- Primary Subject: Marvel Tokon Open Beta Review
- Key Update: The open beta for Marvel Tokon revealed significant PC port optimization issues and restrictive combo mechanics that need urgent attention before the August 6th release.
- Status: Review
- Last Verified: 2026-07-28
- Quick Answer: Marvel Tokon's open beta showed off great presentation but was marred by a poorly optimized PC port and limiting gameplay mechanics that raise concerns for its upcoming release.
The Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls open beta was a success—or at least, that’s what I would’ve loved to write. It was far from terrible; however, there were major, glaring issues that might be too big to address ahead of its release this upcoming August 6.
Presentation-wise, the game is top-notch, just as you’d expect from Arc System Works. The opening cinematic is incredibly nostalgic, as they nail the 2000s shonen anime aesthetic; the menus are slick, the music has a ton of bangers, and the story mode is quite funny, even if it’s lacking in the gameplay department (at least the portion available during the beta). All the bells and whistles are there, yet a few flaws prevent me from saying with my whole chest that this game will be incredible.
It has the potential, no doubt, as the gameplay is incredibly addictive, albeit restrictive in obtuse ways. That said, the biggest flaw doesn’t even stem from the mechanics themselves, but from an utter lack of polish when it comes to the PC port.
Things Marvel Tokon Needs To Fix Before Release
The first thing I need to address is, of course, the PC port. I won’t dwell too much on it, as you can see countless threads on Reddit or X about how poorly optimized the game is.
I personally played on PlayStation 5, which is far from the ideal way of enjoying it considering console input delay, but I had the displeasure of facing off against several opponents in Ranked and Casual who couldn’t run the game properly, which directly affected matchmaking. It was sluggish, and while the connection indicated it was stable (usually below 50ms), the rollback frames would randomly spike from 0 all the way to 8 or 9. Multiple content creators like Diaphone and Maximilian Dood also confirmed it was one-sided rollback most of the time. This means that if you were facing an opponent on an unoptimized PC setup running at around 50 FPS, you were the one taking the hit as the rollback frames directly ruined your end of the match.
It’s only a couple of weeks until launch, but for a genre that heavily relies on having a healthy online community to find matches, this is an egregious error that needs to be fixed. It stems from ridiculous PC requirements that you don’t even see in most open-world AAA games, so it wouldn’t be fair to pin this on users eager to try Tokon out.
Gameplay-wise, I’m not the most nuanced fighting game player, yet something that immediately stuck out as a restriction I really don’t like is the four-button limit on combos. Let me explain.
In tag fighters, a common easy combo involves linking a couple of lights into a couple of mediums and a heavy launcher—around five or six normal hits before going for an aerial follow-up, a special attack, or an assist. In Tokon, you are limited to four before you’re out of options and the game simply stops you in your tracks, meaning all that muscle memory built from previous fighters is gone. If you input two lights, you have to immediately switch to medium and either a special or a heavy launcher. It just doesn’t feel comfortable and hampers the fluidity of the game.
I do want to see how Arc Sys continues to polish the game further down the line, as the studio has proven to be very receptive to feedback. If they can nail a few of these issues, the likes of Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 might have a serious competitor on their hands.
And that’s it. Stick with us at Gfinityesports.com: your go-to source for all things Marvel Tokon.