Heihachi Mishima, the mustachioed malevolence of the Tekken series, is going to be the next DLC character for Tekken 8. He was last seen with his loving son Kazuya, who threw him into a volcano. Of course, to be fully submerged in impossibly hot liquid rock is merely a long-running family prank for the cast of this 3D fighting game, sort of like forcing your granddad to do the ice bucket challenge, but with lava. Nobody truly expected the horn-haired headbutter to be fully removed from the series. But I am a little surprised to see him back so soon.
As the third DLC character, Heihachi is due out sometime this autumn, but no hard release date has been confirmed. He follows single-button reprobate Eddy Gordo and Prime Minister of Poland Lydia Sobieska, both recently added to the game’s roster.
As you can probably tell from the trailer, players are also getting an extra chapter of story mode attached to the old man, in which Heihachi is training a posse of hench monks to wavedash over burning coals. Very funny, Mr Mishima. Tekken 8 has “character episodes” for each playable biffer from the base game, but the newer DLC characters haven’t got these. So it’s nice to see that Eddy and Lydia also appear to feature heavily in whatever the old unkillable man is up to. The extra story chapter will be free to all players, we’re told, whether you buy those characters or not.
Like I said in our Tekken 8 review, it’s a solid biff ’em up. My main complaint (aside from lamenting the loss of a slower and more cagey style of play) was that my own particular favourite characters were nowhere to be seen. This is sadly still the case. I can’t see relative C-listers Miguel or Josie coming any time soon. At least not before the likes of Marduk, Lucky Chloe, or Armor King. My best chance is to hold out for jokey supercop Lei Wulong, my go-to for silly fights and messing around. Ah, maybe next year.
Bandai Namco announced the auld curmudgeon’s return at fighting game tournament EVO 2024, where the Tekken 8 finals saw Arslan Ash facing off against Atif Ijaz in a typically tense match with lots of judicious use of the game’s new Heat meter mechanic. So go watch that if you’re curious about what high-level Tekkenizing looks like.
