A new trailer for Bandai Namco’s upcoming fighting game Tekken 8 has dropped, revealing another mainstay character of the series returning for this entry.
Nina Williams is back and has ditched the wedding dress for a more silent assassin look. And guns. She now goes guns akimbo as part of her moveset. Tekken is mostly about melee brawls (outside of some exceptions) but more and more characters are utilising weapons this time around.
The reveal also comes together with a breakdown of new gameplay systems you can expect from the 3D fighting game. Tekken 8 is designed around “aggressive” gameplay which rewards offensive play.
The Rage system, which debuted in Tekken 6, returns, but with some tweaks. Rage Art is now a universal command on all characters, but Rage Drive has been removed and replaced.
There is now a Heat State, where you can trigger by a button press (Heat Burst) or activated after using a special move (Heat Engager). Moves with Heat Engager, around five per character on average, are core moves that you should learn to use, and having it trigger Heat State should incentivise this. In Heat State, you can do chip damage on opponents (so you should still hit them even if they block), do a Heat Smash (similar to Tekken 7’s Rage Drive, consumes all heat for massive damage) or a Heat Dash (cancels a Heat Engager move to dash, consumes Heat). There’s a Heat Energy bar that depletes once it’s activated, but won’t deplete during a chain of attacks.
Also, chip damage can be healed. Referred as recoverable gauge, any silver bar health can be recovered, ala the Tekken Tag series, but not over time. Rather, it only heals back by, you guessed it, landing hits and attacks. Doesn’t matter if the opponent blocks it or not.
The many systems revealed should incentives players to keep on the pressure and go on the offensive.
Lastly, Tekken 8 will feature an alternate control that’s optional, but not something you select in an options menu. By default, you can play with “Arcade Style”, but there is a Special Style control that appears when you press L1/left bumper. This turns the controls to be more like an action game. You can do combos by mixing button presses, and the moves that appear will change based on context.
Special Style isn’t something that can be turned off, it’s integrated directly into the controls. Any player can access Special Style which is designed to still be useful for advanced players, but can be ignored. Special Style controls are not disabled in online matches.
It’s a different philosophy from what games like Street Fighter 6 are doing, but it will be interesting to see how well it is implemented. Hopefully, it’s good enough for beginners and not too much for seasoned veterans to feel irksome about its inclusion.
Tekken 8 is expected to release sometime this year for the PS5, PC and Xbox Series X|S.