With The King of Fighters XV, developer SNK took the seed that was KOF XIV, planted it, watered it, and grew one of the best fighting games in recent history. Far more than a new game with fresh skins, KOF XV features a revamped fighting engine that facilitates creative combat, attractive character models, vibrant stages, near-flawless rollback netcode, and many multiplayer options to keep you knuckling up with online rivals for hours at a time. Despite suffering a ho-hum training mode and the occasional screen tearing, this $59.99 PC game ranks among the series' best entries, up there with the resplendent King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition and The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match.
The KOF XV Basics
If you're making the leap from Guilty Gear Strive or Street Fighter V, KOF XV's basic structure may prove somewhat bewildering or intimidating to the uninitiated. As with past, mainline King of Fighters games, KOF XV features 3-on-3, team-based fighting, so you must learn multiple characters. Unlike Dragon Ball FighterZ, another team-based fighting game, KOF XV lacks tagging, which makes character order just as important as the character selection. The meter you earn is passed down to other teammates as characters are knocked out, so placing your favorite fighter—or a fighter that heavily depends on meter—in the anchor (last) position gives that fighter the most options. More on that in a bit.
The default teams, pulled from across SNK's many properties are: Art of Fighting, Ash, Fatal Fury, G.A.W., Hero, Ikari, K', Krohnen, Orochi, Rival, Sacred Treasures, Secret Agent, and Super Heroine. The 39-person roster, featuring a mix of strikers, grapplers, zoners, and other genre archetypes, is large by traditional fighting game standards but on the low side for a KOF title. For example, The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match Final Edition has 64 characters, while The King of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match has 66 characters. If some of your favorite characters are missing, keep an eye on SNK's DLC roadmap. So far, the developer revealed that Team Garou (scheduled for a March release) and Team South Town (scheduled for a May release) are coming down soon.
The Fighting Engine
KOF XIV's DNA is baked into KOF XV, so many specials, supers, and climaxes carry over, but SNK made major and minor gameplay tweaks to make this new title stand apart from the last one. The two biggest differences are the new Shatter Strike and Max Mode.
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Shatter Strike is a new, armored, meter-powered counterattack that crumples ground opponents or wall-bounces airborne opponents, leaving them ready for a big-damage follow-up. Think of it as a KOF blowback attack that leaves a foe set up for a combo, instead of simply knocking the opponent to the other side of the screen (and you don't need to be in guard to unleash it). Traditional blowback attacks still exist, too.
Max Mode, on the other hand, is a KOF staple that strengthens your character's attacks and guard crush meter for a brief period. Activating Max Mode immediately after a standard attack or command move uncorks the Max Mode Quick variant. With Max Mode Quick, your character doesn't receive the standard Max Mode bonuses. Instead, you dash toward an opponent, quickly closing the gap to connect an attack to continue or create a combo. Thankfully, you no longer need to activate Max Mode to unleash high-powered EX moves, which opens the door to greater combat creativity.
What does this all mean in practice? KOF XV is a remarkably flexible KOF game, one that fosters gameplay experimentation. Its predecessor relied too heavily on Max Mode and EX moves, but KOF XV rewards experimentation. Newcomer-friendly auto-combos make their return from KOF XIV, and they make button-mashing noobs feel like a champ. Thankfully, they don't do too much damage.
Options, Options, and More Options
KOF XV's home screen is dense with options. You can play the narrative-driven Story mode, use DJ Station to listen to more that 300 music tracks culled from SNK's history (many compositions unlock as you play), engage in casual and ranked online battles, view leaderboards, and check out match replays.
SNK showed much love to the community by including an esports-friendly tournament mode tailor-made for locals and majors like Evo. You can save 15 custom teams, set up brackets and rulesets, and register up to 32 entrants. It's a great touch. Thankfully, KOF XV lets you join online lobbies to play against others or simply spectate.
A Few Gripes
KOF XV is a terrific fighting game with fun extras, but it's not without flaws. First up, there's no PC-console crossplay, which divides the player base. Considering that KOF XIV has terrific rollback netcode that makes playing distant opponents feel like local matches, it's a shame that PC peeps can't mix it up with console heads. Crossplay would come in especially handy with KOF XV's Party Mode, an online mode that sees all six characters controlled by different people.
Secondly, the matchmaking engine doesn't completely do its job. I can find matches in my region without issue, but whenever I try to find bouts elsewhere, error messages pop up. This isn't an isolated issue; people are complaining about it on the KOF XV Steam community forums.
Lastly, the training mode could've used more time in the oven. Yes, it teaches you how to perform specials, supers, and climaxes, but it doesn't teach situational gameplay tactics. KOF XV doesn't have a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate-style simplified control scheme; it has multiple meters, jumps, hops, and moves that may prove intimidating to newcomers. Learning how and when to apply those moves is essential to high-level play, which the training mode doesn't account for.
Can Your PC Run KOF XV?
According to the KOF XV's Steam page, your computer needs at least an Intel Core i5 CPU, an AMD Radeon R9 280 GPU (with 3GB of video RAM), 8GB of system RAM, and 65GB of available storage. My gaming PC—a rig that houses an Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of RAM, and a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti graphics card—pushed KOF XV at a smooth 60 frames per second. KOF XV has a surprising number of graphics options, including Anti-Aliasing Processing, Depth of Field, Shadows, and Ray Tracing. The game runs well, but it sometimes suffers from occasional screen tearing that sees a thin line cut across the screen. Fortunately, there's a simple Vsync fix for that, though I hope an official patch comes soon.
As a Steam game, KOF XV supports 49 Steam Achievements, Steam Cloud, Steam Trading Cards, Remote Play Together, and numerous gamepads, fight pads, and fight sticks. At the time of this writing, it's unknown if SNK's newest title can run on Steam Deck (the game's currently listed as untested). However, that doesn't mean it's incompatible with SteamOS (for what it's worth, KOF XIV is Steam Deck Verified).
Why You Should Game on a PC
The King Returns to the Throne
The King of Fighters XV rights SNK's premier fighting game franchise, a series that's suffered a mixed reception since KOF XII. By building upon (and freeing up) KOF XIV's mechanics, adding a strong visual direction, and finally implementing rollback netcode to foster the online community, SNK crafted a contemporary fighting game that hits on every angle. KOF XV may not have Mortal Kombat 11's top-tier graphics, wild narrative, or super-deep modes and unlockables, but it wonderfully succeeds at recreating the arcade/bodega fighting game experience on modern platforms. Hopefully, SNK squashes the online matchmaking issues in short time.
For more Steam game reviews and previews, check out PCMag's Steam Curator page. And for in-depth video game talk, visit PCMag's Pop-Off YouTube channel.
An excellent rebound from the divisive The King of Fighters XIV, KOF XV showcases developer SNK's deep fighting game chops via a creative combat system, vibrant graphics, and many fun extras.
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