The leaks didn’t mean much after all, considering Bandai Namco decided to confirm Tekken 8’s full base roster total and release date during Gamescom Opening Night Live today—alongside a brand new mode for the franchise.
During the presentation, Tekken 8 director Katsuhiro Harada and producer Michael Murray took the stage and revealed the remaining characters joining the battle this time around and the new mode, Arcade Quest.
Kuma, Yoshimitsu, and several other fighters that had yet to be shown off all got some spotlight with slick redesigns, and we should see more of them later. It was confirmed that T8’s base roster will be made of 32 characters, though we still haven’t seen everyone yet—even if this all but confirms the original roster leak from earlier this month.
In total, the presentation showed off Shaheen, Steve Fox, Leo, and Dragunov alongside Yoshimitsu and Kuma. Info on Panda was also shown, leaving roughly seven characters for Bandai to still show off leading into the now-confirmed Jan. 26, 2024 release date.
As for the new mode, Arcade Quest is going to be completely separate from the “Mishima storyline that players expect” and instead focus on players in the “arcade scene.”
Arcade Quest will feature avatar creation in the form of chibi characters, and an area reminiscent of Street Fighter 6’s Battle Hub, if a bit flashier and more on the arcade-y side. It looks to have a focus on online play, tournaments, and fighter customization, though there is still a lot we don’t know about this mode.
With a release date now confirmed, Bandai and the Tekken team will likely be dropping the remaining character reveals at upcoming fighting game tournaments and any other big content showcases at events like a PlayStation Showcase or The Game Awards on Dec. 7.
