Tekken World Tour 2022 Finals Announcements

After an initial tease at last year’s EVO tournament and then a full reveal at the Sony State of Play, all eyes were looking toward the Tekken World Tour finals for news about Tekken 8. A teasing tweet with a time during the last day of finals practically confirmed that we would see news.

There was in fact a good amount revealed, including a lengthy explanation of gameplay mechanics for Tekken 8 as well as the reveal of a returning fan-favorite character. Here’s a summary of everything that was announced at the Tekken World Tour 2022.

The TEKKEN World Tour returns for 2023. Get ready for the next battle, beginning March 31st!

More Info: https://t.co/drAMOYUz0M #TWT2023 pic.twitter.com/9yDPtVbNz1

— Bandai Namco Esports (@BNEesports) February 5, 2023

Naturally, it makes sense to announce what the competitive scene can look forward to. The Tekken World Tour 2023 will focus on the seventh mainline entry once again and will begin at EVO Japan. A primary difference from the current world tour is that all the events will return to being offline only. More information will be relayed at a later time, but the general gist of it can be read on the official site.

Some are a little disappointed by the news since it strongly implied that the next entry won’t be coming out this year. Later comments by Harada practically confirm this as he mentions development “may take some time” and that they’re still actively developing Tekken 7.

Next was a breakdown of new gameplay mechanics for Tekken 8 that lasted over 35 minutes. The video can be seen below and I suggest watching it if you have time since the mechanics make more sense in motion, but I’ll try to condense the highlights anyway.

A key theme and the battle concept for the game itself is “Aggressive”. Some of the goals for this concept were to make battles more fun to play and watch. Altogether I’d say the main takeaway to have is that this will be the most offensive-based Tekken title and the mechanics will reward a more aggressive play style.

First up is the Rage System. Fans who played any of the recent entries will be quite acquainted with the comeback mechanic that increases damage after your health reaches a particular low point. Rage Arts will return and be simplified into a universal command. However, Rage Drives have been retooled for the brand-new Heat System mechanic that I’ll get into briefly a little later.

A somewhat new mechanic is a Recoverable Gauge. Previously only seen in the Tekken Tag Tournament series, it allows for characters to retain certain damage they’ve taken in a separate white gauge. What makes this mechanic different is that instead of recovering this health over time, players will need to attack their opponent to trigger the recovery. Some moves, such as low attacks, can reduce this separate gauge.

That brings us to the new core mechanic: the Heat System. It centers around a powered-up “heat state” that runs on a 10-second timer that can be paused if the user is attacking their opponent. Attacks made during this chip away at your opponent’s HP and leave recoverable health. It doesn’t require any meter build-up and can be activated once per round. One way to activate it is with the single button Heat Burst and another is through character-specific Heat Engager moves, the latter of which also results in the character dashing forward. If you’ve played The King of Fighters XV, some of it will remind you of that game’s Max Mode mechanics.

Depending on how you enter the heat state, you’ll also have one or two units of Heat Energy to use. These can be used to activate one of two special moves: a Heat Smash which is essentially a Rage Drive, or a Heat Dash which cancels a move and dashes toward the opponent. Both use up one unit of Heat Energy, but a Heat Smash does end the heat state after being used. Certain attacks also give unique properties to different characters while in the heat state. Some examples shown included Paul’s Death Fist being enhanced to cause a guard break or a dash from King gaining Power Crush armor properties.

A new control style has also been added. Aside from the original Arcade Style, players will also have access to a Special Style which features improved versions of the Easy Combo and Assist features from Tekken 7. Both styles can be used across all modes, including online. You can even switch between them in-game at the press of a trigger.

That leaves us with the last two bits of news. First, on-location closed alpha tests will be held in the future, starting at EVO Japan. Second, Nina has been confirmed as the next fighter! She’s had another strong redesign that leans more into a noir femme-fatale look. This time around she’s gained new moves that revolve around her using twin pistols. Her character reveal trailer can be seen below.