At EVO 2022, Bandai Namco shared a short trailer featuring a scene many Tekken players are extremely familiar with. Jin Kazama, carrying his father Heihachi in his arms, crossed a flat green field to drop his limp body into a volcano. The scene itself was ripped from the original release of Tekken on the PlayStation, but the moment that camera zoomed into his smirking face static ripped through the trailer and shocked the audience. It transitioned into an extreme high detailed render of Kazuya, a single scarlet eye glowing against a dark shadow set over his face. Unbeknownst to the crowd, Tekken 8 was on the way.
A few months after, a proper announcement trailer showed a fight between father and son, a series staple for Tekken, that showcased in-game footage and cutscenes intermingling together in a way that felt like a massive step above Tekken 7. Having had the opportunity to get my hands on Tekken 8, thanks to Bandai Namco, I can say that it’s without a doubt one of my most anticipated titles of 2024.
Without sharing too much information about the story of Tekken 8, I found it’s energy similar to Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin, which I really enjoyed. (Stranger of Paradise would have been my Game of the Year when it released, if Signalis had not come out in the same year — so yeah, I’m into what Tekken 8 is selling.) The narrative also seems to contend with Jin Kazama’s past actions in effectively starting a massive world war that set him as the antagonist of the Tekken series for a period of time. This time around, it seems like his father, Kazuya Mishima, will be the overlying threat to the world as he announces a new King of the Iron First Tournament. But again, I don’t want to share any more information for the sake of spoilers, especially because I was only given a small taste of the full narrative. Regardless, I’m interested to see how it will contend with Jin’s actions in previous games, and if there will be any real reconciliation or if the story will provide any commentary on the brutality of the Mishima Clan and the real damage they caused.
In terms of what Tekken 8 has to offer, there’s a lot for players to do. You have Tekken Ball, which is an extreme version of volleyball that has you kicking and punching an inflatable ball around to deal damage to the opposing player. There are also the Story and Arcade Quest Modes, and of course the multiplayer modes. I had the opportunity to test local multiplayer against another player and swapped between returning character Shaheen and newcomer Victor. I had spent some time with Shaheen in Tekken 7, because my taste in mains tends to gravitate around which characters I find attractive, and after a few rounds with Victor his moveset impressed me enough that I think I found the character I’m going to be using to climb the online ranks.
But what’s entirely new to Tekken 8 is the “Special Style” function. On a controller, players can activate it using L1 to instantaneously access a set series of combos with simple button presses. It’s kind of comparable to what Street Fighter 6 did to offer a greater sense of approachability to a very technical fighting game. So it’s cool to see Tekken 8 offer a similar system, even if didn’t seem in-depth or as reactive in the build I was playing. Basically, once you activate Special Style mode, which can be activated during matches instantaneously, you’re limited to one combo per type of button press. So this would be an air combo, a power attack, and so on. Outside of an enhanced color blindness mode, which is actually impressive for what it is and includes a masking feature to make characters easier to spot if a player is hard of seeing, there are no greater accessibility options. However, in an interview with the developers at the event, they mentioned that they would consider adding more accessibility options at a later date based on player feedback.
Another issue players may have is that certain hitboxes for attacks feel like they over extend the actual animation itself. When performing an air combo on Victor, I noticed his hitbox extended well outside of the swipe of his knives and knocked the player I was fighting against in the air. Both of us were surprised and took a second to register what happened, thinking that it would have been a solid miss. This kind of thing can sometimes make or break what characters end up in pro-play, or what the meta will be like down the line. So I’m hoping this will be refined before Tekken 8 releases in January 2024. Mostly because I want it to feel as fair as possible and not see massive amounts of vitriol hurled at my new main.
Tekken 8 seems like it could be an incredibly solid fighter, and my time spent with the game makes me think I’m actually going to pick it up and invest time in playing its online mode. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to online connectivity, since we were limited to local multiplayer at the event. But if the netcode is solid, I could see myself investing loads of hours into playing Tekken 8 and trying to actually improve at the game. It has a decent sized launch roster, an incredible OST (so far), and an interesting story that I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing resolve. It’s hard to believe I’m actually going to potentially set aside time to get back into fighting games, but Tekken 8 is honestly impressive enough to make me consider doing it, and I can’t wait to play the full game.
Tekken 8 will come to the PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on January 26, 2024.
