Game of the Week – Marvel Tokon is a heroic fighter that's easy to get into, and villainous to master

• Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is perfect if you want to throw hands across a gorgeous celebration of Marvel comic characters in an excellent fighting system

Here's the 60-second pitch for why you should play Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls this weekend: The developer behind the excellent Dragon Ball FighterZ and Guilty Gear Strive have turned its hand to Marvel to create a 4v4 tag-fighter that's a love letter to the comics, and feels like a fresh take on the beloved combo action in Marvel vs Capcom (without the Capcom, of course). No reskin, this uses the Marvel theming to its fullest, and with a fun story to follow, great training modes, and simple controls, this is one of the easiest big budget fighters to get into without sacrificing depth.

Why play it today?

• Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls feels like the next evolution of some great gaming branches, serving as both a Marvel must-play and a next-level expression of the genre. Like Marvel or not, Tokon is simply an excellent fighting game.

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is the fighting game equivalent of hero shooter Marvel Rivals. It's the next big budget Marvel game before Marvel's Wolverine. It's a fresh take on the superhero tag fighting of Marvel vs Capcom 3, and the developer's follow-up to Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Visually, Marvel Tokon is a stunner, continuing to build on Arc System Works' anime style that almost looks 2D until the camera whips around to highlight the impact of attacks. A Japanese studio, this take on Marvel is infused with nods to the culture, such as vampire hunter Blade having trained as a samurai, or Iron Man's armor looking almost Kamen Rider-like. But, it's heaving with nods towards Marvel comics as well, feeling like a love letter to the medium right the way down to deep cut references, and menus designed to look like comic book drafts.

As ever, the best time to check out a new fighting game is always as soon as possible. There's just something special about learning a new system alongside a community as everyone figures out how it all works. Knowing Marvel Tokon may appeal to comic or film fans first and foremost, great effort has gone into making the fighting controls easy to use and learn. Though, there's still some wild combos you can pull off once you get used to Tokon in action.

Time commitment:

Marvel Tokon is a great game to fit into your schedule with a low time commitment that's flexible to what you're looking to get out of it. But, don't be surprised if evenings disappear in a blur of superhero clashes.

Single-player episode content is split into separate chapters, so story content will take six or so hours to beat, with plenty of challenges and arcade modes on top. But, there's no need to play solo at all. Through online or with friends, matches themselves can take only a couple of minutes (or seconds if you're unlucky). This is a 4v4 fighter, but all your characters share a health bar, so few matches will feel like wars of attrition like you can get in Dragon Ball FighterZ.

This is an online game you'll want to keep coming back to, especially as new content is added over time through DLC fighters.

Play Marvel Tokon if you love:

Skip Marvel Tokon if you want:

One thing to know:

While Marvel Tokon has solid solo content for a fighting game, this is a genre that often lives or dies on multiplayer staying power. Whether that's matchmaking online through ranking queues, exploring room lobbies, or playing party modes; or beating up your pals locally or connected, you'll get the most out of this with other people. Don't forget that it's all good to play against players matched to your level and have fun that way. You don't need to be top of the leader boards to have a good time.

A moment you'll remember:

Batting away your opponent with the tag-based counter system and then managing to respond with a proper combo for the first time. Fighting games have a weird bell-shaped learning curve where the more you learn the worse you can feel, but nothing beats when it all comes together and you realize the squad of characters you love to play actually kind of works.

The final verdict:

In the words of Alan Wen, who penned our Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls review, this is "a stunning comeback for superhero fighters, essential for Marvel and genre fans alike". Superhero fans will find plenty to love in this gorgeous but fresh take on familiar faces, the fighting game curious will find Arc System Works' friendliest combat system to date, and fighting game veterans will cackle as they air-combo opponents into oblivion with Goblin Glider cancel combos.

So, where can you play it?

Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is developed by Arc System Works but published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, so you'll currently only find it on PC and PS5. It is not part of any PS Plus subscription tiers at the moment.

How to get started with Marvel Tokon:

On launch, Marvel Tokon pulls you into a well-designed tutorial that will show you the basics, giving you the option to continue with more advanced training once completed. After that, you can continue to practice in the story or arcade modes, or hop online where you'll have to complete 10 casual matches before you can join Ranked matchmaking. For the most part, though, grab a controller and dive into matches! There's no better way to learn.

Have your say:

Just want more comic fun? Check out our best Marvel games ranking!