| FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves | |||
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| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
The fighters of South Town gather once again for a new tournament, competing for legacy in FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves! Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Review Overview
What is FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves?
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves is a 2D fighting game developed and published by SNK. It is part of the historic Fatal Fury franchise, one of the most popular franchises during the arcade boom in the 1990s. Serving as the sequel to SNK’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves back in 1999, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves marks the franchise’s return after 26 years. The game features 17 different characters and a completely new meter management system called the R.E.V. Gauge that builds on legacy mechanics from its predecessor.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves features:
⚫︎ 17 Different Playable Characters
⚫︎ Unique Meter Systems with S.P.G. and R.E.V.
⚫︎ RPG-Lite Story Mode
⚫︎ Legacy Fighting Game Mechanics
⚫︎ Classic Fighting Game Modes
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves’s gameplay and story.
 FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves |
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 Steam |
 Epic |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Nostalgic Fighting Game Vibes Showcases SNK’s Audiovisual Improvement Colorful Cast of Characters |
E.O.S.T. Isn’t All Too Great Character Trials Are Severely Lacking Hard-to-Learn Fighting Game |
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Overall - 84/100
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves is a shining example of SNK’s steady improvement in releasing new fighting games. In an ever-increasing trend of making fighting games more accessible, it’s unapologetic in its hard-to-learn-yet-rewarding mechanics. It’s a breath of fresh air compared to the top fighting games out right now that have been working to make things easier, as it's a game that rewards you for putting in the time and effort to learn and master its mechanics instead of having an instant way to enforce your offense.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Story - 7/10
The story of the game continues from its predecessor, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, meaning Geese Howard has already been long gone at this point. Yet, his legacy still remains with Rock as he struggles to find purpose throughout his journey. It’s a classic fighting game where every character has an ending in the Arcade Mode and its new Episodes of South Town game mode. While it’s good that each character has a fleshed-out story to explore, the new game mode isn’t impressive enough to bring the storytelling to the next level.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Gameplay - 9/10
Like any new fighting game in a long-running franchise, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves introduces new mechanics that spice the gameplay up yet bring back older mechanics to make it feel more or less familiar for those who already played the predecessor. The game is what you can describe as a classic fighting game
experience, as it has a ton of offensive and defensive mechanics to learn and master while also having to learn a character’s strengths and weaknesses. It could do more with its tutorials, especially on the character-specific missions, as difficult-by-design fighting games can be made easier if players have more resources to learn the game’s mechanics and characters.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Visuals - 9/10
In terms of its visuals, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves is the best-looking 3D fighting game that SNK has released since. It shows that they have been paying attention to the fact that while graphics are secondary to a video game, they also make a huge impression on potential players. Its comic-book art style paired with its vibrant colors ties the game’s story together as it's presented like a stylized comic, which is a visual treat. If there were any nitpicks about it, it may be regarding the use of special effects and how the colors clash with each other during gameplay, as it may become distracting.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Audio - 8/10
SNK has never been a slouch when it comes to their video game music, and their fighting game selection has always been stellar. It’s no different in FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, as the game features a huge range of different music scores that represent each character and stage. The other aspects of the audio design are also great, and having many options to alter the audio to your liking also helps.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Value for Money - 9/10
For $59.99, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves is an amazing fighting game that is not afraid to embrace the essence of what makes the genre great. With a good number of characters to learn and a planned road map ahead of it already, the game is off to a great start while having a plethora of available game modes for players to enjoy. The only problem that may arise is that while the tutorials do a good job of explaining the system mechanics, there are no character-specific tutorials that explain the strengths and weaknesses of each character.
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Review: More Than a Return to Form!
SNK has always been a historic figure when it comes to arcade games, especially for their fighting games. While they aren’t the number one choice for most people, as the popularity of other competitive fighting games has skyrocketed in recent years, they have remained a household name in the fighting game genre with King of Fighters and Samurai Shodown. This time, however, SNK has decided to bring the franchise that made them who they are today back to the limelight with their latest release, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves. Does it live up to the hype of waiting for more than two and a half decades?
Homecoming to South Town
The story of FATAL FURY is a doozy if you’re looking to read into every detail, but it all boils down to Terry Bogard and company taking down the biggest mob boss of the city, Geese Howard, for revenge for their father’s death. It’s followed up in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, where Rock Howard, Geese’s son who was raised by Terry, enters the next tournament organized by his father’s stepchild, Kain R. Heinlein, who wanted to uncover the legacy behind Geese’s rule.
The overall narrative of the franchise has a lot of twists and turns, as it all stems from the Howard bloodline being a very dysfunctional family because of Geese. The good part about the game is that while the whole thing about Terry, Rock, and the Howard lineage is the main focus, it shines a light on the other characters involved in the tournament as well.
