An Iconic Character Is Coming Back In Tekken 8
This year’s The Game Awards was full of surprises; Kojima announced a sequel to one of his best games, and fans got to see the gameplay trailer for the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and Elden Ring won the Game of the Year award. Admittedly, the latter was totally expected, but what blindsided the fans was the return of Jun Kazama to the upcoming Tekken 8 after being presumed dead for 27 years. Jin Kazama’s mother is set to appear in the upcoming Tekken game.
According to IGN, Jun’s re-appearance will undoubtedly garner some scrutiny, as her return finally confirms multiple fan theories that have sprung up over the past 27 years, many of which have considered her alive and well. For those who aren’t acquainted with the character, Jun was presumed dead prior to the events of Tekken 3, where she faced Ogre, allowing young Jin Kazama to escape. However, it was never officially confirmed whether she survived the encounter with the God of Fighting, and the fans have finally got their answer.
The trailer gave a hint as to how Jin’s redemption narrative would end by showing flashbacks from his early life, particularly his memories of his mother and how she possesses the ability to purge the Devil gene. Beyond the exhilaration and excitement, though, the almost one-and-a-half-minute trailer generated more questions than it did answers, particularly when it comes to Jun. Where has she been all this time? Well, we’ll have to wait for the game’s release to find out. Unfortunately, Bandai Namco hasn’t disclosed any official release date yet.
Besides Jun’s appearance, the new Tekken 8 trailer also brings a closer look at the game’s gameplay mechanics, which is a massive improvement over the announcement trailer, which served more as demo footage rather than the actual trailer. In addition to showing off some of the combat, the Tekken 8 trailer has revealed the new iterations of King, Paul, Lars, Marshall Law, and Jack 8, in addition to the re-introduced guest characters.
Tekken 8 was first announced earlier this year, and it was subsequently confirmed that the game would utilize the recently released Unreal Engine 5. The game will star Jin Kazama as he fights Kazuya Mishima and he attempts to end their conflict for good. How Jun Kazama plays into all of this still remains to be seen, but the fandom is generally excited over the release of the new Tekken game.
The Tekken franchise goes back to the original PlayStation era, which only attests to the quality of Bandai Namco’s game. Interestingly enough, the franchise liver through every possible gaming development technology of the past three decades. However, what really makes the franchise great is that it managed to retain all the aspects that made it great in the first place, despite the technological shift. As things currently are, Tekken 8 still doesn’t have its official release date, but the game is likely to launch sometime in 2023 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
