King of Fighters XV reveals newcomer Krohnen and new beta dates

HO-KAY!

It’s a one-two combo of KoF news today, as SNK not only revealed brand new character “Krohnen” for its upcoming release King of Fighters XV, but also announced a second open beta, scheduled to take place as soon as next weekend.

The open beta will once again take place on PlayStation platforms, and will run from Friday, December 17 until Monday, December 20. Players will be able to take the new sequel for a few rounds in the ring, checking out offline Vs. and online unranked matches, as well as the title’s tutorial and training mode. Both crossplay and rollback netcode will be enabled. To shake things up, SNK is changing out the roster of selectable characters, allowing players to “Select teh Ordah” from a team comprised of Krohnen, Isla, Meitenkun, Antonov, K’, Blue Mary, Ryo Sakazaki, and the incomparable Terry Bogard.

But wait, you might ask, who is “Krohnen”? Well, that’s part two of today’s news, as Krohnen is a brand new character to the King of Fighters universe, making his debut in King of Fighters XV. As you can see from his trailer above, Krohnen is something of a bad-boy biker rebel, most certainly up for the ruck. Die-hard KoF enthusiasts will recognize both his moveset, as well as elements of his design, as those of the lawsuit-baiting K’9999, who made his Tetsuo-like debut in KoF 2002 before lawyers came a’knockin’. It appears that Krohnen is a revamped version of this character.

The King of Fighters XV launches on PS4, PS5, PC, and Xbox One on February 17. You can check out my thoughts on the most recent beta right here. While some still struggle to accept the franchise’s 2.5D style, the gameplay remains sound, as to whether King of Fighters XV will find space within the crowded fighting game market. We’ll have to wait and see.

Chris Moyse

Senior Editor – Chris has been playing video games since the 1980s. Former Saturday Night Slam Master. Graduated from Galaxy High with honors.