Amidst a fighting game renaissance, an iron fist strikes: “Tekken 8”. Released mere months before the series’ 30th anniversary, “Tekken 8” further advances the story from 2014’s “Tekken 7”, while offering a ton more content in comparison. After 10 years from its previous entry though, how well does it hold up?
Bandai Namco Studios
A simultaneous attack between Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama as they both battle to eliminate the other for their own interests.
“Tekken 8” was first teased at EVO 2022 in August. It starts by recalling the first game’s ending, where main character Kazuya Mishima throws his father Heihachi off a cliff in an act of revenge. Kazuya smiles at the camera when it suddenly cuts to a new render with two words: “Get ready.”
Soon after, a full trailer appeared in September 2022 with Playstation’s State of Play presentation. Featuring fully-rendered cinematics and gameplay on the PS5, it continues the Mishima family rivalry as Jin Kazama, son of Kazuya, fights his father to end their chaotic lineage.
Even while “Tekken 7” was still avidly played in tournaments, the hype train was at full speed for this new game. Trailers and new information were never in short supply, from the second trailer at The Game Awards 2022 to series director Harada appearing for a presentation at EVO 2023.
In the months leading up to its final release date, the team released several gameplay trailers for new and returning characters. The newest characters include coffee-loving Peruvian Azucena Milagros Ortiz Castillo, United Nations founder and leader Victor Chevalier, and mysterious new rival Reina.
The game finally released on Jan. 25, 2024 for a hefty $70 price tag in a new era of $70 video games. It was the first mainline entry to be released on home consoles before arcades, and its single-player content greatly reflects that. A strong online infrastructure, a complete story mode, arcade-style stages for each character, and the return of Tekken Ball, all in one package.
The game opens with a cinematic reminiscent of the old PS2 days. The singer, Robbie Wyckoff, might ring a bell with his portfolio of songs from the Phineas & Ferb movies, including “Everything’s Better with Perry”, “He’s A Bully”, and “Brand New Reality.” After the sequence of war and action, Kazuya returns in a dark void as he introduces you to the real game.
In movies and games alike, music serves to enhance, reflect, or immerse one in the events on screen for a complete product. Tekken 8 perfectly delivers this experience with its stage design, gameplay, and music built around both. Each song is expertly crafted by veteran and newbie composers of the series as it delivers an atmospheric yet intense experience, visualizing the stage and putting players in the action without even having to see it.
Speaking of gameplay, “Tekken 8” retains its predecessor’s mechanics as it builds off its past rather than reinvent itself. However, it still introduces a new heat system that gives players a short-but-strong period of time to maximize damage. While in heat, enemies who block will still take chip damage – a layer of health recovered via attacks, but becomes permanent if left alone.
To compensate for its similar gameplay, the game focuses heavily on offline modes, namely the story. Not only does “Tekken 8” have its own storyline separate from arcade battles, but it has uniquely-animated cinematics that summarize each previous game’s story to introduce new players, refresh veterans, and continue the story from where it was left off – the Mishima family rivalry.
The new Arcade Quest mode doubles as a massive guided tutorial to Tekken’s mechanics. The mode follows a group of players traveling around the map from arcade to arcade as they seek to defeat the big bad best player, Orochi. The story may be corny, but the knowledge is bountiful.
Online battles are the most important in Tekken and conversely the most detailed. The netcode between players and across platforms is a significant step up from “Tekken 7’s” subpar connection. Pre-match settings also allow filtering connections and platforms for quick and ranked matches.
Overall, the game is incredibly polished and an incredible console-first debut. Despite director Harada’s unfamiliarity with the age of regularly-updated online games, the game is well-polished and well balanced regardless. So much so that tournaments are already in action for the game.
This past weekend at Highline, Backstreet Brawl #2 was held with an offline main event for “Tekken 8”. Featuring competitors around the Pacific Northwest both old and new, beginner and professional, the 37-entrant event highlighted the power and passion at play even offline. Another tournament, Evergreen Rising #10, is also planned at campus on Mar. 9, 2024.
“Tekken 8” is an amazing game for veterans and the definitive entry point for beginners. Downloadable content and future updates have yet to be revealed, but the game is in a practically finished and polished state already, one that’s definitely worth checking out even just for its free demo on all platforms.
Whether the game keeps living up to hype is for fate to decide, but it’s seemingly only looking up from here.