Ultimate Gamer's Guide: Navigating the Latest Updates and Demo Players in Taken 8
When is the release date of Tekken 8?
One of the biggest fighting games in the world, Tekken 7 was the most impressive game in the series to date.
So it's no surprise that fans are looking forward to seeing what the developers have in store for their next installment.
One of the most anticipated fighting games was unveiled at Sony's State of Play in September, with the shocking reveal that Tekken 8 is in development, along with a premiere trailer showcasing the gameplay of the new game from the engine.
, which pleasantly surprised Tekken fans.
Given the critical and commercial success of Tekken 7, it's likely that Tekken 8 will join the list of best PC games in the future.
Now that the demo is available, here's everything we know about Tekken 8's release date, current beta test, trailer, gameplay, story, and more.
When will Tekken 8 be released?
Tekken 8 will be released on Friday, January 26, 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
The announcement was made during Gamescom's opening night livestream through a trailer showing off the various returning fighters.
Additionally, series creator Katsuhiro Harada confirmed that the game will be built from scratch in his Unreal Engine 5 and that no assets from Tekken 7 will be reused.
Tekken 8 Release and Pre-order Benefits Tekken 8 includes Paul's Phoenix avatar costume for the arcade quest mode as a pre-order benefit on all platforms, but unfortunately the Mokujin and Tetsujin avatar costumes are not available.
Exclusive to PlayStation.
The Deluxe Edition of Tekken 8 includes the Playable Character Year 1 Pass, which will give players four additional characters upon release.
Also included are Kinjin avatar skins and a gold suit pack compatible with all 32 characters.
The Ultimate Edition includes all of the above, Kazuya, Jin, and Jun avatar skins, and 32 t-shirt patterns to customize your avatar.
Tekken 8 Demo
Tekken 8 Demo is now available on PlayStation 5, Steam, and Xbox Series X|S.
Bandai Namco released a demo on Twitter.
Available modes include the first chapter of Story Mode and some arcade quests, a gallery of digest films from the entire Tekken series, and Urban Square (Evening), Sanctum, and
Yakushima.
Characters available for selection in the demo are:
• Jin Kazama
• Kazuya Mishima
• Nina Williams
• Paul Phoenix Tekken 8 Beta
The last beta for Tekken 8 was held from October 20th to 23rd.
This closed beta test featured the same roster of characters as the closed network test, plus the first appearances of Raven, Azucena, and Fenn.
To participate in the final beta, players had to register their interest on Tekken 8's official website.
If you already participated in the closed network test earlier this year, you will automatically be included in the Tekken 8 beta.
Closed network testing was conducted on Steam, PlayStation 5, and Xbox in July 2023.
In this test, players now have access to 16 characters that can be used to battle other players online in five phases.
You can see how they fared in Tekken 8's tier list.
Changes in Tekken 8 Closed Beta Here are the additions and changes included in Tekken 8 Beta, as described in the official Beta FAQ:
• Add Raven, Azucena, and Feng to the roster.
• Add Ortiz Farm as a new stage.
• Heat blast damage (activated in heat state) has been adjusted.
• Heat Blast can now block Power Crush hits.
• Reduced the length of the Heat Burst/Heat Dash combo.
• Reduced damage recoverable from heat states.
• If an attack is blocked during heat, the heat gauge will decrease.
• Increased loss of heat gauge from attacks powered by heat status.
• Improved operational performance of Power Crash.
• Reversal and parry effects have been reduced.
- Increased number of techniques that cannot be parried.
• Hyphens and backslashes are now easier to execute.
• Added restrictions to wall hit combos.
- Overall balance adjustment.
• Signature moves have been expanded.
• Adjusted the brightness of the effect.
• Adjusted the shape and scope of the effect to improve visibility.
• The visibility of visual effects is now significantly reduced when the options menu is set to Low.
• Select different preset outfits for your character.
• Actions can now be assigned to the L3 and E3 keys.
Tekken 8 Character List
There are officially 32 characters in the Tekken 8 roster.
This includes a number of recurring characters from the series, including characters who haven't appeared in the main series in a long time, as well as characters who were introduced as part of Tekken 7's final season.
Reyna is the last character on the main roster.
She uses a combination of Taido and Mishima Karate.
Tekken 8 DLC
Tekken 8's opening cinematic trailer, released on January 14th, included a surprise at the end of the video, giving us a preview of the first season before the game's release.
Eddie Gordo, one of the original characters from Tekken 3, has appeared in the latest installment.
He has been slightly redesigned in this game, and Miles has chosen his Morales style hairstyle compared to Tekken 7's long dreadlocks.
New characters will be introduced each season, with the last character expected to appear in the winter.
Eddie Gord is scheduled to join the game in the spring of 2024.
Tekken 8 Trailer
The first Tekken 8 trailer shows the series' two main characters, Jin Kazama and his father Kazuya Mishima, clashing in the middle of a barren storm wasteland.
The two exchange blows, and Jin uses the power his demon genes gave him to deliver the final blow to Kazuya.
An exciting feature of the trailer is the disclaimer at the beginning of the trailer.
This suggests that the footage is real-time in-engine footage.
If this is true, we can expect similarly impressive graphics in the final game.
Over the past few months, Tekken 8 has released a number of character trailers highlighting each fighter and some of their moves.
Recurring characters include Dragunov, a cold-hearted Spetsnax member who first appeared in Tekken 5: Dark Ressurection.
Meanwhile, Shaheen is a military bodyguard who debuted in Tekken 7.
Steve Fox has been a boxer struggling to uncover his mysterious past since Tekken 4, and Leo, a professional explorer, first appeared in Tekken 6.
Yoshimitsu and Kuma both made their debut in the first Tekken game, but this Kuma is officially the son of the first Kuma, making his debut in Tekken 3.
Tekken 7 also saw the return of Raven, who was not a playable fighter.
After closed network testing, we get our first look at two more fighters at EVO 2023.
Azucena is Tekken 8's first all-new fighter that utilizes an evasion-based fighting style.
Their obvious rival is Lili, but they can't agree on whether coffee or tea is the better drink.
She also has a unique interaction with Leo, and they both share a love of coffee.
The second new character is Victor Chevalier, voiced by Vincent Cassel.
A descendant of a respected knight, he quickly installed himself as the leader of the Independent United Nations Forces, vowing to protect the weak from the forces of evil.
His fighting style involves the use of guns, swords, and daggers in ninja-like movements.
As the founder of the Raven Troop, he is naturally Raven's boss and tutor.
The final new character is Reina, who has a deep connection with the late Heihachi.
Neither Jin nor Kazuya seem to know who she is, but she knows Heihachi's immediate family well.
She uses a combination of Mishima Karate and Taido.
Tekken 8 Story
The trailers shown so far haven't revealed much about the story, but it has been confirmed that the story will revolve around Jin and his allies who plan to defeat Kazuya once and for all.
Masu.
It will also see the regular return of Jin's mother, Jun Kazama, to the series for the first time since Tekken 2.
Tekken 7 ends with Kazuya seemingly murdering his father Heihachi, and a year-long global war ensues between G Corporation and Mishima.
Zaibatsu.
Meanwhile, Jin recovers from his coma and plans to defeat Kazuya.
Many of the recent entries in the series have focused on the Devil Gene, a genetic power possessed by both Jin and Kazuya that allows them to transform into more powerful demon forms.
While Kazuya had already learned how to control his demon genes, Jin still has no control and is prone to being taken over by his demon form.
However, the end of the trailer seems to indicate that Jin has also learned to control demon genes.
So perhaps we'll see how this impacts his story and Devil Jin's own existence as a character.
Furthermore, a new Mishima relative appears in Reina, who is Heihachi's daughter.
Tekken 8 Gameplay The graphics in the trailer look like a huge improvement over Tekken 7, but the gameplay itself looks pretty much the same.
Characters tend to retain most of their gameplay between titles, and we'll probably expect Tekken 8 to be the same.
Although the game is visually impressive, there has been some controversy surrounding the colorblind mode, with disabled players saying that watching it gives them migraines.
At the recent Tekken North American Regional Finals, Harada explained some of the gameplay features you may have missed in the Tekken 8 trailer shown at the 2022 Game Awards.
First, in this game, Jack hits a wall.
It explodes, causing heavy damage to both the stage and Jack.
Tekken 7's major innovation was the Rage Art and Rage Drive systems, which are central parts of the game's meta.
Rage Arts returns when we see Paul use Rage Arts against Law.
It is not yet confirmed whether Rage Drive will return, but a new mechanic "Heat" has been added.
This is completely separate from Rage, and there are two ways to activate it.
, By performing the "Heat Engager" move, your character runs towards an enemy after applying active heat to the enemy.
Or done by pressing a single button.
(The developer uses his R1 button on his PlayStation pad in the video).
This will start a timer that will quickly count down, but will temporarily stop if you are attacked or blocked by an enemy.
Heat can vary depending on the character, with Jack getting a powerful combo ender, Jin getting a central combo devastating move that allows experienced fighters to extend their combos, and Kazuya transforming into his demon form.
I already know.
There are also some joint activities.
Be sure to check out the video above for the full breakdown.
A new system in Tekken 8 is the Recoverable Display.
The damage you take is similar to the Tekken Tag His tournament game in that some of the damage you take from big move blocks and aerial combos remains as a white blob.
This does not heal naturally, but when you hit an enemy or an enemy blocks your attack.
Arcade Quest
announced the release date for Tekken 8 at GamesCom, but it is not a replacement for the game's story mode, but rather a standalone single-player mode that continues the Mishima story that began in the first Tekken game.
The idea behind Arcade Quest is to recreate the experience of entering an arcade complex and inserting sections to play the full arcade mode experience.
In an interview with IGN, Harada further stated that the mode is intended to help new players "learn the ropes," similar to what he and other members of his team did in the early 1990s.
He explained.
There's also an element of AI learning, where you can customize your CPU opponent to imitate aspects of your style of play and even try to emulate a real player.
Want to play something new with your friends?
Our list of the best multiplayer games has exactly what you're looking for.
If you decide to fight multiple enemies at once, don't forget to check out our list of the best action-adventure games.