In what was a surprising twist, Tekken 8 got a full-on system and mechanics breakdown video during the Tekken World Tour finals this weekend. The 36-minute explanation features series director Katsuhiro Harada and game director Kohei Ikeda as they cover all of the sequel's gameplay additions. And yes, there's plenty of gameplay footage.
If you're not already big on Tekken, then this video might not do much for you — but it's fair to say that the development team is making big changes. As previously promised, Tekken 8 will greatly reward aggressive play, introducing an entirely new system called 'Heat'. This is a new bar that's found below the health gauge, and upon activation, it allows characters to enter a 'heated' state in which their offensive abilities are enhanced for a limited time.
You could argue that adding yet another mechanic on top of Tekken's already complex fighting system is a bit much, but the team hopes to counteract this newfound depth with a second control mode. At any time during a match, you can hold down L1 and open up a list of key moves, each attached to a single button. According to Harada and Ikeda, this should let players of all skill levels get used to the flow of combat, especially now that the Heat system is in place.
And just to top things off, Nina Williams has been confirmed as a returning character. Her fresh design looks fantastic, and she's not afraid of pulling out a couple of pistols during her combos.
Despite all the new information, though, we still don't have any kind of release window for Tekken 8. Harada comments that development is going well, but it "may take some time".
Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
What do you make of all these Tekken 8 details? Give us a Heat Engager in the comments section below.
Comments 20
I am personally loving everything they showed and explained throughout the entire video. Yes, adding more mechanics may make the game even more daunting for newcomers, but changing some older mechanics to make it easier is gonna help combat that. Gonna be interesting to see how it turns out.
Not the biggest fan of Nina's new look. But do very much like playstyle she's showing.
Not watched the full gameplay video yet, but I personally like Nina's look.
So it sounds like the L1 button is kind of implementing something like SF6's modern controls into the standard controls instead of separating them into completely different control schemes.
It's certainly interesting seeing the different approaches to making these next entries more casual friendly while trying to retain the depth series veterans are used to in each game. I already like the way SF6 is doing it. I'm interested to try T8's approach too.
I like how they're using the Heat moves partly for new players to learn specific moves for each character. As someone who's not really put much time into Tekken since number 3 when I think about it, this makes it less intimidating for me to jump back in. I recently got an arcade stick with a view to playing this and SF6 and both are looking amazing
Nice to see Nina. She’s been my main since the first game!
Mortal Kombat is the peak of fighting games for me I do like Tekken though & then dead or alive because hot girls & boobs lol
@Bentleyma is Nina the one that usually in a wedding dress can't remember
The graphics got downgraded to hell I’m still excited for game.
She looks great, just like in every game. Can’t wait
Nice to see Nina in fine form, and I’m sure her sister won’t be far behind. It’s almost enough to make me want to dig out my copy of Death by Degrees. But I think I’ll settle for a few rounds of Tekken 7 instead.
Wow it is going to be hard for me to decided what game to buy and try and get good at between Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6. Both just look so good and fun . Not sure i want to get both tho I am sure thats the right answer, maybe i will get Tekken 8 on my PS5 and Street Fighter 6 on my Series X. Not sure yet, but i am loving Nina and the overall look of T8.
Nina's new look is nice (and definitely better then the wedding dress despite how "hot" that may have been), especially her short hair. Guessing Anna will have long hair then lol. I'm fine with that.
Kinda cool that she is using her guns in gameplay for the first time outside of her spin-off, I didn't see that one coming.
@Would_you_kindly: Yep thats her. The 'default wedding dress' outfit was just for Tekken 7 though.
Eh, not a fan. Why do they need to "jazz up" Tekken? They already added those special attacks that are found in Mortal Kombat and do loads of damage and take you out of the game for a minute. Then there's all the silly skins stuff that just smashes and realism or maturity.
This just looks like another annoying addition that, in my opinion, isn't needed in Tekken
i can totally see Bayonetta as a DLC character taking on Nina...in a mud pit arena
Once again, only the men are allowed to show their age in a Tekken game. A fifty-year-old woman with wrinkles? That just will not stand!
@NinjaNicky I'm like 95% sure both will - not at launch but every new character with be paid DLC / on season pass, that's just how fighting games are released now.
The only one I can think of that didn't do this in recent years was Melty Blood - ale the new characters are free in that one.
@NinjaNicky if we go back to the days of having to unlock characters again , then i’d rather just straight-up pay to unlock them all at once or something . it can be a waste of time for some people .
i remember when my smash ultimate save got deleted and i had to unlock all 70 or whatever characters again , it was testing my patience hard
Hyped even more for this game now. Nina is my favorite Tekken character.
@NinjaNicky yeah they should do both
I feel like they took her down 3 cup sizes and made her face kinda busted.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...