Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls' 10-Hour Story Mode Will Feature Gameplay After All
· IGN
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls developer Arc System Works recently revealed that the fighting game will have an Episode Mode — a story mode aimed at casual players — told in an interactive comic book style. Various outlets originally reported that this Episode Mode wouldn't have any actual gameplay. But recent updates have confirmed that this is not the case.
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In an interview with Japanese news site 4Gamer, producer Takeshi Yamanaka and director/lead battle designer Kazuto ‘Pachi’ Sekine revealed more about the game’s story mode. However, 4Gamer’s initial publication suggested that Episode Mode would only contain a Guilty Gear Strive-style cutscene-based story mode with no gameplay. But an update to the interview, added on May 13, clarified that there will indeed be 4v4 bouts to enjoy within the story mode.
“In Episode Mode, playable battles are incorporated throughout,” clarified Yamanaka. “Battles occur that tie into the story, while the design allows everyone to enjoy it casually, just like reading a comic book. This allows the story to be experienced in a more interactive way.”
Episode mode will feature around 10 hours of content and gameplay in total, with variations in the story playing out depending on which of the five default teams you pick. The story will build up to a confrontation against Marvel Tokon’s brand-new, mysterious villains: The Champion and his henchwoman Promoter. Teams of four will battle it out in order to face The Champion in the final battle of the game’s Episode Mode, and prevent him from destroying Earth (as detailed in the PlayStation blog post earlier this month).
The comic book-style cutscenes will be animated and voiced in 10 languages, with players flipping through panels and scenes. The interactive comic book will make use of the PS5 DualSense's haptic feedback, too. “The default teams revealed by the official channels have been put together with the Episode Mode storyline in mind,” noted Yamanaka, however those who want more freedom can make their own teams in the game’s other modes.
Marvel Tokon’s 4v4 tag team battle system is based around one of the chosen characters in each team being the leader. "We want players to be able to freely select four characters that they like, so we’ve included a 'Team Generation' feature that automatically generates a team name based on the characters chosen," explained Yamanaka. The source words used for this name generation system were picked by the dev team, and are selected based on the characteristics of your team leader and the other members. Players are also free to name their teams themselves.
Yamanaka also revealed that Marvel urged the team to incorporate Arc System Works’ art style into the character designs, giving the superheroes an anime-style look. “This is why one of our themes for this game is 'from Japan to the world' — the idea of drawing Marvel characters in Arc System Works' unique style and sending them out into the world," said Sekine.
Yamanaka noted that in-depth discussions were held between Sony, Marvel, and Arc System Works on the character roster, but that the developers were given freedom by Marvel to interpret guidelines for each character how they saw fit, sending their work to Marvel for ultimate approval. Sekine also hinted that fans should keep an eye out for some interesting alternative costumes.
Yamanaka and Sekine were keen to emphasize that Marvel Tokon is not just for hardcore Marvel fans but also can be enjoyed by casual players and newcomers to the superhero franchise. "The Episode Mode includes glossaries and character bios — we designed the game so even Marvel newcomers can understand the world, the characters and the relationships between them. I'd be happy if Marvel Tokon served as a gateway for people to discover the movies and comics as well."
Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is due out on PlayStation 5 and PC on August 6, 2026.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.