Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Genre: Fighting Game, Esports

Tekken is one of the most iconic fighting game franchises in the world, next to Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. Everyone has their favourite fighting game franchise and Tekken is mine as I grew up playing it more than anything else. It’s been seven years since Tekken 7 (and that’s a whopping nine years if you count the arcade version). Tekken 8 is the first current-gen entry in the franchise and it’s being hailed as the conclusion to the long-running Mishima Saga. Is that true?

Read on to find out.

Family Feud

Since its original announcement, Tekken 8 has been hyped up to be the end of the Mishima Saga. Just like the Skywalkers in Star Wars, the Mishima family has been at the forefront of the story in the Tekken franchise ever since its first game in 1994. It’s mostly been back and forth between Heihachi Mishima, his son, Kazuya Mishima and his grandson, Jin Kazama. Since Heihachi was apparently defeated once and for all in Tekken 7, the promotional material for Tekken 8 has been teasing the final fight between Kazuya and Jin. Since this is a spoiler-free review, I won’t spoil the details of the story but here’s what I’ll say; it’s not as conclusive or as ‘final’ as fans probably expect it to be. Jun Kazama’s role is also a lot less substantial than the trailers would have you believe. The main story mode in Tekken 8 is Tekken 8 The Dark Awakens, and it’s around 3 hours long.

From the opening chapter, Tekken 8’s story mode is definitely the most cinematic the franchise has ever been in terms of visuals. The story mode switches between the pre-rendered CG cutscenes and the in-game engine for fights. While the switch isn’t as seamless as I’d like (especially since the cinematics run in 30FPS and gameplay is in 60FPS), it’s not that jarring because the game arguably looks during gameplay. The Netflix Tekken anime looks like cheap crap compared to what you’ll see in Tekken 8.

Bandai Namco clearly spent a lot to make the CG scenes look great, with over-the-top fighting choreography that sometimes reaches Dragon Ball levels of destruction, which might prove divisive for fans who prefer the more grounded elements. The Tekken franchise has never been grounded that much anyway, considering we’ve had kangaroos, bears, cyborgs and demon hybrids fighting alongside humans.

In Tekken 8’s story mode, you watch cinematics and fight battles. There’s not much to interrupt that cycle with the exception of an occasional QTE and several choices that don’t affect the story in any way. However, there is one interesting new brief mechanic featured in one of the chapters where the gameplay shifts to sort of a musou gameplay similar to Dynasty Warriors but of course, with Tekken characters. It’s a nice change of pace that makes for a cool spectacle, but it doesn’t add much since it’s so brief and simplistic that you’re just beating down on braindead groups of enemies (there’s even a bug where the enemies don’t do anything but T-pose) for a few minutes.

As for the final confrontation between Jin and Kazuya, it feels like the developers don’t want to give the Mishima Saga a true ending because the game ends with some frustrating hanging threads and a cliffhanger ending. Some threads do get tied up but the ending still somewhat indicates that the Mishima Saga is not truly over, so don’t expect a definitive ending because you’re not getting one. I guess it’s not unprecedented; it’s almost impossible for a fighting game franchise that still has to continue and go on to receive a proper ending since there will still be a next game, and the next, and so on.

Another mode, Character Episodes, offers five matches instead of the measly one match in Tekken 7’s same mode. This time around, all 32 characters at launch have their respective character episodes. The five matches feel more like adding padding and making gameplay longer for length’s sake instead of anything meaningful or exciting. The special and unique interactions usually only happen in one or two of these five matches. Just like before, the Character Episodes are just fun little non-canon ‘what if’ endings for each character. Most of them are underwhelming and generic but some of them can be quite hilarious, including one with the brand new character Azucena that involves her combining her coffee with Lilli’s tea for a new product and the cinematic ending with an advertisement for that product.

In addition, Tekken 8 does feature one brand new mode that wasn’t in previous games; Arcade Quest. It’s similar to the Street Fighter 6’s World Tour Mode but different in a lot of ways. In Tekken 8’s Arcade Quest mode, players will make a self-insert avatar and explore a bunch of virtual arcade locations in what feels like a simulation of a rise of a pro Tekken player. There’s even a story that’s very anime-like, where you begin by meeting a new group of friends who introduce you to Tekken 8 and you even meet an arch-rival who’s a pro player and who you will be fighting against later.

In terms of gameplay loop, you’ll essentially just go from arcade to arcade, picking a battle with any of the virtual NPCs in them to increase your Tekken 8 rank. Once you reach the required rank, you get to move to a different arcade location. You’ll repeat this until you qualify for a virtual recreation of a Tekken World Tour tournament and you’ll face your rival there.

That’s all there is to Arcade Quest since the mode essentially functions as an extended tutorial for newcomers. Throughout the mode, one of your NPC friends, Max (the self-proclaimed Tekken Prof), will teach you about the mechanics in Tekken 8. However, it’s great that you can choose to skip these tutorials if you want and still complete the Arcade Quest mode. It only took me around 2 hours to finish everything and that’s good because it was getting old fighting NPCs as if they’re real people. It gets old and boring really fast because it’s not like you can create your own custom fighters like in Street Fighter 6 and customize their fighting style, so there’s no replay value or longevity to the Arcade Quest mode. To put it simply, it’s barebones.

