Tekken 8 recently entered its second year, and while there's a lull between DLC seasons right now, prospects for the game’s future look good. Rangchu was crowned the Tekken World Tour 2024 champion back in December 2024, and this year’s competitive scene is spinning up as Bandai Namco continues work on the game in the background. Meanwhile, Tekken 8 itself is in a good state, with some DLC grouping and pricing controversies and mechanical disagreements nipping at its heels while players continue to enjoy the best Tekken netcode yet and a surprisingly robust suite of single-player modes.
All in all, Tekken 8’s 2025 is starting in a hopeful place, even if what's in it hasn't been unveiled yet. There have been a lot of learning opportunities for the developers themselves in the last year, so it will be interesting to see how Tekken 8 shapes up. It also has some fierce competition in the fighting game market right now, with Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1 progressing through their own second DLC seasons as Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves nears launch. Tekken 8 may be served best by studying the success of its peers, especially one recent surprise added to Mortal Kombat 1.
Explaining Mortal Kombat 1’s Recent Additions
While the January 2025 Conan the Barbarian update for Mortal Kombat 1 was expected to be a routine DLC character patch, players got a big surprise when they started playing it. Amidst rumors of MK1 closing in on the end of its lifespan, NetherRealm Studios saw fit to add a secret boss ninja named Floyd to MK1, and his sudden appearance seemed to shake the community awake. Even though Mortal Kombat 1 didn't have a visible player spike afterward, the online Mortal Kombat community was buzzing with theories, experiments, and formal documentation of MK’s elusive new color ninja.
Floyd Leads To The Field, Mortal Kombat 1’s Meta Secret
Floyd began seeing confirmed defeats a few days into the affair, and in around a week, his challenges and rules were deciphered. Still, it was a breath of fresh air over a year into this NetherRealm Studios fighting game, and the rewards Floyd came with were worth the effort. The mixed-color ninja moveset Floyd used, reminiscent of Mortal Kombat Trilogy’s Chameleon, sadly remains outside of players’ hands, but his new stage, The Field, is unlocked upon his defeat. It might not seem like much, but this stage has been well-received by the MK community, and Tekken’s could enjoy it just as much.
Tekken 8 Would Be A Great Host For A Stage Like The Field
A Calming Field Backdrop Is Perfect For Tekken
A new stage as simple as The Field might seem undercooked for Tekken 8, and conceptually redundant as well. The Field is based on the unique backdrop of Mortal Kombat 1’s reveal trailer, which Tekken 8 already made into its Fallen Destiny stage. Development-wise, The Field is also a repurposed asset that was easier to quickly add, which Tekken 8 also gained when its Tekken Ball arena was repurposed as the Seaside Resort stage. Still, as Street Fighter has long proven, an empty field makes for a great, moody fighting game stage, and Tekken 8 can put its own spin on it.
On top of Tekken's history with empty but scenic stages, Infinite Azure being a recent and memorable example, The Field could become their latest variation by copying one of their features. Tekken 8 currently has no endless stages, a hallmark of the series, and a field at sunset should be plain enough that the old feature fits. Cleaning up the grass obscuring the MK kombatants’ feet, The Field makes for an impactful and cost-effective addition to Tekken 8, which it could certainly use after launching with just 16 stages. As long as Tekken's willing to take it, The Field could look even more impressive in Tekken 8 than it already does in MK1.
Tekken 8
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- January 26, 2024
- ESRB
- t
- Developer(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment, Arika
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- PC, PS5 & Xbox Series X|S
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Fighting
