The first thing I did in Tekken 8 was what anybody who knows the score would do: I made my dude look rad as hell.
I dove right into that customization menu and pulled up King, the tiger-headed luchador that has been piledriving fools since the very first game back in 1994. King’s normal appearance is impeccable, as if the original Tiger Mask was an actual animal-man hybrid and not just a guy in a mask, but there’s almost always room for improvement. And with Tekken 8’s wardrobe options I was able to give King what is widely considered the absolute best fashion choice in the whole wide world of wrestling: the classic lucha combo of a mask, suit and tie. I put King in a mask that was like a cross between Jushin Liger’s and Ultimo Dragon’s: it didn’t have the wig of Liger’s, or the two huge horns that stick out at right angles from Liger’s head, but there were three smaller horns sprouting from the temples and forehead, with the middle one a little bit bigger than the other two, similar to Dragon’s mask and echoing the main central piece of Liger’s. Its orange and red color scheme made it clear this mask belonged to some kind of dragon-themed wrestler. Then I picked out a powder blue suit with a light purple tie on a cream shirt, slapped a title belt on his waist, and voila: the perfect fighting game character. Peak male apparel. A true King.
I maybe spent too much time fiddling with my little guy’s little clothes. We only had three hours during this preview event, after all, with two major modes to try out, and ideally some time spent dusting it up with the other journalists in the session. And despite how amazing my King looked, I didn’t get to see him in action for a little bit. I slid into the main story mode after picking out King’s new threads, and immediately found myself neck deep in the endless drama of the Kazama-Mishima family—with all the devil transformation and city-destroying father-son brawls that entails.
From the chapters I played last week, Jin Kazama is once again the star of the Tekken show, duking it out with his dad Kazuya Mishima and entering the King of Iron Fist tournament to save the world from his old man’s evil plans. (As Mishima says, solemnly, ominously, he hopes to “make a bloodbath of this decrepit rock,” destroying all the world’s communications and military satellites to make that just a little bit easier.) Tekken’s producers proudly touted how the series has the longest-running continuous story in videogames, something the Guinness Book apparently recognizes, and anybody who loves the infamously absurd, over-the-top action of that story can rest assured that Tekken 8 doesn’t suddenly shoot for cinéma vérité. Based on the 90 minutes or so I played of the story mode, it’s still made up of the most ridiculous plot beats, but played completely, deadly serious, which is exactly the sweet spot something like this needs to hit for maximum impact. We should absolutely laugh with Tekken’s story, but it would collapse like one of the buildings Jin and Kazuya smash each other into if the game itself didn’t treat that story with the reverence of an old Hollywood Bible epic.
From a gameplay perspective, Tekken 8 remains focused on lightning-fast action with an emphasis on air combos. Perhaps the biggest change in Tekken 8 is the introduction of the Heat system. A blue Heat bar beneath the health meter slowly fills up as players dish out and take punishment; when activated after a “Heat Burst” or “Heat Engager” attack, a fighter hits harder and faster, doing far more damage per attack and inflicting chip damage with every blow. Two special attacks also become available, a “Heat Dash” that expands combo options, and a “Heat Smash” which deals a massive blow against the enemy. Both of those moves fully deplete the Heat meter, no matter how much is left, and since Heat can only be used once a round, it’s important to deploy it strategically and accurately. It can quickly swing a fight, making it an invaluable tool to master. Tekken 8 also boasts an optional new control scheme called Special Style that simplifies everything for newcomers. For instance, it lets players reel off combos with single button presses. It’s part of a larger movement in the fighting game world to make games mores accessible to new players, and although I’m too old to learn newfangled biz like this, it’s exactly what decades-old games like Tekken need to stay relevant for future generations.
With a huge international cast (all speaking their native language, which is unique and cool enough that I won’t even make a joke about how everybody apparently understands everybody else) and a story about solving planet-threatening geopolitical crises with a martial arts tournament, Tekken 8’s story mode feels like a cross between a big budget espionage thriller and a classic kung fu movie. The section I played at the demo exclusively featured Jin Kazama as the playable character, and took a special interest in the new character Reina, who might be a secret child of former series villain Heihachi Mishima. Given Tekken’s love of huge story swings, though, it’s entirely possible Reina is the reincarnation of Heihachi, or some kind of sci-fi situation where the rich and powerful implant their personalities and memories into younger bodies when they die, or something. The truth of Reina is clearly positioned as one of the story’s mysteries, and I won’t lie: I am a little interested in whatever her deal is.