Tizoc returning to fight as Griffon Mask once again, Vox being a descendant of Grant, Kevin still looking for Freeman, and many more. They all have a story to tell, and it all expands into the lore of South Town being a hotspot of many unique fighters and individuals. It’s told in a classic Arcade style way where each character has an ending, but the game also has a new mode called Episodes of South Town (EOST) where it’s like a mini version of Street Fighter’s World Tour Mode. Which brings us to…
Episodes of South Town Could’ve Been So Much More
The lore of the characters in FATAL FURY is individually interesting. Especially when you start looking at the relationships between the fighters and the other people in South Town. The main problem I have with Episodes of South Town is that if there were voice acting and mini cutscenes that showed the characters interacting with each other, it would’ve elevated the storytelling so much more. Instead, you’ll have to read through a lot of text and dialogue that isn’t as interesting to experience. To be honest, the whole experience feels like a worse visual novel, and while the gameplay kept it interesting, keeping up with the story just wasn’t engaging enough. Speaking of gameplay…
Reminiscent of Classic Arcade Fighting
The fighting game genre has always struggled to be a part of the mainstream gaming sphere, and one of the ways that they’re trying to be a part of it is through accessibility and lowering the skill floor for newer players to get into the genre. The genre has made a lot of progress in terms of overall popularity among gamers, but it has sometimes sacrificed the core gameplay of fighting games. SNK has done a great job of trying to balance that with FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, where the game streamlined most of how the game works but integrates many classic fighting game mechanics like parries, meter management, big damage hit confirms, and more.
Make no mistake, this game isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s a game beloved by veterans of the genre because of its demand for the player to put in the time and effort to actually learn the mechanics of the game and how to play around the system against other players. It feels unapologetic, in a sense, where it embraces what fighting games were popularly known for and takes it up to a modern level with its unique take on 2D fighting.
That being said, the game does have its problems, especially when teaching newer players how the characters work and their differences from each other. One of the things that I appreciated from newer Street Fighter games is that they include explanations of how characters were designed for specific playstyles and how their moves work in tandem with said playstyle. Understanding your character is only one of the things that you have to learn when playing fighting games, and there’s a lot more to learn, especially at more intricate levels.
Amazing Cast of Characters
SNK has always made it a point that their characters be unique and memorable in specific ways. There are many examples of these characters, like Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami in King of Fighters, Haohmaru and Genjuro in Samurai Shodown, and more. In FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, there’s a lot to like, but there are two characters in particular that stand out since they’re not exactly fictional characters: Cristiano Ronaldo and Salvatore Ganacci.
Both of these characters are definitely out of place, knowing that they’re real people, but SNK has done an amazing job with animating and making them look like video game characters. Salvatore, in particular, grew on me as one of the best-looking adaptations
I’ve seen in a fighting game. His animations are just something that you have to see for yourself, and he holds the trophy for having the best overhead attack in probably all of fighting games.
Aside from these two, the rest of the cast are amazingly animated, and the newcomers like Vox and Preecha have something that relates them to older characters in the series while retaining their own design.
Stellar Showcase of the Future of SNK Fighting Games
All in all, FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves is an amazing fighting game and lives up to the hype after being in limbo for more than two and a half decades, and SNK means business. They’ve shown time and time again that they’re constantly improving from a visual standpoint while making engaging fighting games that rival the top dogs in the genre. With the first season already revealed to have a crossover with Street Fighter, where Ken and Chun-Li are going to be DLC, the future of SNK fighting games looks bright. So that begs the question: When’s Capcom vs. SNK 3?
Is FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Worth It?
Absolutely! A Must-Try for Fighting Game Fans!
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves is an absolute must-try fighting game for players who are looking to try something different, especially those who haven’t tried an SNK game. The colorful cast of characters, fast-paced action, and intense system mechanics make it a worthy competitor to today’s popular fighting game offerings. While the price is steep at $59.99, it’s a worthwhile investment to make if you’re looking for a game that isn’t Tekken or Street Fighter while remaining in the competitive scene.
| Digital Storefronts | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam |
Epic |
Playstation |
Xbox |
| $59.99 | |||
FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves FAQ
In FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves, who is Salvatore Ganacci?
Salvatore Ganacci is a world renowned Bosnian-Swedish DJ and record producer known for his performances in Tomorrowland. While the reason for his inclusion to the game is not known, it can be surmised that one of the reasons is to reach a wider audience outside of the fighting game space.
Are there any more real people going to be included in FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves?
SNK has not released a statement regarding the inclusion of other celebrities, athletes, and artists in the game at this time. However, it may not be a surprise that other people will be included due to SNK's efforts in marketing the game globally.
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FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Product Information
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| Title | FATAL FURY: CITY OF THE WOLVES |
|---|---|
| Release Date | April 24, 2025 |
| Developer | SNK CORPORATION |
| Publisher | SNK CORPORATION |
| Supported Platforms | PC (Steam, Epic), PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S |
| Genre | Action, Fighting |
| Number of Players | 1-2 (Local) |
| ESRB Rating | T |
| Official Website | FATAL FURY: City of the Wolves Official Website |
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