It’s been confirmed recently thatTekken 8is in development and that the studio will be using Unreal Engine 5 to make it. With a long history, stretching back across decades, the series has been a staple for many gamers, with the third entry going down asone of the best fighting games ever, up there with the likes ofStreet Fighter 4andSoul Caliber. The fact that there are eight installments in the franchise, plus a few spin-offs, doesn’t seem to have dwindled the popularity of the games.
Tekken 8was revealed to be in developmentduring the PlayStation State of Play event on September 13. The trailer shows a high-octane fight between two of the series' mainstay characters, Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima. The teaser gives particular attention to the detail in the character models, as well such nuances as rain droplets rolling off their faces. At the moment, there is no release date for this upcoming title, but the trailer itself makes it look like it’s going to be another interesting entry, and a recent interview with the studio unveiled some more details about the game.
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In a recent IGN interview, Bandai Namco Entertainment General Manager Katsuhiro Harada said that the team had made the move to Unreal Engine 5 for thisTekkeninstallment. This will represent the second game in the series to use Epic’s Unreal software, with 2017’sTekken 7using UE4. Before that, the games utilized in-house development kits. Harada says he is very excited about the move to UE5, adding that all models fromTekken 7have been “totally discarded,” with everything being rebuilt in Unreal. He goes on to say thatTekken 8originally started on Unreal Engine 4 before the assets were ported over to the new software.
Over the years, Unreal Engine has becomeone of the most powerful and best video game enginesout there. Its fifth iteration is currently being used to make some hotly anticipated games, such asRedfall,Layers of Fears, and the new installments in theWitcherandTomb Raiderfranchises.
As for the fighting series itself,Tekkengoes way back to the PlayStation 1 era, with that console alone seeing the release of three of the games. Much likeMortal KombatorStreet Fighter, Bandai Namco’s IP has lived through the ages, moving along with game development technology, yet still largely retaining what made the classic releases so beloved.
