Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls

Round one: the first night

Tōkon is built so that anyone can have a good time within minutes. Quick inputs and automatic combos let a newcomer pull off a team super on their first night, and each player chooses their own control setting. Episode Mode tells five short team stories, Survival runs to a hundred rounds and the training mode has combo tools and character challenges.

Arcadia Rumble, a party mode that works offline, is one of the best things in it. Pass the pad around, pick a hero each and enjoy the noise.

Four heroes a side, comic-book panels for supers, and controls simple enough to hand to a friend on the sofa.

Round two: online

It uses rollback netcode with crossplay between PS5 and PC. Online play needs a PlayStation Network account, even on Steam. The PC version launched with performance problems that patches have improved but not fully solved, and the game's anti-cheat stops it running on Steam Deck. That is why this round scores lower.

When it runs well, matches are smooth and lobbies are busy.

Round three: depth

Four fighters a team, with assists, tag-ins and team supers drawn as comic panels: there is a lot happening on screen, and the depth is real once you get past the auto combos. Team-building matters, as does knowing when to swap a hurt fighter out.

Twenty-one fighters is a slim cast for a tag game, and Phoenix Cyclops, the first new hero, only arrived in November. Expect the game to grow a lot over the next year.

Round four: the bill

The standard edition is £59.99 on Steam UK, the most expensive base game on the card, and the Year 1 pass adds £28.99. That puts the full cast by summer 2027 at close to £89. The shop sells outfits, lobby avatars and pets at fixed prices.

If you are not sure, wait for the first sale. Nothing about the game is going anywhere.

One pass so far: Phoenix Cyclops (out since 2 November 2026, also £6.49 on his own), Jane Foster Thor (winter), Venom with a Klyntar stage (spring 2027) and Jubilee (summer 2027). Steam also sells upgrades from the Standard (£35.00) and Deluxe (£15.00) editions to the Ultimate edition.

Who to pick first

Before your first ranked match

1. Turn on quick inputs for your first sessions and turn them off later, one fighter at a time.
2. Learn one assist and use it on purpose: calling a partner to cover your approach is how teams win.
3. Swap out a fighter on low health before you lose them; a team of four is only as strong as the heroes still standing.

Is it for you?