Tekken 8 review: "We're in the Golden Age for fighting games, and Tekken is the king"

Tekken games and showing off new hardware go together like Jin Kazama and being punched in the face. For a 16-bit kid like me, seeing King grapple his way to domination in Tekken 3's bright blue Skyring was a revelation. Likewise, Tekken 6 on PS3 showed me why the leap from standard definition to high definition was really such a big deal. Now, with Tekken 8 making the decision to only release on current-gen consoles – the only big fighter to do so, with Mortal Kombat 1's Switch version remaining an oddity – I'm finally starting to understand the power of the new consoles. We're in the Golden Age for fighting games, and Tekken is the new king.

Tekken 8's level of detail and visual flair really does justify it as a new-gen exclusive, and it's almost certainly the best Tekken yet. The dojo's floor has been lowered, making it easier than ever for newcomers to step into the ring, while the ceiling of what's possible for fighting game veterans has never been higher. With an immense 32 characters available on the Tekken 8 roster at launch, and a substantial-if-lightweight single player offering, there's enough meat on the bone to make Kuma's nose perk up.

Importantly, online play is silky smooth in my early testing, allowing quick rematches (thanks in part to SSD loading), meaning the salt of a loss doesn't get me down for long. If Tekken is your bag, then you need to book your ring side seats to the King Of Iron Fist Tournament ASAP.

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King of the Ring

Tekken's essentials remain much the same, though everything has been polished to a gleam, with dials twisted to make sure combat is tenser and more aggressive than ever. Fighting in a 3D space (you can dodge in and out, as well as forward and back, with some moves also leveraging that extra axis), you pummel your opponent by exploiting openings – often by knocking them into the air and juggling them with followup strikes.

It's not just the return of Rage Arts – hard-hitting super moves you can use when you enter critical health – that ensure that rounds of combat can turn on a dime, but the new Heat Metre as well. Usable once per round, Heat is a power-up state that can be extended as you land more blows, dishing out special chip damage even if your strikes are blocked (which can be recovered by landing hits of your own).

It adds a whole new level of psychological warfare to every match. Do you use Heat early for an advantage? Late, alongside your Rage, to ensure you can make a comeback? In reaction to your foe also turning up the heat in a challenging battle? All with a touch of R1. It's a three-dimensional tug-of-war – you know, if one of the ropes was a live wire.

Eye of the leopard 

While the outlay of tutorials across Tekken 8's various modes could do a better job of onboarding newcomers (the depth possible here makes it one of the more complex fighters on the market), some spring cleaning makes it possible to find plenty of hooks for beginning to build your own fighting style.

With Heat being so important throughout Tekken 8, you'll quite quickly begin to understand Heat Engagers, where you enter Heat mid-combo instead of activating it with a single button – not only giving you more meter to begin with but also allowing you to close the gap and get stuck in quicker. Tied to each fighter's key moves, the fluidity of this system makes using and discovering Hear Engagers feel natural.

Marked with a stamp in the move list, Heat Engagers are easy to spot, as are other marked abilities like Power Crushes (armored blows that help you attack through an opponent's own onslaught) and Tornadoes (combos that send airborne enemies spinning). From there you'll grab onto little combo strings useful in other situations, be they chains of punches to the head or lower strikes to catch out opponents who don't guard low as much as they should (and from there, I recommend throwing in a grab once a foe begin to catch on – mix it up!).

A Special Style can be toggled on with L1 (unique among fighting games in that you can activate it mid-match) to give you easy access to all these core moves with a touch of a button – which can also teach you when to best use the likes of power crushes and air combos. Though moving between the style and regular play can be a bit hard to master in the middle of a beatdown, making its use as a teaching tool far from perfect.

Punching up

Tekken 8's relatively simple 'two punch buttons, and two kick buttons' combat makes learning how a character functions more intuitive than the often 100-strong move lists initially suggest (though, thankfully, the game highlights 'main techniques' in a separate tab). Tekken 8's graphical prowess does make this fighter look gorgeous in its own right – stages, for instance feature raging waves; the bright lights and packed crowds of the arena; or simply alpaca wandering around a Peruvian coffee farm – but it also helps with readability.

