tonight at Game Awardslet’s see Tekken 8: The highly anticipated 3D fighting game Bandai Namco. On the eve of the reveal, Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada has been teasing what’s to come…we just didn’t expect it.
The movie trailer shows some returning characters and some faces we’ve never seen before. We saw Law, King, Alisa, Devil Kazuya, Devil Jin, Jack 8 (presumably) and Jun Kazama – even though we all thought she was dead.
We also got to see some real gameplay there, showing off some shiny new graphics and a new engine (which, to be honest, reminded me more of SoulCalibur at first).
“Father. Son. Mother. This family reunion is going to be explosive,” the trailer’s teaser says. “TEKKEN8 brings old grudges back to a new generation – the return of Kazuya, Jin, Paul, King, Law, Lars, Jack-8 and…Jun Kazama!”
The new game will replace Tekken 7 as the current entry in the series–and Tekken 8 has plenty to fill in. After five years of support, Tekken 7 has sold more than 9 million copies, introduced tons of DLC characters, and re-established the 3D fighting game as one of the best games in the world.
The game debuted during EVO 2022 in August with a “blink and you’ll miss it” trailer. Previously, Tekken 8 was one of the games featured in the Nvidia Geforce Now datamine, suggesting that a new game in the series has been planned for a long time.
You can also read why we think Tekken 8 needs to learn from Mortal Kombat if it wants new players (don’t worry, we’re not talking about combat mechanics, calm down).
Fighting game fans are eating well right now; between now and Street Fighter 6’s June release date, a new generation of fighting behemoths is really starting to land.
