Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls was released last week, and it’s no secret that PlayStation 5 and Windows PC players have had wildly different experiences in the days since. Arc System Works’ new tag fighter runs rather well on PS5. On PC… it’s a whole other story, best summarized by its “Mixed” rating on Steam from 2,600 player reviews. Many of those have docked the game for poor PC optimization, low frame rates, stability issues, and its PSN account requirement. (Whoever could have seen that last complaint coming?)
After a weekend in which players tested out wacky ways to get Marvel Tokon working, Arc System Works deployed a new patch on Monday “aimed at reducing performance issues, improving stability, and addressing some specific problems,” according to the official patch notes posted on Discord. Over on the game’s subreddit, plenty of players are reporting that the new patch has fixed the game for them.
“My computer can now run it very smoothly on high settings. I was stuck on low settings all weekend. It’s runs way faster for me in all aspects,” one player said. “It’s perfect for me now,” another said.
If you’re playing on PC, make sure to warm up the shaders again after downloading the latest patch. “Do so now for a smoother experience,” the patch notes state.
Major PC woes aside, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls is a fun time, though it would benefit from some gameplay adjustments. “Marvel Tokon is a sluggish fighting game that feels at war with itself, attempting to appeal to newcomers and genre veterans without fully satisfying either. Nearly everything about its core movement is slow, seemingly so that beginners won’t be ‘overwhelmed’ compared to the quicker-paced games Arc System Works used to make, like Blazblue or even Dragon Ball FighterZ. Sprinting and air dashes aren’t particularly fast, and attacks feel quite lethargic, with a good amount of startup and recovery,” Polygon’s Elijah Gonzalez wrote in his day-one first impressions.
Marvel Tokon is a 4v4 tag-fighter that pits 20 of your favorite Marvel superheroes and villains against one another. More characters are on the way, and the game’s year-one DLC may be of cosmic scale.
You can read the full patch notes from Monday’s update below, in which Arc System Works thanks players for their feedback and promises “ongoing work to improve performance, stability, and the overall experience.”
PC Fixes
Reduced CPU Usage
Multiple fixes have been implemented to reduce overall CPU usage, including:
- An issue where the CPU ran high throughout the start up process.
- An issue where additional load on the system was being created due to periodic audio processing during matches.
Sudden Performance Drops
We identified an issue where the game was regularly checking for available audio inputs. These unnecessary checks could cause sudden frame drops and performance drops. This has now been addressed.
Frame Rate Drops
Fixed an issue where the frame rate would drop when certain resolutions were selected.
Bug Fixes
Battle Settings
Fixed an issue where restarting the game with certain customization items or colors enabled would cause the settings to revert to default.
Online Lobby
Fixed an issue where changing how attack buttons were displayed to action icons resulted in some buttons becoming unresponsive during the open lobby mini games.
On PC
Warm Up Those Shaders
With the game being updated to the latest version, the PC version will prompt you to warm-up the shaders. Do so now for a smoother experience.
Auto Graphics Quality Setting
Improved auto spec detection to select a graphics profile that better fits your system.