The King of Fighters XV Reviews
While the core gameplay is at its best, King of Fighters XV goes largely unchanged from its predecessor.
The King of Fighters XV continues the fast-paced and exciting nature of the series, but the art direction still leaves a lot to be desired.
KOF’s resistance to any grand story arc defies the pressure being applied by its rivals. Minimal solo options and routine online duels don’t reinvent anything either. This isn’t laziness on SNK’s part, however. It feels more like a focus on maintaining the design philosophy that the player base has loved all along: potent character design, instantly identifiable team play, and off-the-wall plotlines.
As a brand-new mainline entry that follows the previous iteration after over five years, The King of Fighters XV feels a little "by the numbers" in a similar way to how Dead or Alive 6 didn't push on from DOA5. Everything is too familiar, too safe, and lacking those key elements that truly give the impression of the next proper game in the series. The 3D character models still look a bit out of place, the story mode is awful, and there isn't enough done to ease newcomers in. Solid online modes and a large roster, with the addition of cross-play to look forward to, mean there is plenty to like for series fans, though.
The King of Fighters XV seems to be extremely loyal to its philosophy by not making much effort to make the experience more appealing to a wider range of fighting players, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but if you are looking for another Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, you'll probably be disappointed.
Review in Persian | Read full review
At full price, KOV15 brings very few improvements that mostly focus on online play, a very limited number of modes, a very disappointing story, and slow progress in graphic design, the game doesn't help with taking the series forward but it's still fun to play and it's easy to ignore its few gameplay issues
Review in Arabic | Read full review
KOF XV is what you want from a series that's getting a second wind in a post-pandemic fighting game world: mandatory rollback netcode, great online fighting, a good roster that caters to old-school fans and a few new characters that add a bit more flavour, and all-around breakneck speed and depth.
King of Fighters XV is a decent fighting game, however, I feel it’s a bit overshadowed by others in the fighting genre like Tekken 7 or Street Fighter V which offer better fighting experiences. It’s not that the game is bad, but the King of Fighters XV feels like just a refined version of King of Fighters XIV.
King of Fighters XV is a title that can't satisfy a staunch Fitting-style audience and involves a variety of small and coarse problems.
Review in Persian | Read full review
I do admire the developer's desire to maintain the arcade fighter tone and aesthetic in King of Fighters, and I'll forever be a fan of this series as long as they keep dropping Athena into it. The team at SNK are no doubt working on more limited budgets than the big guns, and with the absolute focus on esports in the fighting game space it's no surprise that they've made that a near-perfect experience, even as they've stripped almost everything else out of the game to make that happen. However, there's no way to paper over this; people who do like fighting games in single player or local multiplayer are going to be left feeling very cold, though. Colder than Kula, even. And that's disappointing.
The King of Fighters returns for its 15th bout in a polished, if certainly not revolutionary sequel.
The King of Fighters XV is a solid 2D fighter on its most basic level and a natural must play for fans of the franchise.
King of Fighters XV is the best version of KOF to date. Thanks to the improvements made to online play due to well-implemented roll-back netcode, it’s also a game primed for modern audiences and gaming habits. While its lack of a satisfying or engaging story mode holds it back from standing shoulder to shoulder with its genre brethren, SNK’s narrow focus does enough to show where their passion and enthusiasm truly lies. KOF XV is a precise and fun fighting game built for the series’ longstanding community of players.
Fighting game fans can't really go wrong with King of Fighters XV - a sequel that doesn't shy away from the technical depth of its predecessors. It's obviously still early days, but it feels like SNK has improved upon King of Fighters XIV in all of the ways that matter. Better visuals, expanded mechanics, and, perhaps most importantly, smooth online netcode make for fighter that's hard to fault - even if it's lacking the cutting edge of its peers.
For a lot of fighting game fans, The King of Fighters 15 is exactly what they’ve been looking for - a no frills fighter that focuses on its mechanics and doesn’t hold the player's hand. In a generation where most games in the genre have five-hour campaigns from day one, it’s an admirable stance to take. As much as I love how KoF 15 plays and looks, I can’t help but miss the bells and whistles that are expected. If you’re looking for a fighter that shrugs off that expectation, then the King of Fighters 15 is absolutely for you.
King of Fighters XV isn't revolutionary, but it's a solid, feature-laden package with personality and style.
The King of Fighters XV is among the best entries in the series, but it somehow feels stuck in the 90s. There are great multiplayer possibilities on one hand, and bare-boned singleplayer content with lack of motivation on the other.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Despite King of Fighters XV's quality-of-life shortcomings, there's no arguing that it's still a good fighting game. It's just as fast and entertaining as previous entries in the franchise and brings the series into a new era with vastly improved netcode, but it puts up so many barriers of entry that it's hard to recommend to newcomers to the genre or franchise.
The King of Fighters XV is a fun, deep fighting game with a promising online infrastructure.
Review in Italian | Read full review