Tekken 8

Round one: the first night

Tekken has always had a steep first hill: dozens of moves per fighter, ten-string combos and a whole language of side steps. Tekken 8 does more than its predecessors to help. Special Style puts strong combos and key moves on single buttons, and you can flip it on and off mid-match. Arcade Quest walks you through the basics with an avatar story set in arcades, and it is genuinely charming.

The story mode, The Dark Awakens, is a big, daft, spectacular end to the Mishima saga, and the Character Episodes give each fighter a short arcade run with an ending. There is a lot to do alone before you queue.

Heat turns every character into an attacker. Tekken has never felt this urgent, or this loud.

Round two: online

It runs on rollback netcode with crossplay across PlayStation, Xbox and PC, and the queues are healthy. The replay system is excellent: it pauses where you lost a round and suggests what to try instead.

Super Ghost Battle deserves a mention. The game learns how you play, and you can fight AI ghosts of other players. It is the best warm-up in any fighting game.

Round three: depth

This is where Tekken 8 wins its score. The Heat system gives every fighter a burst of aggression once per round, and recoverable health rewards you for staying on the attack. With 42 fighters and around a hundred moves each, nobody runs out of things to learn. Steve Fox, the British middleweight boxer who fights without kicks, is one of the most distinctive characters in the genre.

The flip side is time. To compete online you will want to know what the common moves of every fighter do, and that takes months, not weeks.

Round four: the bill

The base game is £34.99. Three seasons of fighters cost £24.99, £24.99 and £28.99 as character-only passes, so the full cast by early 2027 is about £114. The Tekken Shop sells outfits for Tekken Coins at fixed prices, and none of it affects play.

Unlike some rivals, every pass fighter is also sold alone at £6.49, which is the better buy if one character is the reason.

Season 1 (Eddy, Lidia, Heihachi, Clive Rosfield) and Season 2 (Anna, Fahkumram, Armor King, Miary Zo) are complete, each sold as a Character Pass or as a Character & Stage Pass for £32.99. Season 3 has Kunimitsu and Bob out, Roger Jr. due on 17 November 2026 and Yujiro Hanma in early 2027. Every pass fighter is also sold alone for £6.49.

Who to pick first

Before your first ranked match

1. Try Special Style in practice first: it shows you which moves your fighter relies on.
2. Learn to block low. Most new players lose to the same two or three low attacks; stand still and watch for them.
3. Use Heat once per round on purpose, not by accident. A planned Heat Smash wins more rounds than a panicked one.

Is it for you?