The New Mechanics in Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves
by William Hernandez
Although SNK hasn't exactly been too keen on explaining City of the Wolves' new mechanics any further just yet, enough creators at this point have shared their personal experiences with the game that we've been able to roughly plot out what everything does. And yes, there's actually more to the game than what they've showed off. So if you've been curious about what the heck "REV Accel" really means or want to know more about the defensive depth of the game, then this is the right place for you.
What is REV?
The first and most obvious question that we need to answer before anything else is "What is REV?" Well, it's fairly easy to explain thankfully. The REV meter is what grants access to all of the new mechanics in the game. So long as you're not in an overheated state, you can use any of the new REV mechanics which will all raise your meter by different percentages. It's to be seen if these numbers will be different depending on the character - can't really comment on that just yet. Your REV meter seems to only go up when using the new mechanics; otherwise, the percentage will tick slowly back down to 0% or stay at 0%. It's a game of balance. Optimizing your offense and defense will no doubt require you to tap into your REV meter, but there's a price to pay if you get overzealous with it.
To actually explain the downsides of being in overheat, you cannot use any REV actions while in the state and blocking attacks will slowly degrade your guard meter (which doesn't seem to go down otherwise). Exactly the same as in Garou: Mark of the Wolves, if your guard meter hits 0, you will be guard crushed. Although being overheated incurs some relatively drastic punishments, the game doesn't become unplayable. With the mechanics stripped away from you temporarily, the gameplay essentially just becomes Mark of the Wolves. And that's not terrible. At all.
City of the Wolves is no doubt going to be a lot easier to get into compared to its predecessor thanks to the simplicty and strength of the REV system. That being said, it seems like it's also going to be a lot more complicated to fully learn. Now, let's get into some specifics of the system.
More Damage, More Pressure (Offensive REV)
As seems to be the new standard for fighting games nowadays, City of the Wolves looks to be super fast-paced with the new REV system really promoting a heavy offense. It all begins with REV Arts which are functionally this game's version of EX moves from the recent The King of Fighters entries. To put it simply, REV Arts are slightly powered-up versions of a character's special moves; they also have added or improved properties compared to their normal special counterparts. So not only do they do more damage, but they generally open up more possiblities for combos as well.
Speaking of REV Arts and combos, you can link REV Arts into other REV Arts through the mechanic that they're calling REV Accel. Pretty cool name for something so fundamentally simple. Again, comparing City of the Wolves to the modern KOF titles, REV Accel's execution seems to be comparable to Super Cancels - especially in the sense that the input window is fairly tight. Because they're making such a big deal out of this, I would have to imagine that REV Accel allows you to extend combos artificially. In other words, you can likely connect moves that wouldn't confirm into each other otherwise. If that's the case, then the sky is the limit with this mechanic...
To finish things off in this section, let's talk about the raw damage dealers. REV Blows are special attacks that cannot be interrupted by an opponent's attack. These can be performed on the ground or in the air and do good damage. But what does the most damage? Well, that would be your character's Hidden Gear. These are 2-bar supers that require your S.P.G. (Selective Potential Gear) to be currently active. And when successfully performed, your Hidden Gear will also reset your REV meter back to 0. That on top of doing an insane amount of damage makes it a total game changer. Little too situational, though.
Live Longer (S.P.G. and Defensive REV)
It's worth talking more about S.P.G. as it actually provides multiple passive benefits beyond access to extra attacks. When it is active, your stats are noticeably increased. Most obviously, you do more damage, but your health will also slowly regenerate, your Power Gauge will charge up faster, and all your REV actions cost less meter. It's also important to note that your placement of S.P.G. does matter. The benefits are greater if you place it in the middle of your health bar compared to the first third of your health and they're even more substantial if you place it in the final third of your health bar. The more risk, the more reward.
To better preserve your life so that you can actually maintain your S.P.G. (or just, in general), you ought to use REV Guard to get out of sticky situations. Functionally, it is a pushblock, instantly alleviating your character from any pressure by pushing your opponent away. Execution-wise, it is definitely an easier alternative to Just Defending and is a lot more potent of a mechanic; though, of course, it costs REV meter and therefore isn't an infinitely reusable mechanic in the way that JD is. And on the topic of Just Defense, it has actually been expanded upon in this game with the addition of Hyper Defense. While the full details and perks of this mechanic aren't clear yet, we do know that a move is considered Hyper Defended when you perfectly block a consecutive hit of a multi-hit attack.
If you're looking to to turn your strong defense into a strong offense, well, you'll definitely have that option here in City of the Wolves. Guard Cancels seem to still be a thing and they're undoubtedly solid follow-ups to a Just Defend if your opponent is left vulnerable after their attack. Hyper Defending seems to have its own unique punishment system as well where you have a 2 frame window to counter your opponent with a basic attack. Take this specific info with a grain of salt, though, as we've only heard this from one person. There is definitely depth to defending, but things are just too unclear right now.
There is a lot to learn and a lot to keep track of so hopefully this article has helped you understand the new mechanics of the game even just a tiny bit more than before. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves looks crazy good and we can't wait to see more of the gameplay. Expect more coverage of this game. We'll see you after the next major reveal!