The main reason why you should complete Arcade Quest mode is you can meet virtual versions of Tekken development heads Michael Murray and Katsuhiro Harada, as well as unlock another mode, Super Ghost Battles, where you fight against AI ‘ghost’ opponents. The best thing about the Super Ghost Battles mode is that you can even fight a virtual version of Harada in it.

What’s made the Tekken franchise so beloved in the past has always been how easy it is for newcomers and casual players to pick up and play the games. Tekken 8 is no exception. I’m definitely no hardcore fighting game player and nowhere near being to pro but there are several new mechanics introduced in Tekken 8 that improve the franchise’s gameplay even further.

The biggest new mechanic is probably the new Heat System, which best represents how Tekken 8 emphasizes aggressiveness. Offence is the name of the game in Tekken 8, and the new Heat System encourages players to attack more often instead of playing too defensively.

Each player has a Heat meter, and there are multiple ways to enter the Heat state. Heat is a state that a player can enter that essentially powers up your fighter for a short period of time. At the start of each round, both players begin with a full Heat bar, and once it’s activated and used up within that round, it’s gone. There are many advantages to being in Heat, such as inflicting chip damage while your opponent is blocking, extending combos with Heat Dashes, unlocking specific move properties for different characters, and creating the opportunity for a Heat Smash, a mini super attack that uses up your entire Heat meter.

You can enter Heat in one of two ways: a Heat Burst by simply pressing R1, or a Heat Engager, which are specific combos or moves that will automatically activate Heat state. Another new mechanic in Tekken 8 is how you can recover health from chip damage by attacking, especially during the Heat state. Better players can exploit this mechanic to inflict fast KOs and take advantage of the more aggressive playstyle.

As a result of the new Heat system and other smaller changes like recoverable health, the game is more fun to play and less frustrating if you have to face defensive-oriented players. This more aggressive playstyle will likely make a bigger impact on the esports side of Tekken, but on the casual side, it just makes everything more fun to play. All of this helps make Tekken less of a block-fest, especially when fighting someone who likes to spam the block button.

I can’t say much about how deep the new combos are or how it will all fare in a pro gaming environment, but I can safely say that Tekken 8 is still as accessible as every other Tekken game before it.

The graphics for Tekken 8 look phenomenal. Why? Tekken 8 is actually the first fighting game to run on Unreal Engine 5. In comparison, Street Fighter 6 ran on the RE Engine and Mortal Kombat 1 ran on Unreal Engine 4. It was a great decision to release Tekken 8 only on current-gen consoles like the PS5 because it can utilize Unreal Engine 5 to the max. The particle effects, lighting, textures, and details for each character and the environment look so crisp and vibrant, especially with HDR switched on and the particle effects turned to maximum (yeah, you can even tweak the level of the particle effects in the game). Heck, it’s no exaggeration if I say that Tekken 8 is arguably the prettiest 3D fighting game yet (I say 3D because some might argue fighting games like Dragon Ball FighterZ or Guilty Gear look better artistically).

Last but not least, the brand new characters introduced in Tekken 8 are instantly likeable and great with the exception of perhaps Reina. She’ll probably be a fast fan-favourite when the game releases (for obvious reasons), but she’s nothing but a replacement for a previous character. Bandai Namco should have kept her identity a secret. It’s baffling that the story mode in Tekken 8 still makes it seem like it’s a huge surprise shocker when she reveals who she is at the end of the story mode. Again, it’s because her promotional trailer already spoiled who she is. The best new character is probably Azucena, who feels unique enough to stand out in the roster with her charming personality. Meanwhile, Victor has a fighting style that feels distinctive and fun but it’s familiar if you’ve ever played as Final Fantasy XV guest character Noctis in Tekken 7. The return of Jun Kazama is great for longtime fans, but it remains to be seen if she’ll be a fan-favourite again this time around.

Get Ready For The Next Battle

It’s hard to change things too much for a fighting game franchise, but Tekken 8 ultimately does feel like a major improvement over Tekken 7. The amazing next-gen visuals, the cinematic story mode, and the new mechanics make the gameplay more fun and exciting; they’re all that will make Tekken 8 a more memorable entry in the franchise. Will be as iconic of a game as Tekken 3 or Tekken 5? Only time will tell but it sure does look like it.

PROS

• New mechanics like the Heat system make the playstyle faster and more aggressive and therefore, more fun and exciting.
• 32 characters at launch offer great variety.
• The brand new characters like Azucena and Victor are amazing to play.
• The most cinematic story mode yet in Tekken history.
• One of the best-looking fighting games to date, the first fighting game to be powered by Unreal Engine 5.

CON

• The promised conclusion to the Mishima Saga isn’t a definitive ending.
• Arcade Quest mode is too short, simplistic and barebones.

FINAL SCORE: 80/100

Tekken 8 was reviewed on PS5 based on a review copy provided by Bandai Namco. Tekken 8 will launch for the PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC on 26 January 2024.