Tekken 8 Gameplay Trailer At The Game Awards Confirms Return Of Jun Kazama

Fists were flying at The Game Awards tonight, as the first gameplay trailer for Tekken 8 was shown off at the event.

The trailer introduced the story of the game, which sees Kazuya Mishima assume the head of Mishima Zaibatsu after the death of his father Heihachi in the previous game. Multiple returning characters were shown, including Paul Phoenix, Law, Jack, King, and Lars. Most surprising was the appearance of Jun Kazama, Jin's mother, who has not appeared in a core Tekken game since Tekken 2--though she did appear in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Tekken 8 was first confirmed at Evo 2022 in August with a teaser that only lasted a few seconds and featured longtime antagonist Kazuya Mishima--now the big bad of the series after his final clash with his father Heihachi Mishima in Tekken 7--and the franchise's iconic phrase "get ready for the next battle."

More details would be revealed during the PlayStation State of Play in September, which showed off some impressive gameplay of Kazuya and his son Jin Kazama trading blows with each other. While each mainline Tekken game has been a visual showcase using the latest technology, Tekken 8 looks set to go a step further with how it renders characters.

All the character models, backgrounds, and effects seen in the September trailer are the same ones that are used in-game, and some of the new details include small details like how water droplets run down a character's skin. Stages have more dynamic effects playing in the background and you can even see muscles popping as the two Mishimas unleash their best attacks on each other.

Tekken 8 is the latest entry in the long-running fighting game franchise since 2017's Tekken 7 was released, and it will launch on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.