REVIEW: Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls (PS5)

Marvel has been waiting nearly a decade for a fighting game worth talking about, and Arc System Works has delivered one. Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls takes the tag team formula that made Marvel vs Capcom a genre staple and rebuilds it as a 4v4 brawler, backed by the studio behind Guilty Gear Strive and Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Tested on PS5 Pro, it’s a game that mostly earns its ambition, even if a few rough edges keep it from being the finished article.

Story

The Episode Mode splits its narrative across five teams, the Fighting Avengers, Unbreakable X Men, Amazing Guardians, Samurai Outriders and Knights of Doom, each running through a short comic style arc. Writer Kieron Gillen handles the scripts, and it shows.

The dialogue has personality, and each episode credits its own writers and artists rather than burying that detail in the closing credits, which is a nice touch.

It’s not going to convert anyone who finds fighting game stories tedious, and the five episodes can be cleared in an afternoon, but as a wrapper for the roster it does its job without overstaying its welcome.

Gameplay

This is where Tōkon earns its keep. The 4v4 structure gives you a point character backed by three assists covering shooter, vertical and assault roles, and the Vital Gauge and staggered unlock systems genuinely change how team building works rather than just reskinning the old Marvel vs Capcom assist call. It sounds dense on paper.

Four characters, shared health pools, multiple gauges and wall breaks is a lot to take in during a first session, but the onboarding is some of the best the genre has seen.

Inputs stay readable, combos are generous without feeling automated, and the tag mechanic, while a touch sluggish compared to the rest of the moveset, adds a real layer of decision making rather than just being a panic button. Twenty characters at launch is a solid roster for a new IP, and the gap between button mashing and high level play never feels like it’s hiding the fun behind execution barriers.

Multiplayer

Online is the one area where Tōkon stumbles, and it’s worth being upfront about it. Rollback netcode is in place and feels sharp in ideal conditions, but crossplay with the PC version has been a mess since launch.

PC performance issues, tied partly to the mandatory PSN overlay, cause frame drops that bleed into PS5 matches when the two platforms are paired together, with rollback frames occasionally spiking into genuinely unplayable territory.

Turning crossplay off in the online settings menu fixes the stutter but stretches queue times, even at mid tier ranks on a freshly launched game. Saved team presets have also been known to reset themselves, and replays can desync during playback.

None of this touches the core combat, which holds up fine in PS5 only lobbies, but anyone diving into ranked expecting a smooth crossplay experience should hold off until Arc System Works irons things out.

Arcadia Rumble, the game’s 8 player party mode built around minigames, is a genuinely fun diversion and one of the better surprises in the package.

Visuals

Running on PS5 Pro, Tōkon looks the part. Arc System Works brings the same opulent, high contrast visual style seen in Guilty Gear Strive, with vibrant menus, dramatic narration and mid fight cinematic flourishes that sell the comic book spectacle.

Character models are detailed and full of personality, animations carry real weight, and the whole package feels considerably more polished than most licensed fighters manage.

Performance on PS5 Pro has been stable through testing, with no frame pacing issues or crashes to report, and it’s a clear step up from the base PS5 experience in terms of visual clarity during busier team fights.

Conclusion

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is the best Marvel fighting game since the series left Capcom, and one of the stronger new entries the genre has seen in years.

The single player content is a pleasant extra rather than a main event, and the online experience needs work before it can be recommended without caveats, but the core fighting system is fresh, accessible and deep enough to have staying power.

On PS5 Pro specifically, this is close to the ideal way to play it right now. Fighting game fans should not hesitate. Newcomers looking for an entry point into the genre could do a lot worse either.

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls Pricing & Availability

Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls is available now. The PS5 version starts at €64.99 from Smyths, while the game is priced at €69.99 on both Steam and the PlayStation Store.