Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls hands-on experience at Evo 2025 shows promise

Marvel Tōkon: Preventing Souls has been getting a whole lot of buzz at Evo 2025 and past, Arc System Work’s newest title that brings Marvel heroes and villains right into a 2D fashion fighter.

Esports Insider bought to play the extremely anticipated sport at Evo 2025, studying a bit extra in regards to the mechanics and visuals that make the sport stand out.

At Evo 2025, I used to be given the chance to play a number of matches of Marvel Tōkon towards Reed Baird, Senior Producer at XDev at PlayStation Studios. He was a lot better at me than the sport however held again to present me time to study a few of the mechanics and expertise its varied components.

Whereas Marvel Tōkon is partially impressed by Arc System Works many combating sport titles, Baird mentioned they wished to supply one thing fully totally different to the combating sport neighborhood.

What I seen immediately is that Marvel Tōkon is a way more team-focused sport than different tag-team fighters, even together with Marvel vs. Capcom 3. That’s as a result of Marvel Tōkon contains one single well being bar for all 4 of the heroes you play. This actually emphasises the staff dynamics as you swap out fighters or pull one out for a strong combo, a part of the Assemble system.

As beforehand revealed in a newbie’s information, you begin with simply two of your 4 characters, however extra heroes are unlocked if you break partitions. You might be notified after they change into out there with a dramatic, fast cutscene.

Whereas I didn’t actually study something new in regards to the gameplay throughout my time at Evo 2025, I bought a hands-on really feel for the sport that left a reasonably large impression. The sport felt satisfying, with highly effective, visually gorgeous strikes and punishing combos that had the opponent tumbling by means of the streets of New York. It felt a lot much less stiff than Road Fighter 6 and Marvel vs. Capcom and much more approachable for newcomers.

There are simplified controls for brand new gamers, however I didn’t even have to make use of them. The movesets felt very intuitive for those who’ve ever performed a combating sport earlier than, just like Soul Calibur however not as free-flowing and with shorter combos. It undoubtedly didn’t really feel as discouraging as 2XKO and you may pull off Ultimates and different highly effective specials. Plus it’s simple to learn all the bars on the display screen and know what’s prepared to make use of.

What stood out to me instantly whereas taking part in Marvel Tōkon: Preventing Souls was the visuals. Managing the menus felt intuitive and every display screen felt very clear, daring, and trendy. That’s as a result of the sport takes inspiration from comics, with Baird telling me that the aim was to mix Japanese manga aesthetics with America’s superhero obsession.

To carry that comedian theme to the forefront, every fighter doesn’t solely have assaults impressed by their comedian ebook counterpart however strains of dialogue between each other that present their relationships and character. There are additionally loads of Marvel easter eggs hidden all through every stage, which have three levels every to select from.

I requested Baird if there would even be a narrative or sport lore that explains why the Marvel characters have all assembled within the sport, and was informed that he couldn’t converse on this facet. To me, it appears very possible that that is going to be revealed sooner or later however it may’t be confirmed.

What’s for sure, nevertheless, is that extra heroes and villains will likely be added to the roster. The demo solely included six, which isn’t a lot for a 4v4 sport. That is one thing the devs are nicely conscious of and Baird famous that there will likely be loads extra characters becoming a member of the roster.

On the subject of selecting characters, each developer has their very own favourites they hope to carry into the sport, however the staff has to make sure that each character that’s added may be very totally different from the present roster. That is important in a sport with 4 characters per staff.

This is a matter in Marvel Rivals, a hero shooter the place a number of of the characters closely overlap in moveset and elegance.

There’s presently no official timeline for characters coming to the roster — and no set launch date. For now, the FGC must wait till 2026 for a full launch. Nevertheless, there could also be gameplay alternatives earlier than then if others wish to expertise the sport for themselves.