At The Game Awards 2022 show, Bandai Namco showed off a brand-new trailer for the upcoming Tekken 8, focused on the story and characters. With the conclusion of Tekken 7's support last year, the fighting game developer teased a brand-new entry in the series. While fans got a brief teaser at EVO, the official announcement of Tekken 8 wasn't until September's PlayStation State of Play event, which gave a brief look at the gameplay, running on next-generation hardware to boot.
A week before the show, however, Bandai Namco teased Tekken 8 would make an appearance at The Game Awards, asking fans to tune in. Series producer Katsuhiro Harada also got in on the fun, posting a short video to Twitter about the game's appearance and asked fans to similarly tune into the event. This newest trailer has just dropped, with it giving some insight into what to expect from the next Tekken entry in terms of its story.
This trailer for Tekken 8 kicks off with the protagonist, Jin Kazama, the son of Kazuya Mishima, having a flashback to his childhood. From there, he remembers the happier times with his mother, before cutting to the present with his archnemesis dad. The trailer then shows chaos ensuing within the city, all into the lead up of Jin facing off against his father.
The trailer also showcases other members of Tekken 8's roster, with returning fan favorite characters like King, Marshall, and Paul partaking in the action very briefly. Each character also has a distinctive new look compared to past games, rendered in Unreal Engine 5, which got a lot of praise from the community. However, the big selling point of this trailer is the destined showdown between father and son, with a big battle in both the streets and throughout the skies.
While Jin is getting beat down, he can only think about his mother, Jun Kazama, and how he's failing in the fight against his father. The last shot of the trailer however is a big surprise to longtime fans, where Jun Kazama appears to support Jin, complete with a brand-new model and look, as she imbues Jin with an unknown power. While she is believed to have been killed during the events of the mainline games, her official status is "unknown" and has made appearances in non-canonical games such as Tekken Tag Tournament 2. It is looking like Tekken 8 is going to clear up some of these dangling plot threads, as well as give the spotlight to Jin in a big way.
Tekken 8 is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.