Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was underrated in 2025 – Here are five ways it can improve this year

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves was one of the great fighting games of 2025 you probably never played. Developed by KOF Studio and made available in April 2025 for PlayStation 4 / 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC, it’s the first entry in the series since 1999’s Garou: Mark of the Wolves, and was a great return to form for Fatal Fury.

If you’re a veteran player of the series, the ‘Gear’ mechanics make a welcome return here, letting players perform certain moves once the bottom bar has been filled up. However, there’s also an RPG Mode called ‘Episodes of South Town,’ which adds to the game’s depth. However, having played City of the Wolves for much of 2025, here are some improvements I’d like to see in 2026.

Reviews for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves were positive, with some praising the ‘Gear’ and ‘REV’ mechanics, while being disappointed in the online features, as well as the random DLC characters. Sales-wise, there have been roughly 80,000 units sold, which some would consider a dismal performance.

However, it has been building respect in some esports circles, with its appearance at the Esports World Cup (EWC) between July 10 and 12 featuring a $3 million prize pool, which was mostly won by GO1 in a tense match. With Season 2 confirmed to be launching later this month, there are plenty of opportunities for City of the Wolves to make its mark in the fighting-game genre.

Despite featuring crossplay and rollback netcode, City of the Wolves lacks a robust matchmaking system for both new and experienced players. If you sign in now as a new player, you’ll likely be matched with incredibly experienced fighters who will likely win the match in a couple of minutes. It would be great for KOF Studio to take inspiration from Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6, where the lobbies could feature a virtual world instead of a basic menu system, allowing players to meet new ones instead of waiting for a match with similar skills.

The best entry point for any new player in a fighting game is trying out Practice Mode. It’s a great way to get to grips with the controls, the available fighters, and special bars, so you’re ready for online matches. City of the Wolves’ take is very basic, with no way to visualise hit boxes or overlays to measure the attacks or counters. This needs to change once Season 2 arrives, allowing new players to use tools that can help them better understand how to utilise certain fighters in ways they hadn’t previously considered.

In City of the Wolves, players can change a character’s look with different colour schemes, but there’s so much more that can be done here. For starters, alternate costumes would be a great way to differentiate in online matches, beyond the ones available as DLC, as well as the ability to set different poses and life bars. With the fantastic art style featured in City of the Wolves, leveraging new ways to customise would make the game shine even more.

Tekken 8 has had a rough time since its Season 2 release a year ago, due to its error-filled balancing and characters that no one wanted. With a new season coming to City of the Wolves later this month, it’d be great to hear from both KOF Studio and SNK about a roadmap for what it has planned, as well as the ability for players to send in feedback. This way, it could help improve City of the Wolves in ways the developers didn’t expect, which could help its standing in the genre and the esports scene later this year.

Tekken and the recent Street Fighter 6 have featured some great single-player modes that have added depth to both games, extending replayability. But for City of the Wolves, its own take, the RPG-inspired ‘Episodes of South Town’ feels like it was lifted from 2006, not 2026. Instead of a basic menu littered with chats from different characters, let’s see some in-game cutscenes, as well as some surprising moments that take players to other places from past Fatal Fury games.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a fun game. Its comic-book art style is a great draw, rivalling the same style that’s featured in Marvel Tokon. The number of characters amps up the replayability, and the moves always feel satisfying to execute. However, publisher SNK needs to do so much more to make players aware that the game exists.

But if SNK, combined with the upcoming Season 2 by developer KOF Studio, can bring back certain characters, like Ryuji Yamazaki and Xiangfei, to appeal to players who may be unaware of City of the Wolves, as well as an improved single-player experience, there’s every chance sales in 2026 could far exceed the lowly amount from 2025.

Nevertheless, we can’t help but feel that 2026 will decide the fate of City of the Wolves, and whether it will signal the end of the series, or bring it back from the jaws of defeat.