Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is an absolutely beautiful fighting game. Keeping pace with its punchy, fast-paced action, the visuals of the game are superbly sleek, reflecting the comic book nature of its source material.
Any screenshot you could take of this game looks like a comic panel, with its sharp, cel-shaded art style making character models pop on-screen. Add in the dynamic visual flair given to attacks – atom-filled solar blasts, the summoning of hellish fire, or the thwip of webs – and Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is frequently dazzling.
The experience of developer Arc System Works in the fighting genre, particularly in the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue franchises, shines through in this particular game, with its well-controlled visual and stylistic flourishes, as well as its nifty combat, making it a standout among its peers.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls preview – quick links
Remixing the Marvel Universe
As with other recent Marvel Comics adaptations (Marvel Rivals, most notably), this game presents a new spin on the lore of the comic universe, with an edgier sense of style. There’s a good mix of characters here, with many more popular heroes represented alongside some more niche (but likely to be fan-favourite) picks.
It’s particularly nice to see Magik, aka Illyana Rasputin, represented among the main heroes. She’s been a standout X-Men character for years, and hasn’t been done justice in other mediums (despite the excellent casting of Anya Taylor-Joy in The New Mutants, she was given short thrift). Here, she’s transformed into a brutal and fast-moving fighter, with her Soulsword being a powerful and heavy-hitting weapon with significant reach.
Danger, the living embodiment of the X-Men’s Danger Room, also gets a solid run here, reimagined as a twirling tornado of destruction with swift, dance-like attacks.
Any time Ghost Rider is included in a Marvel adaptation, it’s a good time, and it’s even better here, considering it’s the Robbie Reyes version, who has the added benefit of rocking a very cool muscle car (a 1969 Dodge Charger, to be precise).
Of course, there are also the usual staple heroes, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Star-Lord, The Hulk, Wolverine, and others.
All of them have been given the anime-style treatment here, rocking fresh looks to differentiate this particular universe. Like Marvel Rivals, this game features highly stylised outfits, with clear inspiration taken from streetwear, as well as elements of the live-action Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Character outfits lean a bit more into fantasy realism, with gear including more straps and seams to suggest functionality. Ms. Marvel’s outfit is more like sports gear, complete with leggings and practical gym gloves. Captain America, meanwhile, gets a very cool jacket with lighter armour and elbow pads.
The character that seems the most different is Iron Man, who’s cleverly transformed here into a mech warrior, not unlike something you’d see in Super Sentai or tokusatsu shows. It’s a very neat translation of the armour and it fits perfectly well into this new universe.
Heavy-hitting action paired with gorgeous character designs
In rounds of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, you can pick up to four fighters to form a squad (which gets a unique name based on its make-up) and then head into battle against other teams of four fighters.
During the preview shared with ScreenHub, we didn’t have access to every character, but there were over a dozen included, and plenty of time to experiment with each. They all have their own fighting styles and quirks, so it’s best to play around to figure out which ones gel well with you.
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I particularly enjoyed Ghost Rider, for a few of the reasons mentioned. He’s a lithe fighter with a far reach, thanks to his flexible hook chain, which can be thrown out in any direction or used as a whip. He can also do a ground-up summon of hellfire, which makes for a pretty nifty visual, as well as a powerful attack.
One of his higher-powered moves involves summoning the aforementioned Dodge Charger to roll over enemies at speed. He can also unleash a storm of fire for a flashier, heavy damage attack.
Magik is another great and enjoyable fighter with a similar moveset. Her Soulsword has a nice sweep so you can attack enemies at range, and she also plays around with hellfire, creating a tornado in her regular or hyper-powered demonic form.
Ms. Marvel proved to a sleeper hit, with her stretchy powers allowing for strong range, and some wicked-smart hits. Other characters also have a range of very useful abilities: Iron Man has a sweeping beam that obliterates the battlefield, Magneto plays around with crushing magnetic powers, Storm’s wind-summoning is stylish and powerful, and it’s particularly nice to see Dr. Doom crack out his ancient magic.
In the mix of styles and super-powered abilities, each hero and villain feels very different, and you’ll more than likely find your niche the longer you experiment with new characters. Some are slower and more powerful, some are quick but weak, and others are all-rounders.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls gives you the freedom to explore your options, with its moreish gameplay lending itself well to repeated rounds.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls also promises a story mode
In my time with Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, I had an array of thoughts about what works best, and what I’m curious to see more of in the full release.
First up is whatever’s happening in the story mode. According to Arc System Works and PlayStation, there will be a story mode in this game. As part of my preview, I was not able to access it, and currently, it’s not clear how this weaves between chapters of fighting.
Cutscene trailers have revealed there is something more brewing below the surface, with mysterious original characters who appear to be aliens corralling this multi-universe brawler behind the scenes. I’m keen to see more of what’s going on here, and the circumstances of these heroes joining together in grand battles.
The other thing I’m deeply curious about is how Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls will feel in more competitive play. Against the CPU, I noticed some quirks – getting stuck in a corner can sometimes lock you in with no means of defence, and if your opponent gets you airborne, you can get juggled to death.
I’d like to see how these scenarios play out in more competitive battles, where opponents may be more aware of potential exploits, making use of them to ground down opponents until they can’t fight back. I suspect the result will be far more frantic, with players attempting all sorts of shenanigans to make use of this game’s multi-layered fighting system and its many features.
In this early preview, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls impressed. It’s a visual delight, and with its swiftly-paced and wonderfully-designed combat, it already feels destined to become a popular part of the modern fighting game scene. It certainly has the potential audience to make an impact.
