrating it would be a 2.5D fighting game similar to their other contemporary fighting games Samurai Shodown (2019) and The King of Fighters XV (2022).^[23] In March 2024, the game was officially announced for a 2025 release. Additionally, it was announced that City of the Wolves will be the first Fatal Fury game to feature an English-language voice track, and the first SNK game to do so since The King of Fighters XII (2009).^[14]

Following a teaser in September 2024, professional athlete Cristiano Ronaldo was announced as a playable character in March 2025.^[24][7] Ronaldo's announcement was followed by confirmation of musician Salvatore Ganacci as a playable character in April 2025, who also worked with SNK to incorporate music from several different DJs into the game's soundtrack.^[25] Both announcements were met with backlash from fans and critics, with multiple outlets claiming the two felt out of place in the game, particularly given a history of controversies surrounding Ronaldo.^{[26][27][28][29][30]} Several believed their inclusion to be the result of influence from the Saudi Arabian government, as SNK is owned by the Misk Foundation operated by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman.^{[31][32][33][34]}

The game was promoted as part of a boxing match between Chris Eubank Jr. and Conor Benn in April 2025; a trailer featuring the two boxers battling the game's cast was released to advertise the match, also featuring iShowSpeed and KSI.^[35][36] An animated promotional trailer for the game was released that same month; the trailer was directed by Masami Obari, who previously directed Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture (1994), with music by Ganacci.^[37] In addition, the game was also promoted at WWE's WrestleMania 41 event in Las Vegas on April 19, 2025, as Ganacci appeared on the stage performing an entrance for Jey Uso's match against Gunther for Raw's World Heavyweight Championship.^[38]

Release

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on April 24, 2025.^[2] It will only be available in a "Special Edition" format,^[39] which includes the base game and the first season pass.^[2] Players who pre-order the game will receive an additional costume for Terry based on his appearance in Fatal Fury 2 (1992), along with three days of early access.^[40] At the 2024 Tokyo Game Show, it was announced that Ken and Chun-Li from Capcom's Street Fighter series would be added to City of the Wolves as part of the first season of downloadable content, following Terry and Mai's similar appearance as DLC in Street Fighter 6 that year.^[9] The remaining three characters for the season were announced during the 2025 Evo Awards.^[6]

Reception

Aggregate scores

Aggregator	Score
Metacritic	79/100 (PS5)[41] 81/100 (XSX)[42] 81/100 (PC)[43]
OpenCritic	81%[44]

Review scores

Publication	Score
Digital Trends	3.5/5[45]
Eurogamer	4/5[46]
HobbyConsolas	85%[47]
IGN	8/10[48]
Jeuxvideo.com	16/20[49]
MeriStation	8/10[50]
PCMag	4/5[51]
Push Square	7/10[52]
Shacknews	8/10[53]
TechRadar	8/10[54]

Reception

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.^[41][42][43]

Notes

1. Japanese: 餓狼伝説 City of the Wolves, Hepburn: Garō Densetsu Shiti obu za Uruvusu, lit. "Legend of the Hungry Wolf City of the Wolves"
2. As depicted in Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1999)
3. As depicted in Real Bout Fatal Fury (1995)