Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves

Developer: SNK
Platform: PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Release Date: April 24, 2025
Pre-order: Steam

While Fatal Fury never reached the phenomenal levels of success of other fighting games that lit up the ‘90s arcades like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, SNK’s series still holds a key spot in the genre’s pantheon. With Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, we see it get a long overdue revival that updates the fast-paced action and off-the-wall battle mechanics for a new era, showing that series regulars Terry Bogard, Billy Kane, and Mai Shiranui have still got the fire to put up a thrilling fight.

Along with featuring a memorable cast of fighters, the Fatal Fury series excelled at giving players options during a fight, and City of the Wolves continues that tradition by introducing an assortment of cool battle mechanics to add some spice to a battle. While you can focus on the classic movesets and fundamentals, the upcoming game really came to life during my play session when using the strategic Rev system, which let me temporarily amp up a fighter’s special moves and even chain together specific attacks that generally can’t be used in succession for some dazzling combos. Much like Street Fighter 6‘s Drive system, it feels like an option tuned for newcomers to lay into some fast damage, that can also be skillfully used by veterans to punch through defenses and dish out some slick attacks.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is shaping up to be the kind of update the series needs. It features some ideas from other fighting games like Street Fighter 6 and Guilty Gear Xrd, all wrapped in a package that leans into SNK’s ‘90s charm and go-for-broke spirit that has made its games such favorites within the fighting game community to this day. It’s now one of my most anticipated new fighting games coming up, and I can’t wait to play more of it next year.