| The King of Fighters XV | |
|---|---|
 Cover artwork featuring (from left to right) Shun'ei and Isla in the foreground. Meanwhile, the background features Chizuru Kagura, Iori Yagami, Kyo Kusanagi, Isla, Heidern, Ash Crimson and K' | |
| Developer(s) | SNK |
| Publisher(s) |
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| Director(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Yasuyuki Oda |
| Artist(s) | Tomohiro Nakata |
| Series | The King of Fighters |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 4 |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
The King of Fighters XV[a], also called KOF XV, is a fighting game developed by SNK and published by Koch Media. It was released on February 17, 2022, for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. It is the first game in The King of Fighters series created using Unreal Engine 4, and the first to implement GGPO rollback networking. The game was directed by The King of Fighters XIV staff member Kaito Soranaka with assistance from from creative director Eisuke Ogura who also worked as an artist alongside Tomohiro Nakata, artist of The King of Fighters All Star. The game uses the same fighting system from The King of Fighters XIV involving teams composed of three members who oppose other teams but with more accessible changes such as more useful Climax moves or parries.
Taking place after the events of The King of Fighters XIV, the narrative primarily revolves around two fighters with multiverse-related supernatural powers, Shun'ei and Isla, among other returning heroes facing revived threats caused by the recently revived Ash Crimson. While Ash's actions in The King of Fighters XIII, resulted in the creation of a creature known as Verse that was defeated in the previous game, in this installment Shun'ei and Isla have been called to fight new possible threats related to Verse. The game includes 39 characters, including two free bosses and several downloadable content characters released in several different seasons. The game includes several returning characters from KOF, Fatal Fury as well as another franchise, Samurai Shodown.
King of Fighters XV generally received praise for its character roster, team-based gameplay, and smooth online performance, but criticism for its small story mode, complex tutorials, and small content for offline players.
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