Tekken 8 free download, new modes officially announced

In the last year, fans of the fighting genre have been spoiled rotten with three of the best games that the genre has to offer in recent memory, the latter being Tekken 8.

Last year we were treated to Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1. With such stiff competition, it would be tough for any game to live up to the standard set by the 2023 releases, even for an established series such as Bandai Namco’s Tekken. Alas, Tekken 8 graced us with its presence in January 2024, establishing itself alongside its fierce rivals. Oh, and it looks gorgeous powered by Unreal Engine 5.

Check out the Tekken 8 trailer below!

In my review of Tekken 8, I said: “Tekken 8 is the most satisfying and fun 3D fighting game that I’ve played in years. Aside from its five to six-hour ‘The Dark Awakens’ campaign, there’s so much more fun to be had with the latest entry in the iconic arcade series from Bandai Namco whether it's fine-tuning your skills locally against AI or friends, or daring to take on other players worldwide.”

Those who own the Tekken 8 season pass, can look forward to a batch of new playable characters as well as other additional bonuses. However, regardless of whether you have or haven't purchased the season pass, owners of Tekken 8 can look forward to a new and free upcoming story campaign, in addition to the two story campaigns already included in the base game.

There was an assumption that each of the DLC characters would have their own story mode, but Tekken director and producer, Katsuhiro Harada corrected a recent tweet from BuffGigas. Instead, it seems that there will be a free story mode, but it will feature all DLC characters, rather than being individual. What’s more, this free story mode will allow all owners of Tekken 8 to try the DLC characters which will include the likes of Eddy Gordo, as well as three others yet to be announced.

The free story mode will be released sometime after May this year and will add further lore to the main campaign ‘The Dark Awakens’. In the tweet that Harada corrected, there was also a mention of a photo mode and other features being on the way. Harada did not correct anything else other than the free story campaign, so we can assume that the rest of the information is true.

Tekken 8 is out now on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.