Tekken 8’s roster and gameplay continue to evolve, adding in returning fighters with completely new visual designs and new moves more suited to the game’s heavily rushdown-oriented style. These characters include returning mainstays like Jin Kazama, Nina Williams, Paul Phoenix, and Kazuya Mishima, just to name a few.
Earlier today, Bandai Namco released a new gameplay trailer for the series’ premier grappler, King. King has been playable in every single Tekken game to date, and Tekken 8 doesn’t plan on breaking that trend. He also shows off a brand-new arena-like stage, shaped like an octagon, and has no mechanics other than the wall. King’s brand-new gameplay trailer (and new stage) can be seen below.
King is one of Tekken’s premier grapplers, bringing chain throws to the game. King also sports multiple brand-new command grabs, including one he can perform after a launcher, which extends combos. A few moves also had some properties changed to better accommodate the new system mechanics.
King’s visual design takes elements of his Tekken 7 costume, though the cape he runs around with is slightly redesigned in the front. His wrestling gear retains the same yellow and blue color scheme he’s sported for 29 years, and his visual changes extend to gameplay, too; several command grabs, including the new ones, have brand-new camera work, making everything feel more dynamic.
King’s Rage Art was shown off, too, as well as various victory animations for the character. Overall, compared to the other characters shown off, King, Nina, Paul, and Law are the only characters to have been in every game thus far. Other characters like Yoshimitsu (who isn’t in the game yet) are currently missing, but we’ll update if more of these characters appear.
It should be mentioned that King’s inclusion brings the potential question out; when will other grapplers like Marduk and Armor King come to Tekken 8? Both of them were DLC characters in the previous title, and in the case of Marduk, has been here in every game since Tekken 4. However, they haven’t been seen in-game yet, so it’s unclear if they will come back or not.
We’ll continue to update as more information on Tekken 8, including characters, story, trailers, and DLC, is released. Tekken 8 is slated to release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam at a later date. Pre-order information has currently not been disclosed as of this point in time.
