Meanwhile, an additional story mode titled Unforgettable Echoes focuses on Lidia Sobieska, Eddy Gordo, and Yoshimitsu on uncovering the Mishima Clan's ancient history, as well as the resurrection of Heihachi himself.

Katsuhiro Harada, the game's producer, stated that Tekken 8 will be "more aggressive" than its predecessor, indicating that the system will reward players who are proactive in attacking rather than those who are defensive.

When a character unlocks the "Heat" state, they cause not only chip damage and additional movesets, but also changes the properties of some of their moves, such as a heavy guard break.

The "Screw" mechanism was removed from Tekken 8 and replaced with a "Tornado" extender; the system places opponents in a ground-bound state when they fall to the ground quickly.

Harada stated that Tekken 8 aims to provide a more cinematic fighting experience, with a focus on stage destructions and specific characters' reactions to them.

Amidst the chaos, Kazuya, now openly revealing his devil form to the public, announces a new King of Iron Fist Tournament, where representatives of various nations fight one another.

Jin manages to secure a spot in the main tournament, defeating Reina and his old rival Hwoarang, occasionally showing bursts of his devil powers in combat.

Zafina reveals to Claudio the reason Jin declared a third world war against Kazuya during his time leading Mishima Zaibatsu was to lure the demonic creature Azazel and destroy it.

He reveals that Azazel granted the gene to ancient man, creating devils to act as its servants, and to access its power, one must have a strong desire.

As both Yggdrasil, UN, and Claudio's team begin their assaults, Jin and his expanded allies are too late to realize that the tournament was a set up by Kazuya to lure Zafina, and gather enough dark energies surrounding the turmoil of coliseum during the finals to resurrect Azazel's physical form.

In an attempt to buy time for Jin and his allies to escape, Claudio uses his powers and manages to injure Kazuya, seemingly at the cost of his life.

Believing that there is a way to regain control of his devil powers, Jin embarks on a journey to the Kazama Sanctum at his birthplace in Yakushima, deep in the forests of the island, where Jun presumably died at the hands of Ogre.

On route to Yakushima, Emilie De Rocherfort reveals that Jin is now the sole survivor of a main branch of the Kazama Clan, which is facing extinction after Jun's disappearance.

Lars retreats to the forest to protect Jin from Kazuya, while Reina, believing that near death would awaken some sort of power for her, lets herself be seemingly killed in the blast.

[c] After a lengthy fight against himself, Jin finally accepts his devil side and regains full control of his powers, just in time to save Lars from Kazuya's attack.

[d] In a mid-credit scene, Reina stands from the ground and vows to avenge her father, Heihachi, while assuming her newly awakened Devil form.

Two months prior to the story, Eddy Gordo has been working alongside the Polish prime minister, Lidia Sobieska, to recruit rebel Tekken Force soldiers for the fight against G Corp.

After Reina leaves, Lidia is tested by the mysterious warriors known as the Tekken Monks, who request her services after determining she's of sound body and mind to assist their latest recruit, Heihachi Mishima.

After Heihachi was defeated by Kazuya in their previous battle, the high priest of the monks, Seiryu, rescued him just before his body hit the lava and helped him recover, as well as faking his death from the public, including Reina.

Development of Tekken 8 was first teased in August 2022 at Evo 2022, with an official presentation made the following month at Sony's State of Play event.

However, Harada remarked that the final scene of the trailer involving broken chains act as symbolism to Jin breaking free from the conflicts he has been connected to for several games.

While they were working on Tekken 3, game directors Masamichi Abe, Yutaka Kounoe, Harada, and the rest of the development team noticed the decline of the arcade market.

[17] Advocates for accessibility have reported that Tekken 8's options for colorblind or disabled audiences could result in moderate to severe health issues including vertigo and migraines.

In an article by Eurogamer, Harada was portrayed as dismissing these concerns as a misunderstanding by "very few" people who were unfamiliar with the game's accessibility options or how they appear in-game.

[19] Due to changes in the game industry, Harada claims that putting animal fighters was hard to the new installment, leaving the decision to make Panda and Kuma the same but with different skins.

[31] Between April and May, character trailers for Ling Xiaoyu, Leroy Smith, Asuka Kazama, Lili, Hwoarang, and Bryan Fury were released.

[38] Yohei Shimbori, who previously worked for Team Ninja on the Dead or Alive series, joined the project as an assistant director and producer.

[40] Over the course of the month, character trailers for Shaheen, Kuma, Panda, Alisa Bosconovitch, Zafina, Lee Chaolan, and Devil Jin were released.

GamesRadar+ rated it five stars, stating that "proves that plenty of depth makes for a vibrant fighter, justifying its current-gen exclusivity to deliver a skull-thrasher that really feels like an evolution rather than a simple update.

PC Gamer specifically pointed out the lack of offline modes which were featured in previous games, such as Team Battle, Survival, and Time Attack.