Highlights
- Bandai Namco confirms that Tekken 8 will have a larger story mode than Tekken 7, satisfying fans who were disappointed with the previous entry’s story content.
- The game’s story will revolve around the anticipated showdown between Kazuya and Jin, with the involvement of Jin’s mother, Jun.
- Tekken 8’s development budget allowed for an extensive story mode, surprising the staff members involved.
According to Bandai Namco, Tekken 8‘s story mode will be larger than the one seen in Tekken 7. The fighting game genre has had a strong 2023, between the release of new DLC from 2022’s fighting games, the release of Capcom’s Street Fighter 6, and September seeing the launch of NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat 1. Bandai Namco will be hitting the ring with Tekken 8 releasing near the start of 2024, where it is a highly anticipated title as well.
Tekken 8‘s story follows the ending of Tekken 7, where Kazuya Mishima has defeated Heihachi Mishima once and for all. The only remaining member of the Mishima bloodline is Kazuya’s son, Jin Kazuma. This game seems to be setting up the destined showdown between the father and son, with even the long-lost mother of Jin, Jun Kazuma, getting involved in some capacity. For fans who fear the story mode might be like Tekken 7‘s, Bandai Namco has clarified that Tekken 8‘s story mode will be bigger than the prior entry.
In a Famitsu interview with Tekken 8‘s development producer and director Kohei Ikeda and marketing producer Naoya Yasuda, the two staff members were asked about the game’s story mode. They both state that due to the much larger budget being put towards the game, Tekken 8‘s story mode will be bigger than 7‘s. Yasuda recalled the time when they were informed about the budget they were using for the story mode, he laughed at the figure.
Ikeda was similarly shocked at how much content they had made for the game’s story, especially when taking into consideration Tekken 8‘s character roster, which features at least 32 different fighters. He noted he had a hard time connecting them in his head, but notes that fighting games are all about the charm of the characters, which he hoped that the team was able to bring the most out of each of them.
Tekken 7‘s story mode had contained fourteen chapters to play through, which according to HowLongToBeat.com, is roughly 3-4 hours of playtime. With what has been shown so far about Tekken 8‘s story, it’s likely fans will see a bigger and more cinematic story mode, along with encounters with the various Tekken fighters, along with the concluding fight between father and son. This won’t be the only single player content in the game however, as it will also contain the standard Arcade mode, along with a unique Arcade Quest mode.
Tekken 8 will launch on January 26, 2024 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Famitsu (via Noisy Pixel), HowLongToBeat.com
