Tekken 8 Tries to Balance Old and New – TGS 2023

23.09.2023 - 02:01 / ign.com / Katsuhiro Harada / New

At a special showcase for members of the press at Bandai Namco Entertainment in Tokyo, Japan, I had a chance to play an early build of Tekken 8. While renowned director Katsuhiro Harada’s latest sequel will launch with 32 characters, only 16 were available during this meeting. The roster included a blend of old and new faces, including long-established stars like Paul Phoenix and Jin Kazama alongside more recent creations like Claudio Serafino and Lars Alexandersson. However, series producer Michael Murray stated that all Tekken 8 models have been redesigned from scratch, befitting the transition from the Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5.

With a series that celebrates its 30th anniversary next year, Tekken walks a tricky line. The 3D fighter has built up a fan base all over the world over three decades, but the franchise necessarily needs new blood to remain competitive. Tekken 8 will try to satisfy both crowds with dual control options: Arcade style retains the classic four-button attack scheme—one input per limb—while Special style lets players execute command moves and complex combos with simple button presses. Murray emphasized the importance and flexibility of Special style, acknowledging that other long-running fighting games have introduced similar systems. "Ours, you can turn on or off in the middle of a match any time you want," he said.

New to Tekken 8, players using Special style can combine buttons and single directional inputs to activate more moves than seen in Tekken 7. The on-screen user interface has also improved; Tekken 7 included a guide telling players which buttons triggered which move, but used the given name for these attacks, which a new player might not understand. Tekken 8's Special mode actually describes what type of attack each button performs – it’s a handy shortcut to give everyone a quicker sense of how moves work and flow together.

Even with this expanded repertoire, Murray noted that Special mode will remain "simple and accessible" but "limiting," as it cannot compare with the classic Arcade inputs when it comes to player freedom. His hope is that new players can use Special style to lower the barrier of entry and, once they grasp the basics, they will feel motivated to graduate to the traditional Arcade style.

As a lapsed Tekken player, I could see exactly what he meant. In my time with Tekken 8, Special style certainly helped refresh my fundamentals and offered a shortcut to create long combos with every character, regardless of my previous experience. When I built up enough meter, tapping just one button enough times automatically tacked a devastating Rage Art onto the end of my combos. When combined with Tekken 8's new Heat system that rewards aggressive play,