Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves review – a triumphant comeback that rekindles the series' classic fighting spirit

I'd say 26 years is a long time to wait for any game sequel let alone a fighting game, which by the genre's nature is usually an iterative affair. Yet Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, SNK's first fighting game series, returns with a natural familiarity for fans of its arcade predecessor Mark of the Wolves, set just two years after the events of that game.

This is also despite taking an obviously huge graphical leap from its previously unrivalled 2D sprite animations to 3D character models. I was able to take a closer look at Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves visual design when I met the game's art director, and saw how Unreal Engine was bringing is comic book graphic style to life.

But much of the series' fundamentals remain intact, from most of the previous game's character roster to the control scheme (which has two different strengths for punches and kicks rather as opposed to the three for Street Fighter), as well as the spirit of the early Noughties, best articulated by an unabashedly emo theme song, which I'm content just leaving to loop on the PS5 home screen.

We're in a new golden age of fighting games, having been spoiled by Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 in the most recent years (and Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is incoming for retro gamers). Even if City of the Wolves is stepping in the ring late, it's still got the chops and some new twists to stand out as a real contender.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves's comic crush

As the third fighting game after the Samurai Shodown revival and King of Fighters XV to be made in Unreal Engine by KOF Studio (although the team was only formally established under this name just last year), that experience has been to City of the Wolves' benefit, as it definitely looks the most confident.

This a game that neither appropriates the stylised hyper-realism of Street Fighter 6 nor emulates anime like Guilty Gear Strive, instead City of the Wolves features a cel-shaded aesthetic that looks to American comic book art for its visual identity, which really pops in motion.

The visuals don't come at a cost to readability thanks to shrewd colour-coding and announcer cues that make it clear when a fighter is using specific Rev abilities (similar to Street Fighter 6's drive system, but more generous in how you can cool it down with normal hits to avoid overheating) or if you've been counter-hit.

The fanciest comic book effects are reserved for the cinematic Redline or Hidden Gear animations, which aren't affected by your inputs but look spectacular in motion.

This new SNK fighter also evolves the ageing Mark of the Wolves' TOPS system, known as SPG here, which lets you decide whether you want a power buff that also accesses new moves at the start, middle or end of your health bar.

Like Street Fighter 6 (though actually pioneered by SNK Heroines a few years prior), there's also an option between classic arcade controls or a simplified 'smart' control scheme that's beginner-friendly, but some of the practice missions still demonstrate some depth in this mode so that you're not just mashing out easy combos.

The one major damper is the baffling inclusion of two new characters in the roster, Cristiano Ronaldo and Salvatore Ganacci. Look, I'm partial to the odd crossover, such as Ken and Chun-Li joining the Fatal Fury universe later this year, but adding real-life celebrities feels a step too far.

Besides how their appearances clash with the comic book visuals, it also leaves a bad taste when you connect the dots behind their inclusion – both celebrities have business ties to Saudi Arabia, whose crown prince also happens to own 96% of SNK.

Fatal Fury has hidden depths

Still, for fans who have been waiting decades to catch up with their favourite characters, City of the Wolves does deliver on that front, both in the single-player arcade mode and Episodes of South Town.

Sure, the real meat of fighting games is about getting better by competing against other players, and it's handled well here with online multiplayer using rollback netcode and supporting cross play. But character and lore does matter too.

Arcade mode has cutscenes for each character, albeit as comic-book style stills but is at least in line with the artistic direction, and you even get some relatively substantial endings, which is more than I can say about the slapped-on bookends in Street Fighter 6.

EOST meanwhile takes a more budget approach as you simply select fights on a map to level up your character while dialogue is predominantly text-based like a visual novel..

Compared to Street Fighter 6's use of the RE Engine to render fully 3D locations and lobbies to explore in between fights (the same tech is used in Monster Hunter Wilds), City of the Wolves' no-frills menus and text boxes can't help but feel underwhelming in its presentation, though that's also reflected in a lower price point.

But that doesn't mean it lacks substance. Rather than creating your own avatar that injects yourself into the world, there's definitely as much if not more appeal in role-playing as the characters you know and love as you catch up on their perspectives and relationships with the other residents of South Town.

Each fighter has their own short and sweet campaign but with plenty more optional challenges with new rules and gimmicks to change things up. You'll in turn unlock plenty of bonus content, such as voiced conversations between characters, art work, and even pixel art cinematics from past titles that won't just get you nostalgic but appreciate how far the series has come