The other mode highlighted at the demo is called Arcade Quest, and it’s much more open-ended than the story mode. It’s got some minor RPG elements, and cutesy avatars that look like big headed anime tweens who are all almost unreasonably excited about Tekken 8. It also lets players train a ghost that learns from every battle, for whenever they want to fight a computer-controlled AI version of themselves. Per the name, it’s set in a series of arcades around the world, where these Mii-looking avatars gather to play the game for fun and recognition. This is where King’s amazing new style came into play; I wiped the floor with my NPC opponents and their chosen characters, and looked amazing doing so in my crisp suit. Instead of flowing directly from fight to fight with a cutscene in between, I moved my little avatar throughout these arcades like it was a 3D adventure game, challenging other characters to fights, or just walking up to an in-game arcade cabinet.
Arcade Quest has a story as well, and like its cutesy design aesthetic it feels a little out of sync with the rest of Tekken 8. The story mode assumes familiarity with the series, with only an optional recap prepping newcomers for the madness about to come. Arcade Quest is clearly built for new players, though, not just those new to Tekken but those who might not even be familiar with the arcade experience. This was confirmed in a later interview with director Kohei Ikeda and producer Michael Murray, who explained how Arcade Quest was hoping to recreate what it felt like to play fighting games in arcades for players too young or too remote to have done that firsthand. It’s a noble goal, but one Arcade Quest might struggle to accomplish, based on the demo; unlike the photorealistic backgrounds of the matches and the large, vibrant fighters, Arcade Quest has an unpleasantly cartoonish aesthetic that jars with the rest of the game. No matter how much time and effort was spent designing Arcade Quest, its stock characters, poorly written dialogue, and awkward scenarios created an impression that it’s undercooked compared to the story mode.
There was also one thought that nagged in the back of my head throughout Arcade Quest: this mode felt instantly out of date compared to last year’s Street Fighter 6 and its excellent World Tour and Battle Hub modes. I could customize my avatar in Arcade Quest, but I couldn’t fight as them, or custom build my own moveset, and cosmetic items don’t appear to have any in-game impact. The arcades in Arcade Quest are full of in-game cabinets displaying classics like Galaga, Xevious, and Dragon Spirit, but Murray and Ikeda confirmed that those games won’t be playable, unlike the older arcade games found all throughout Street Fighter 6. Arcade Quest aims to be a single-player experience that helps newcomers learn how to play a fighting game, while giving them a glimpse of arcade culture in the process, and Ikeda said that having playable versions of games other than Tekken 8 would distract from that. That’s probably true, but Street Fighter 6 has conditioned players to expect a game shown on a cabinet to be playable, even if it’s an arcade game from the ‘80s. (I spent way too much time playing SonSon in World Tour.) In no way does Tekken 8 need a playable version of an obscure old shmup about a two-headed dragon to be good, but showing Dragon Spirit and not letting me actually play it feels like a step back from expectations established by one of Tekken’s fellow elite fighting game franchises over half a year ago. It’s very minor, but it all adds up to make Arcade Quest feel antiquated before it even launches.
The absolute worst thing about Tekken 8, as far as I can tell: I couldn’t make Kuma look like the Muppet character Chuck Stoat from Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. There are very little customization choices for Kuma, the bear (like, a straight-up bear) that’s been one of Tekken’s coolest characters since the beginning. Tekken 8’s Kuma wears a jean vest, meaning he’s already a third of the way to looking like the heavy from Emmet Otter—y’know, the coolest Muppet ever. Sadly you can only change Kuma’s entire outfit, and not do it piece by piece as with human-shaped fighters, and there were only a handful of costume changes available for him in the demo. So I wasn’t able to stick a long sleeve red shirt under Kuma’s vest, or add a pin that reads CHUCK to the pocket. I did give him a pair of shades and a white hat, although it was more like a tiny cowboy hat than the crumpled bucket hat Chuck wears. I realize this is probably the most inane and useless thing anybody will write about Tekken 8 in all of the previews that go live today, perhaps ever, and it’s so utterly insignificant and meaningless that I am not seriously holding it against the game. But I still feel it important to note that I saw a bear who already looked like Chuck Stoat, assumed I could finish the job, and couldn’t. So if you similarly dream of the leader of the Riverbottom Nightmare Band as your main in Tekken 8, I have bad news for you.
Oh shit, even worse news: apparently Chuck Stoat isn’t even a bear, but something called a stoat. I thought it was weird he had a last name that wasn’t just the type of animal he is. Turns out I just know squat about stoats and associated mustelids.
Again: none of this is a dealbreaker. I don’t need my fighting games to let me play shooters I already own on a half-dozen devices, or turn my fighter into an obscure Muppet metalhead. Tekken 8 seems to nail what matters the most: the actual fighting experience is excellent, the story mode appears to be slickly produced and full of the stone-faced absurdity Tekken fans expect, and when my three hours with the demo were up I wasn’t ready to stop playing. A demo hits the PlayStation 5 on Dec. 14, and lands on the Xbox Series X|S and PC a week later, so I won’t have to wait long to get back into it—and hopefully put King right back into that new mask and fancy suit.
Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, comedy, travel, theme parks, wrestling, and anything else that gets in his way. He’s also on Twitter @grmartin.