Tekken 7 was a viral fighting game, and fans were excited about the next game in the series, Tekken 8. The game was revealed during Sony’s State of Play event in September. People were surprised and happy to see a trailer showing the new game engine and gameplay.
Since Tekken 7 did well, many think Tekken 8 might also become one of the best PC games. We now know some details about the game, like its release date, trailers, gameplay, and story.
What is the Tekken 8 Release Date?
Bandai Namco has stated that Tekken 8 will be released on Friday, January 26, 2024, for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. The news broke during Gamescom’s Opening Night Live.
Get ready, warriors.
The next King of the Iron Fist tournament will start on January 26, 2024 👊
And there’s so much more to catch in the #TEKKEN8 Gamescom trailer 🥊 pic.twitter.com/2FK4044hN4
— TEKKEN (@TEKKEN) August 22, 2023
Several story hooks and recurring characters were unveiled in a new trailer shown at Gamescom. Katsuhiro Harada, the series creator, said that the game is being constructed from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5, with no Tekken 7 assets being reused.
In late March, the gaming press had the opportunity to play Tekken 8. While Bandai Namco has not revealed a release date for Tekken 8, the fact that there is a playable build with ten characters is good news.
Tekken 8: Character Roster
The majority of Tekken 8’s roster consists of returning characters. From series mainstays such as the Mishima brothers, King, and Paul to more recent additions such as Claudio, the star-studded cast showcases the series’ finest qualities.
In addition, the first series newcomer announced for Tekken 8, Azucena, was announced alongside returning fan favourite Raven during EVO 2023. The complete roster of 26 confirmed combatants is available on our roster hub. It has been confirmed that will be 32 combatants in the final game, so we have six more fighters to anticipate before its release.
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Tekken 8: Trailers
The first Tekken 8 trailer shows the series’ two main characters, Jin Kazama and his father, Kazuya Mishima, fighting in a desolate wasteland. The two exchange blows before Jin uses the power his demon gene grants him to execute a final blow on Kazuya. The disclaimer at the trailer’s beginning hints that the footage is real-time, in-engine footage, which, if accurate, means that the finished game will have similarly beautiful graphics.
In recent months, Tekken 8 has released numerous character trailers featuring each fighter and some of their skills. Dragunov, a Spetznax member with a frigid personality, initially appeared in Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection, and Shaheen, a military bodyguard who debuted in Tekken 7.
See the trailer below-
Meanwhile, Steve Fox has been a boxer seeking to understand his mystery history since Tekken 4, and Leo, a professional spelunker by trade, first appeared in Tekken 6. Finally, Yoshimitsu and Kuma debuted in the first Tekken game. However, this Kuma is canonically the first bear’s son and debuted in Tekken 3.
Following the Closed Network test, we first looked at two additional fighters at EVO 2023. Azucena is the first entirely new fighter in Tekken 8, with a fighting style focusing on evading. Raven, who was not a playable fighter in Tekken 7, also returned.
Tekken 8 story
While the trailers don’t reveal much about the plot, they establish that the game will revolve around Jin and his allies as they plot to eliminate Kazuya once and for all. For the first time since Tekken 2, we also see the canonical return of Jin’s mother, Jun Kazama.
Tekken 7 concluded with Kazuya seemingly assassinating his father, Heihachi, and initiating the years-long world war between the G Corporation and Mishima Zaibatsu. Meanwhile, Jin awakens from his coma to plot the demise of Kazuya.
Much of the series’ most recent instalments have concentrated on the devil gene, a genetic power shared by Jin and Kazuya that allows them to morph into more powerful devil forms. While Kazuya has learnt to manage his devil gene, Jin has not and is susceptible to being taken over by his devil form.
However, the trailer’s conclusion appears to imply that Jin has now learnt to control the devil gene, so it will be interesting to see how this changes his story and the inclusion of Devil Jin as a separate character.
You can also see the latest Tekken 8 gameplay video here-
Tekken 8 Gameplay
The trailer for Tekken 8 shows much better graphics than Tekken 7, but the gameplay seems quite similar. Characters usually keep their moves between games, and that’s likely the case here too.
During the Tekken North America Regional Finals, Harada explained some gameplay features from the Tekken 8 trailer shown at The Game Awards 2022. For example, Jack gets slammed into a wall in the game, which causes the wall to explode and damages both Jack and the stage.
In Tekken 7, they introduced Rage Art and Rage Drive systems, which were significant. Rage Arts is back in Tekken 8, like when Paul uses one against Law. While it’s not confirmed, there’s a new feature called “Heat.” You can trigger it by using a “Heat Engager” move, which makes your character rush towards the enemy if they’re hit with Heat active. Or you can activate it with a single button press. A timer starts that goes down quickly but pauses whenever your moves shot or are blocked by the opponent.
Heat works differently for each character. For instance, Jack gets a strong combo ender, Jin can cancel a mid-combo move for extended combos, and Kazuya turns into his Devil form. There are also shared actions among characters.
A new system in Tekken 8 is the Recoverable Gauge. When you block big moves or suffer aerial combos, a part of the damage remains as a white chunk. This chunk doesn’t heal on its own but refills when you hit the opponent or they block your attacks.
For more news and updates on all the biggest upcoming releases, check out some more of our detailed hubs below:
