Ever since 1995, when they let me Octopus Stretch a sentient kangaroo into unconsciousness, I've Tekken Namco's best fight series seriously. Nearly three decades and seven Iron Fist tournaments later, I find myself not only sharing Paul Phoenix's wrinkles, but also his infectious enthusiasm for yet another round of Mishima funded mayhem.
Recently, an invitation to do so came in the form of a world's first 'fists-on' with Tekken 8, plus a gloves off chat with Executive Producer Katsuhiro Harada. Long story short: it was a 'day spar' that left me energised and impressed. Getting access to 10 characters across two hours of playtime allowed me to better understand Tekken 8's fresh approach to fisticuffs. More importantly, it gave me something only the best preview experiences do—the itch to initiate a grab on the full version.
I'm going to detail the new systems and my personal experiences in a minute. For now, if you're a fellow diehard who's been champing at the bit for a sequel since, oh, 2015, there are some preorder options available already...
Table of Contents
Cheapest Tekken 8 Preorders
Tekken 8 (Standard Edition)
Unfortunately, we're a bit ahead of schedule on the preorder front. Individual SKUs and special editions are still largely under wraps.
PS5
- Preorder at PS Store- $114.95
Preorder at MightyApe- $79- Preorder at EB Games - $119.95
- Preorder at JB Hi-Fi - $109
Xbox Series X|S
- Preorder at MS Store - $119.95
Preorder at MightyApe- $79- Preorder at EB Games - $119.95
- Preorder at JB Hi-Fi - $109
PC
- Preorder on Steam - $104.95
Tekken 8 hands-on
If you're a franchise newcomer, or even a 29-year vet, you really need to learn two things about Tekken 8, fast. Denying your instinct to defend is key, because aggression is king. In fact, I'd go so far as to say relentless offence is more king than the guy rocking the jaguar mask this time around. Blocking will still play a role, sure, but players who doggedly pursue turtle-block tactics are in for a shelluva rude awakening.
Using Unreal 5 visual improvements more striking than an axe kick to the face, and mechanical tweaks more sweeping than a running leg slide, Harada and co. are chasing the visceral feeling of brutal power. More specifically, they've cracked some windows of opportunity wider, to better enable those thrilling moments when one fighter 'opens up' their opponent for a big ol' pasting.
It quickly became apparent to me that Tekken 8 not only nails those endorphin boosts for the person at the stick, but also anybody spectating. Because never have I played a Tekken match with more momentum shifting table-turns than these. Likewise, I experienced far too many defeats snatched from the jaws of all but certain victory. Chalk those up to cockiness and an imperfect understanding of how many tools are still available to a foe.
With a tap of R1, your enemy can enter Heat Mode, a meter-governed freebie that's just handed to both fighters at round start. The usefulness of it varied across the characters I had access to — Jin, Kaz, Paul, Law, Lars, Nina, King, Jack, Jun, Xiaoyu — but it's basically a 10 second demi-god state. A range of devastating new moves unlock, and some of your go-to attacks gain new properties or shorter reuse times if they're blocked.
Better yet, you can prolong your timer. Your meter will pause when a foe is grovelling on the deck or if you're landing hits on them. In the right hands, Heat Mode can turn a canapé knuckle sandwich into a foot-long sub meal. I loved the rush of dishing these out. But I also weirdly enjoyed the edge of seat feeling when trying to desperately outmanoeuvre, outlast, or outright disrupt a Heated opponent.
If death by degrees isn't your bag (the concept, not the spin-off) you can trade in all of your accumulated heat into a Heat Smash. These high damage, mini-Rage Art super moves are pretty spectacular. My personal faves: Nina's Bullet Assassination (d/f+3+4), a ludicrously OTT move that involves backflips, akimbo gunshots, and a dim mak to my solar plexus. I also have a lot of time for the slick, throw transitioning of Paul's Demolition Ball (d+3+4).
Your box of tricks also includes five-per-character Heat Engagers and a Heat Burst. The former, Engagers, require two Heat Energy stocks and, if you land it, will make you run full pelt at a foe with a significant advantage. For the record, my pick of the litter was using King's Double Arm Face Buster (d+1+4) on opponents hoping to substitute crouching for blocking. As for Heat Bursts, they're a "one stock" move that help you set up a slamming attack, thus giving you a slight advantage over your enemy on hit and/or guard.
Lastly, there are Heat Dashes. These let you connect unrelated moves, to force-feed somebody a chain that isn't usually a "three piece and soda" affair. Alternatively, if your Heat Engager is absorbed by a block, they're still great for closing distances to open a door to greater pain.
Bottom line: the Heat system is as flashy as it is fun to use. However, the raw power it provides can be wielded by a new control system wrinkle that may, well, irk the hardcore purists among you.
Tekken 8 is big on inclusivity and onboarding new players. So much so, at any point you can slap L1 to engage or disengage a Special Style control scheme that not only suggests moves to you in a mini-list, but also turns some of the aforementioned complex concepts into one-button inputs. Though it shames me to say it, I must admit that opponents using Special Style prevailed quite well against my old tricks — as I doggedly avoided said option, in pursuit of legitimately learning new inputs and systems.
Curiously, when I asked Harada-san if there are plans to split online lobbies into 'Special allowed' and 'Special restricted', the answer was no. If anything, he envisions elite-level tournaments where pro players slip in and out of Special Style on the fly, to minimise error chance on particularly demanding moves. For my part, I think a fully up-to-speed Tekken 8 player will trounce a Special Control using newcomer, but I'm not so sure the pro community will welcome this system with open arms.
Personally, I feel that Tekken 8 toe-dippers already have it good, thanks to the return of Tekken 7's Rage States. They're a simple concept: get pounded to within an inch of your life, automatically receive a damage boost and access to an all-or-nothing Rage Art. Better yet, you get command unification for all characters here (hit R2 or d/f+1+2).
There's even the mercy of the Recoverable Gauge system, which refills chunks of life you've lost to aerial combos or blocking heavies, providing you land hits on your foe. Yet another incentive to make me stop blocking harder than the time an ex gave my digits to telemarketers.
When the event handlers figured out a way to pry me off the demo unit, a follow-up chat with Harada yielded some interesting tidbits. While playfully ribbing him about Paul Phoenix's new hairstyle and possible mid-life crisis, the Tekken Project Lead casually confirmed four new sequels.
"We have this kind of unwritten rule with Paul's hair," he reveals. "Ever since, you know, the instance of Tekken 4 where it has not been straight up, we’ve put it down. It went down a bit more for Tekken 8. Probably for Tekken 12, it’ll go down even more [laughs]. But hey, maybe some people love his old hairstyle, and they can go back to that [with the relevant Tekken 8 skin]."
I have to admit that the first thing I beelined to in the code was Paul, in the hopes of browsing his cosmetic options. Sadly, none were implemented. Not even a mirror match in 2P yielded a drastically different 'do. So we'll have to take Harada's word for it.
On the topic of outward appearances, it has to be noted that our PS5 Tekken code looked fantastic and ran buttery smooth. Not only are the fighters and stages brimming with detail and little destructible accoutrements, but the latter offered vastly different dimensions and breakable elements.
In my notes, I jotted down the "surprises free" octogonal stages of Yakushima, Urban Square and Arena as being 120' x 120', 24' x 24', and 24' x 24', respectively. That said, the square-ish Sanctum stage may begin as a 20' x 24', but wall breaks at either end can drop you down into a sub-level that's a 160' long rectangle. Lastly the 30' x 30' Rebel Hangar locale is a multiple levels affair, if you utilise the Wall Blast and Balcony Break elements to your advantage.
Oh, and can I just quickly say how lovely it is to be free of the Here Comes Next Challenger wait period? The power of the SSD makes for load times shorter than Gon. Four seconds, by my watch, from stage select to stage appearance. Glorious.
In the end, I limped away from my Tekken 8 experience way more bruised than I thought I was going to be, but with a big tooth-missing grin on my lips. After Tekken 7 sold 10 million copies, somehow eclipsing the cultural phenomenon that was Tekken 3, a safe sequel probably could have sufficed. I'm happy to say that Harada and co. have opted to push the envelope instead, and their efforts smack of a sequel that's an uppercut above the rest.
Tekken 8 passes the short-term test in my mind: its blitzkrieg style combat is fast, flashy and furious. More importantly, in the quest to be effective, it's forcing me to throw two decades worth of blocking instincts off a cliff, like some weaksauce Mishima relative. I got a real kick out of relying instead on chestnut fundamentals, like ducking, spacing, and legacy matchup knowledge — the latter of which, I suspect, will require a deep and rewarding recalibration period. I, for one, cannot wait to get back in the ring and get that process started.
Tekken 8 trailers
Adam Mathew loves Tekken 3 the most and Eddie the least. Event travel and accomodation was covered by BNE.
