Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls (Open Beta) - A Geek Foolish Review

Sony's latest upcoming 2D fighter, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, releases in less than two weeks, and to make sure everything goes smoothly, they're hosting an open beta this weekend to weed out any last-minute issues before the highly anticipated launch later next month.

Originally announced in June 2025, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is being developed by veteran studio Arc System Works, best known for the Guilty Gear series, Double Dragon, and 2018's critically acclaimed Dragon Ball FighterZ. They even created two cult classics with Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and Battletoads during the Sega Genesis era in the early '90s. Enlisting an established studio while also securing the licenses to leverage iconic Marvel characters shows that Sony is committed to publishing a top-tier fighting game, unlike some of their more recent releases in the first-person shooter genre, such as Bungie's Marathon and Firewalk Studios' Concord.

Diving into the beta, there were 16 available characters to choose from: Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, Storm, Magik, Wolverine, Danger, Peni Parker, Star-Lord, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, Blade, Doctor Doom, Magneto, and Green Goblin.

For anyone who finds that amount of characters overwhelming, you learn the basics with Captain America in the game's optional tutorial, which you're dropped into immediately upon starting the game. There, you'll quickly realize that the mechanics you learn with Captain America translate fairly well to the other 15 fighters, with the exception of a few unique moves.

For those who find the roster a bit short, you'll be pleased to know that Sony has already announced the game's first DLC character: Phoenix Cyclops, based on Scott Summers' Phoenix Five incarnation from Avengers vs. X-Men. There's also an upcoming Character & Stage Pass, so it's probably a safe bet to assume the roster will continue growing over the years as a monetization strategy to support the game over the long haul, similar to what we've seen from other fighting games like Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6. Of course, there could be additional characters you unlock simply by playing the game, but it's 2026, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

As far as stages go, there are six at the moment, and although that doesn't seem like much, the stages open up as you're progressing through a match. A key gameplay mechanic involves either you or your opponent getting knocked through one section of a stage into another, unlocking additional members of your team along the way.

I'm still not sure I completely understand the system, as there were moments where my entire team was available and I still got completely destroyed. It seems possible that if you win a round without knocking your opponent into another section of the stage, you'll begin the next round without unlocking another teammate. Meanwhile, the losing player may automatically unlock another fighter to help level the playing field. It's an interesting mechanic but I'd have to spend more time with it to fully understand how it works.

That brings me to the core gameplay of Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.

It's essentially a 4v4 team fighter with one catch: the first character you pick becomes your team captain and can't be swapped out until you've successfully unlocked your remaining squad members by completing objectives such as knocking your opponent through different stage zones as mentioned earlier.

The four-team-member concept keeps things interesting because you can technically fight an entire match using only your captain, or you can swap between your three additional teammates once they're available.

This works because if you begin with Captain America but your opponent clearly knows how to counter him, you're free to swap over to someone like Spider-Man to try building momentum with a completely different moveset.

There are also different team dynamics depending on who you choose. Maybe your opponent is familiar with your captain but isn't too experienced against your other characters. From my time with the beta, every fighter also has unique assist abilities that can interrupt pressure, counterattacks, or simply help break your opponent's momentum. There's still plenty of punishment if you're sloppy, but I appreciated those brief moments where a well-timed assist bailed me out after making a mistake from panicking during a combo.

That brings me to the moves and the button combinations required to pull them off.

Although every character has their own move set, performing special abilities is surprisingly straightforward. Across the roster, unique abilities revolve around pressing the R2 trigger while holding a specific direction.

Using Captain America as an example, tapping R2 throws his shield. Holding forward while pressing R2 performs an anti-air uppercut shoryuken similar to Ryu from Street Fighter, while holding back and pressing R2 executes a forward rushing punch.

You can also combine those directional inputs with either Square or Triangle to slightly alter the move, or press Circle alongside the directional input and R2 to unleash a much stronger version that consumes part of your power gauge.

At first, it didn't seem like much, but after a few hours, you begin to appreciate how pressing Triangle instead of Square can completely throw your opponent off. Unfortunately, it also means predicting what your opponent does becomes much more difficult as well, but overall that's a good thing. All of those mix-ups keep fights feeling balanced while rewarding players who continue learning each character.

Beyond the gameplay itself, I enjoyed the single-player story, the online lobby, and the server selection options.

The beta's story throws you directly into a comic book, complete with narration, character introductions, and enough context to understand what everyone's fighting for. If you're someone who enjoys comics and graphic novels alongside your games, I think this is a really nice touch that brings both worlds together.

The online lobby was also cool. You can create an avatar based on your favorite Marvel heroes, customize their outfit colors, and freely run around an arena packed with Marvel lore. From there, you can challenge other players or even spectate matches already taking place between other players to help polish your own game.

The servers themselves were rock solid during my time with the beta. I didn't experience any hiccups, disconnects, or noticeable lag, though I imagine the ability to choose not only your region but also a specific server within that region helped. In my case, I selected the East Coast and then picked one of several available servers that wasn't overly crowded. You can also filter matchmaking based on connection quality, limiting opponents to only those with four or five-bar connections if that's your preference to make matchmaking a little smoother.

All in all, I was pleased with this beta. The amount of content included felt generous, the comic book strip inclusion was a nice touch, and the controls managed to strike a nice balance between accessibility and depth. Flashy moves didn't feel too difficult to pull off, but winning always felt earned.

The servers were stable throughout my play session, and I never experienced a frustrating disconnect while playing online.

If you're into 2D fighters and you're a fan of the Marvel universe, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is definitely a game you'll want to check out when it launches early next month.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls releases August 6th, 2026