Marvel Tokon Fighting Souls review: ‘completely staggering’

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is a real spectacle. Developer Arc System Works has a history in developing solid fighting games, so it’s no surprise this is a robust and stylish brawler – but with its comic book art style, attention to detail and complex animations, this game is completely staggering.

Character models look sleek and beautiful, with novel costume designs for this alternative universe jaunt. It’s all a bit Marvel Rivals in approach – costumes are re-interpreted as streetwear – and every character looks edgier and cooler, with a dynamic style of fighting.

They also move at a very fast, sometimes dazzling clip. With cel-shaded designs and lush, multi-frame animation, the moment-to-moment gameplay largely resembles an animated series. Any single screenshot of this game is crisp and clean, and allows you to see the real detail in these fighters and just how well-developed its combat gameplay is.

When you’re not entranced by fluidly moving and intuitive fighting, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls reveals its next best surprise: it arrives packed with multi-strand storylines, complete with comic panel cutscenes and bright, fun voice acting.

The combination of these elements means that Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls launches as a feature-rich and genuinely beautiful fighting game that feels like a worthy follow-up to acclaimed predecessors like the Marvel vs. Capcom series.

Solid, fast-moving gameplay

On first entrance, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is fairly overwhelming, and not just in the visual sense. This is a complex fighter with a string of controls you really need to learn slowly before you have any chance of making an impact on the battlefield.

In addition to the usual light / heavy attack combos, you also need to figure out individual character moves (each specialises in a particularly flashy ranged or close-up attack) and work out when to deploy your team of fellow fighters.

Arguably there are a few too many controls and attacks to grapple with – combinations of buttons, mashing, single attacks, special attacks and combo attacks – but the game is quick to get you up to speed thanks to a fairly robust tutorial.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is a 4v4 fighter, meaning you’re corralling a team of four heroes into battle. You’ll start with one main hero and must unlock the rest of your team by dealing damage, ‘breaking’ the bounds of your screen, or starting new rounds. Once you’ve unlocked them, it’s a matter of watching for openings and deploying your pals in ways that cause maximum damage and allow you to streamline your approach.

If you hit your team-up combinations correctly, you can actually unlock super attacks that deal even more damage – you’ll call in your first fighter and end up deploying an unblockable combination of multi-hit attacks from all sides, calling in your entire crew to get a slice of the action.

This also works for opponents though, and it means you’ll need to get clever about when to deploy your fighters and how you move. Get caught in any of those locked-in combo attacks, which initiate hyper-fast and lushly-coloured cutscenes, and you could be facing a certain end. The danger is ever-present, and it inspires quick thinking as you dart across the battlefield.

As well as this system, you’ll be reckoning with the complexity of each and every character. They all have a personalised moveset and fresh animations, and no two fighters are the same.

An array of fighters await

To keep on top of the action and ensure you’re always putting the best foot forward, it’s best to experiment with the full range of characters available – and there are some clever choices across the board.

It feels like there’s a mandate to include the typically popular characters of Marvel in every game – Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Wolverine. But developers have made more interesting choices elsewhere, balancing an array of male and female combatants from across the Marvel universe, with some fan-favourite comic heroes getting the spotlight alongside more recognisable movie stars.

First up, it’s nice to see Shuri as Black Panther here. It’s a neat bit of synergy with developments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and her lithe movements mean she’s a wily and compelling fighter. Ms Marvel and Peni Parker are also great additions, adding in a fun, youthful energy that really stands out on the battlefield in their cuter animations.

My personal favourite additions arrive in the form of a full team: the Samurai Outriders. This includes Ghost Rider, Blade, Deadpool and Loki, all of whom have a more supernatural and magic-focused set of powers that sings on screen. Loki throws out dazzling orbs of energy, Ghost Rider slings his chain and hellfire for soul-rending attacks, Blade wields his sword, and Deadpool is…. truly Deadpool.

As a character in this particular game, Deadpool is worthy of deeper study. He’s the most animated character, with additional key frames that reference a whole bunch of other fighting games and iconic fighters. He jumps, flies, falls, zooms, shoots and swings with cartoonish glee, while cracking all sorts of jokes about the game, the player, and everything in between.

He’s a lively inclusion, and a real standout character that demonstrates the prowess of Arc System Works. Beyond animation, he also fares well as an endearing character in the game’s story mode – which is far more robust than initially expected.

A story mode right out of the comics

You can play Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls as a traditional fighter. There are ample iterations of solo mode and multiplayer mode (online, offline, and even a few cutesy side quest modes to add to the melee). But the real meat of this game, surprisingly, is in a five-part story that brings together each of the main fighters and explains their place in the action.

This game could stand alone in its own right without explaining its deep lore and character inclusions. The designs are standout and clever. The voice acting is grand. Each character has their own personality that shines through in combat. Through story mode, you can learn more about everyone included in the main roster and how exactly they end up fighting in a tournament of champions for the fate of the world.

The premise here isn’t exactly ground-breaking. There’s a giant cosmic threat that wants to destroy the world, so teams of fighters are recruited to face each other and determine the shared strength of the universe.

Where Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls excels is in how it tells its story – through comic panels written by veteran Marvel Comics talent, including the award-winning Kieron Gillen (Journey into Mystery, Young Avengers, The Wicked + The Divine).

Gillen has experience writing most (if not all) of the character presented, making each chapter of each storyline feel wonderfully authentic, with a tone of voice that elevates what makes each character cool and interesting. Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) gets a very neat plot line concerning his brother. Spider-Man interacting with Ms Marvel is lovely. It’s also very cool to see the X-Men band together once more, alongside a more anime-inspired embodiment of the Danger Room.

Each of the five storylines, revolving around one team or another, comprises around two hours of plot, complete with voiced comic cutscenes and fights that make sense within the context of the narrative. You get fun, light-hearted banter, quips, moments of drama, and so much more – all of which add to the personality and story of the individual fighters, giving you plenty of reasons to care.

Care is really the name of the game here. Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is elevated by a real devotion to its Marvel Comics source material and clever game design choices that make its fighting feel rich and rewarding at every turn.

There is some filler here, in the form of party-style modes where players can roam around collecting power-ups or compete in new twists on battles. But these layers are just extras on top of what’s already a very well-baked cake.

Arc System Works has outdone itself here, releasing another strong fighter with a real sense of dynamism, style and flourish in its delivery. It’s perfect for Marvel fans, and lays a foundation that easily involves more casual comic book fans and game players as well.

A code for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls on PlayStation 5 was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.

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