Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls has launched to mixed reviews on Steam thanks to a string of issues with the PC port.
Arc System Works has been pretty consistently beloved as far as fighting game developers go, so when the news hit that the Guilty Gear developer was taking on Marvel after the Marvel vs Capcom series had been dormant for so long – especially after Arcsys' Dragon Ball FighterZ ended up being a better MvC than Marvel Vs Capcom infinite – people were excited. And from early reactions, it seems to have gone down a treat… just not on PC.
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls did have some issues on PC during its open beta period last month, with Arcsys saying it had implemented some performance fixes for the full game. Whatever those fixes were, they haven't moved the needle: one look at the Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls Steam store page and you'll find that the game currently sits at a "Mixed" reception after 1,565 reviews.
First off, the game requires a PlayStation Network login, and much like the time Helldivers 2 had this implemented, this means that the game is not available in a number of countries that don't have PSN coverage.
Players who are able to play are also reporting a number of technical issues. Users on the fighting game subreddit say they've experienced micro-stutters and dropped frames online, which then affects PS5 players who have crossplay enabled.
On top of that, players wanting to experience the new game on Steam Deck, or a PC running SteamOS or Linux, have found they're blocked from even launching the game. Looking at the reviews, this is a major issue for some, with one user saying, "This game is aggressively hostile to Linux players for absolutely no reason. Not only is there a precedent of every (non Riot) fighting game working on Linux, there is precedent of ArcSys games working great on Linux, as well as Sony published games working on Linux."
PC has become a major part of the fighting game scene, so a rough port is a major shame. Over on the Marvel Tokon Twitter account, ArcSys has acknowledged the issues, saying, "We're aware that some PC players are experiencing performance issues. The team is actively investigating these reports. Please keep your feedback coming in, it helps."