Luxurious animation really makes strings of attacks flow into each other, whether it's Jun Kazama (returning from Tekken 2) doing beautiful twirls as she summons forth bursts of nature to send enemies spinning; or the muscular King flexing his muscles as he moves from one command grab to another.

It's not exactly realistic, though – there's an arcadey snappiness to the quick exchanges of blows (making Tekken 7, which I loved, feel downright sluggish to return to now), and smart features like sparks flying from the impact of strikes help you zero in on exactly what connected, where, and how 'high' the strike was – a benefit for players and those watching alike.

New Blood

Of the 32 characters only three are completely new, though it feels like they all play into this revised animation system beautifully. Coffee fiend Azucena body-pops her way through three stances in the blink of an eye; French super spy Victor twirls blades as he zaps across the stage with mini-teleports; and the mysterious Reina takes (the deceased) Heihachi's Mishima style to more athletic heights, her electric wind god fist paying homage while mixing in flip kicks aplenty alongside dizzying dodges.

Truly delivering on the premise of bringing together the best in their respective fighting styles, every fighter has their own intricacies that, while it can make Tekken 8 feel a bit intimidating at first brush, also makes it deep and rewarding to learn. In some respects, it's almost like having 32 different fighting games all going toe to toe. While the systems remain the same on a broad level, there's a little something different for each challenger, be it additional benefits to activating Heat like elongating certain combos, or just how you activate their Power Crush.

The sheer variety means you'll likely find some characters just move in a way that makes more sense to you, and with so many skills at their disposal the way you pilot a fighter may be different to other players as well. There's something really expressive about playing Tekken 8, though it can be a tough road to really feeling satisfied with the way you're playing. This is far from being to the game's detriment, instead offering more reason to keep fighting. And if you get bored, there's always Tekken Ball – the iconic beach-set combat volleyball mode returns.

Devil man

There's a lot of content to enjoy solo if going up against humans is less appealing. Tekken 8's premier story mode, The Dark Awakens, picks up after the end of the last game as Jin Kazama tries to stop his demonic estranged father, Kazuya Mishima, from wreaking havoc on the world. It's a tale that moves at a glacial pace, and by the ending it feels as if the story has barely moved forward – even if its heartfelt moments can be moving. Often wearing its heart on its sleeve, there are multiple incredibly memeable 'Press X to [REDACTED]' moments. But, in a lot of ways, it just feels like set-up for more to come, especially if you're a Reina convert.

There's some twists on the straightforward fighting to be had – for instance some match-ups use Tekken 8's own mechanics to tell part of the story (for example, you may start with your Rage Art available). Another sequence homage to the classic Tekken Force mode, turning combat into something almost comparable to Dynasty Warriors, though it's incredibly underdeveloped (something that'll be revisited later, perhaps). Outside of The Dark Awakens, there's a traditional Arcade Mode, and Character Episodes, which don't really tell much more of the story and are more of an excuse to continue on the tradition of goofy fighter-specific cinematics (enjoyably so).

Separate story mode Arcade Quest is Tekken's biggest departure yet. While not nearly as fully featured as Street Fighter 6's World Tour, it's a similar concept, casting you as an up and coming custom character who learns the ropes by fighting through a lot of opponents. Where World Tour placed you within the fiction of Street Fighter, Arcade Quest instead is set in a nostalgic world where arcades are thriving, with the new Tekken the game of choice. You travel between arcades to become the best, make friends, learn new skills, and conquer a tournament.

Arcade Quest provides some degree of onboarding for new players (tutorials even slightly change to accommodate your selected default fighter), though it's a haphazard introduction that struggles to really break down how to approach the fighter without overwhelming newbies – something the game as a whole could be better at. But, it's still a heckin' cute adventure, and a very welcome surprise.

Tekken 8 has a depth to it that can feel overwhelming. But it's also a game that doesn't force you to take it all in at once. They call it the electric wind god fist for a reason: with only one touch, you'll feel the spark. This is the King of Iron Fist, a sumptuous feast for the senses that feels like a truly new-generation fighting game in the ring. Being the best at it would be quite a feat, but the journey to bettering yourself is a whole other story – and one that's rewarding to tackle.