PlayStation Studios, Arc System Works (Arc) and Marvel Games have joined hands to develop the next big tag team fighting game, MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls! Players will be able to visit various amazing locales and fight with reimagined characters from the Marvel Universe in a game that’s sure to satisfy any fighting game and MARVEL fans.
MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls! is set to release on the PS5 and PC in 2026. Check out the announcement trailer that just dropped!
The game is set to be easy to control and pick up in order to offer the best experience for a wide variety of players, as explained by its Game Director and Lead Battle Designer, Kazuto Sekine.
“From the beginning, we aimed to make MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls a title that could be enjoyed by a wide variety of players,”
“Generally, a team VS fighting game requires the player to learn multiple characters, but for MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, you only need to master one character in order to play the game. We have designed the mechanics in such a way that you can perform a variety of actions with either traditional fighting game inputs or simple inputs. With the press of a few buttons, multiple characters can appear on screen to provide backup or attack together – creating a new and exciting team VS battle experience.”
Characters
Plenty of characters were showcased in the announcement. Everyone is well designed, retaining their iconic look yet with a splash of reimagination to keep things fresh.
Fans can expect most, if not all of the iconic MARVEL characters to be featured. At the same time, we can also try to guess if some less well-known characters may also be included down the line. As explained by Arc’s Producer, Takeshi Yamanaka, “We wanted to sprinkle in a few surprises and leave room for characters who have never been playable in a fighting game before.”
Yamanaka-san also detailed the decision behind retaining Arc’s iconic anime-inspired shader style of the game. “Early on in the project, we experimented with a shader to recreate a more western comic-book visual style, but the Marvel team expressed a desire for us to lean into something more Arc-like. It was then that we switched our approach to the game’s visuals and began to lean more into the Japanimation style Arc is known for.”
Stages & Gameplay Mechanics
With such a wide range of characters being featured in the game, we can definitely expect a variety of gameplay styles to be covered. Another highlight is its 4 vs 4 tag team mechanic. As most tag-team fighting games stick with 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3, the fact that they decided to go with 4 vs 4 is sure to make it a unique game.
Something that might be overlooked through the chaos of its gameplay are the stages, which are all beautifully rendered. We can also expect easter eggs and fun details to spot for the truly hardcore MARVEL fans.
More information is expected to come down the pipeline as we approach its release date of 2026. Let us know what you think of the game in the comments!
