Bandai Namco has launched the first Closed Beta phase for Tekken 8, and below you can find an early graphics video comparison between this latest entry and Tekken 7.
This video compares the 3D models of all characters that are present in these two games. Thus, it can give you an idea of the graphical improvements you can expect from the new Tekken game.
For those unaware, Tekken 7 used Unreal Engine 4 and came out in 2017. On the other hand, Tekken 8 is using Unreal Engine 5 and although it doesn’t have any release date yet, we might get it this year.
As we can clearly see, all of the characters look better in Tekken 8. Contrary to the graphical jump between SF5 and SF6, though, I don’t get any “Next-Gen” vibes from it. Yes, T8 looks better than T7. However, it feels more like an upgraded/enhanced version. And, from what I’ve seen, the game is nowhere close to the incredible lighting that Bandai Namco showcased in its reveal trailer.
Apart from having more polygons, all characters in Tekken 8 appear to have subsurface scattering. Skin shading, hair and eyebrows all look much better in this new entry too. However, I was really disappointed by the mediocre cloth and hair physics. This is an area in which Street Fighter 6 saw major improvements, so I don’t really know why T8 looks so bad. And then we have stages with some truly underwhelming water effects. Seriously, the Yakushima Stage has some awfully old-gen-ish water effects.
Now I know some people believe that the final version of Tekken 8 will somehow provide better graphics. To be honest, though, I doubt things will get substantially better. Lighting plays a HUGE role in fighting games regarding “readability”. I mean, seriously. I know a lot of people claim that Tekken 7 got better over time. But take a look at this video that compares its arcade 2014 version with its console/PC version 2018. The lighting and shadows in the arcade version looked BETTER. So no, don’t expect any miracles from the final build of Tekken 8.
Enjoy the video and stay tuned for more!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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