Leading figure of Tekken 8, Devil Jin was inevitably called to join the cast. This alternate version of Jin Kazama draws his power – and sociopathy – from the Devil Gene running in the Mishima family, here allowing its wielder to fly with jet black wings and shoot lasers. We will have seen worse genetic deficiencies. Zafina is a mystical astrologer capable of contorting herself in all directions to attack from unpredictable angles. Besides, Lee Chaolan is still a weapons-making playboy, Alisa is still a chainsaw-armed cyborg, and Panda is still a panda. Their dedicated trailer emphasizes spectacular super-attacks, particle fireworks that almost make you forget that the series is originally about martial arts.
Star power
After Megan Fox in Mortal Kombat 1, Tekken 8 also gets an international star with Vincent Cassel, called to dub the new character Victor Chevalier. Dressed in silky clothes, equipped with a handful of high-tech gadgets and armed with a katana to make Metal Gear Rising pale, the first and only French representative of the saga is the founder of the Raven Force, a troop of elite ninjas aimed at thwarting private militias swarming like mushrooms. Victor Chevalier’s gameplay is quite similar to that of Noctis in the previous episode, with his acrobatic pirouettes, his teleportations punctuated by sword blows or the flashes of light from his handguns.
Bandai Namco also shared a short making-of with Vincent Cassel to go a little deeper into the process. The opportunity to learn that the actorIrreversible is a die-hard Tekken 3 fan: “among the characters there was Eddy Gordo, a capoeirista, and at the time I was doing capoeira myself, so I played exclusively with him. I was therefore flattered to have been chosen to participate in the creation of the voice of the first French character in such an internationally recognized game. I like the character of Victor Chevalier because he is very elegant and I have the impression that he conveys, through his way of being and dressing, a certain idea of French elegance.“Recall that Lili de Rochefort, introduced in Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection, is Monegasque, not French.
Tekken 8 is currently scheduled for January 26, 2024 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.