During the PlayStation State of Play live stream today, we were all treated to some excellent news: Tekken 8 is happening! While the game has been teased once before, this is the longest, most descriptive trailer for the game so far. Now we know the title is for sure Tekken 8 and we know that it will be coming to PlayStation 5 at least. It definitely isn’t gameplay, but it’s Tekken. I’m sure we all have a good idea of what gameplay will look like.
This flashy cinematic trailer kicked off the event with an epic fight between the son and father, Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima. On a seaside cliff, as the sea raged and the rain poured, the two returning powerhouse characters of the franchise faced off. We don’t have any information in regard to the plot yet, so don’t know why there was so much G Corporation armor broken and strewn across the rocks. We can guess that it has something to do with the super-powered fighters though because Jin says, “People like us shouldn’t even exist in this world.”
Amidst multiple tornadoes and lightning flashes, the two fighters with the Devil Gene swap supercharged punches and kicks. Kazuya flashes his red eye, a symbol of the genetic abnormality that grants him so much power, but Jin takes it a step further. After being knocked down, he drags himself back up and both of his eyes glow red. We see a black wing behind him momentarily before he hits Kazuya with a powerful punch. Since Kazuya is Jin’s father, and both of them possess the Devil Gene, is this a new level of the gene? Has Jin unlocked his gene?!
We’ll just have to wait and see on that front. As far as why the game is being announced with a standoff between Kazuya and Jin, despite the fact that they’ve been enemies in almost every game, it goes back to the ending of Tekken 7. Jin makes a bold statement after Kazuya killed his own father, Jin’s grandfather. He vowed to kill Kazuya once and for all. Since the last game ended on that note, it makes sense that’s where we would begin for the newest installment. Jin isn’t 100% good, but at least he doesn’t want to destroy the world. He just wants to destroy his bloodline. The Devil Gene is powerful, and clearly, Jin does not believe that it should be allowed to carry on.
This motivation to eradicate the gene would also be turned on himself, so going into Tekken 8, we have a lot of questions. Did Jin just realize the full potential of the Devil Gene? And if so, does this mean Kazuya could too? If Jin succeeds in his goal, will this be the last Tekken game ever? All the questions and zero answers, but keep an eye out for more news moving forward. No release date was announced, so we may be in for a long wait full of tidbits and teasers.
