SNK recently announced a new City of the Wolves open beta. With just a few weeks until release, the success of it could highly impact how COTW is received when it officially launches in late April.
The first COTW beta took place back in late February. Originally, it was set to be the only time players could try the online functionality and other core aspects of the game. Sadly for SNK and fans, the experience was somewhat lackluster, so much so it has me worried about the eventual release.
Let's get something out of the way first: the gameplay is absolutely fantastic. It could be the honeymoon phase period talking but the mechanics seem nuanced, with both offensive and defensive options feeling strong. There's also a lot of complexity when it comes to combo routing, with execution required that makes it a fun challenge in and of itself.
That said, the COTW beta was heavily criticized for its poor matchmaking. Like many players, I had instances of long queue times only to be paired with someone seemingly playing from another galaxy, with ridiculous lag spikes that rendered the match unplayable. When it worked, it was a buttery smooth experience, albeit still not quite up to the standards set by Street Fighter 6 or Guilty Gear Strive's rollback implementation.
Granted, it was a beta. The whole point is to help SNK figure out how to avoid server congestion to make the full-release play much smoother. Custom rooms were also an annoyance. Oftentimes players would not be able to join a public lobby, with the host having to restart their game and setup the lobby once more to fix the issue.
True to their word, SNK promised and is now delivering a second beta that, right out of the gate, is fixing some issues players had. First, training mode will be made available for everyone, as well as offline matches.
The first beta launched with only three modes: ranked, casual, and custom rooms. Alongside it, a small tutorial to help players figure out the basics of what City of the Wolves had to offer.
Speculation aside as to why it wasn't included, training mode was sorely lacking. It made playing and figuring out such a mechanically deep game a bit frustrating paired with all the connectivity issues already mentioned.
Now, players will get the chance to experiment with more than just Rock Howard in the tutorial mode. Grappler fans will be extra excited as this beta will include the resident lucha-inspired fighter, Tizoc.
Of course, training mode will only be worthwhile if the online is a bit more functional than last time. I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert at knowing how to deal with server issues and matchmaking, but with so little time in between the first and second betas, let alone the actual release of the game, I'm worried there might be not a lot SNK can do at this point.
I could be, and hopefully am, entirely wrong. The competitive landscape for fighting games is increasingly growing. Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Guilty Gear Strive have decent online with a vast cast of characters, casual players are still enjoying Mortal Kombat 1, and projects like 2XKO and Virtua Fighter 6 loom on the horizon.
SNK needs to deliver big time with City of the Wolves. The foundation is there with solid gameplay and a colorful, appealing art style. If they manage to fix the online issues seen during the beta, COTW has a chance in a very competitive market. If not, it could tragically fall by the wayside.
The COTW beta 2 kicks off on March 26. City of the Wolves will release this coming April 24 for Xbox Series, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC. If you want to know more about the game, check out our first impressions and developer Q&A.