Tekken 8 shows off both its opening cinematic cutscene and a fan-favorite returning fighter in a pair of new pulse-pounding gameplay trailers.
Highlights
Tekken 8 features returning characters like Lee Chaolan and Zafina, delighting fans of the franchise.
The game's story picks up where Tekken 7 left off, with Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima battling for the fate of the world.
The opening cutscene and gameplay trailer showcase intense fights and the powerful martial arts skills of Lee Chaolan.
Fans were just surprised with two exciting Tekken 8 trailers, one revealing the game’s opening cinematic and another showing off the returning character Lee Chaolan. The next chapter of Bandai Namco’s blistering 3D fighting franchise is now over a week away, and much of Tekken 8’s roster and premise have already been shown to the eager gaming public. Many fan-favorite characters from past entries are returning in Tekken 8, with one of the most recent ones highlighted being the warrior tombkeeper Zafina.
Tekken 8’s story will also pick up where previous games left off, with Jin Kazama challenging his father Kazuya Mishima once again as the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Having destroyed Heihachi Mishima once and for all at the end of Tekken 7, Kazuya has set his sights on dominating the entire globe with the help of his G Corporation army. As the only remaining bearer of the Devil Gene, Jin is the only person powerful enough to stop him, setting the stage for one final confrontation with the rest of Tekken 8’s playable combatants caught in the middle.
This battle is the primary focus of Tekken 8’s opening cutscene, which was recently shared on the official Bandai Namco Entertainment America YouTube channel. It begins with Jin and Kazuya fighting in the war-torn Urban Square before switching to a montage of the other Tekken 8 fighters preparing for the coming battle. This leads to an all-out brawl between Jin’s allies and G-Corp along a grassy battlefield, before Jin and Kazuya trade blows once again in the rain as the Tekken 8 logo appears.
The pulse-pounding Tekken 8 opening movie wasn’t the only new footage recently shared on the Bandai Namco Entertainment America YouTube channel, which posted a gameplay trailer featuring returning fighter Lee Chaolan. The “Silver-Haired Demon” demonstrates his powerful martial arts skills in two separate bouts against Tekken 8's Nina Williams and Lars Alexandersson, the former taking place in a mansion stage with destructible walls and windows. While fighting Lars, Lee demonstrates his Special Move, which sees him launch his opponent into the air with a series of kicks before eliminating them with a grenade that explodes in the shape of a rose.
The smug and arrogant Lee Chaolan was introduced in the original Tekken, and has appeared in every subsequent Tekken entry save for Tekken 3. Raised by Heihachi Mishima following the death of his parents, Lee served as a rival to Kazuya in the first game before eventually rebelling against his adoptive father and creating his own robotics company called Violet Systems – itself named after the Violet alter-ego Lee took up in Tekken 4 and the non-canon Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
Now Lee Chaolan is returning to aid in the battle against Kazuya Mishima and the G Corporation in Tekken 8, which marks the start of a new era in the long-running fighting game franchise. With January 26 fast approaching, it won’t be long before players can dive into the action as Lee and a host of other returning Tekken 8 characters in one final battle to determine the future of not only the feuding Mishima bloodline, but the world itself.
Bandai Namco's Tekken 8 will be the franchise's debut entry on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and the fighting game is built in Unreal Engine 5. The story revolves around Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama's relationship.