Tekken 8 releases next month and it will be the first fighting game powered by Unreal Engine 5. However, as an UE5 title, it will be a huge disappointment. Tekken 8 will not support Lumen, Nanite or Virtual Shadows Maps. Not only that but the game’s lighting has been severely downgraded since its announcement trailer.
Before continuing, let’s get one thing straight. We are not judging here Tekken 8’s gameplay. For those unaware, I’m a huge Tekken fan. Tekken 7 was my most-played game on Steam in 2023, and I’m certain that Tekken 8 will be my most-played game in 2024. I’ve also participated in both the Closed Network Testing and the Closed Beta builds. However, I can’t turn a blind eye to how technologically disappointing Tekken 8 will be.
For starters, Tekken 8 will not be using any of the key techs of Unreal Engine 5. Yes, T8 looks significantly better than T7. However, Bandai Namco could have easily used UE4 instead of UE5. Right now, Tekken 8 feels like an Unreal Engine 4 game inside UE5. So, Bandai Namco used UE5 as a marketing tool and nothing more. This isn’t a true UE5 fighting game.
I mean, take a look at Mortal Kombat 1. Mortal Kombat 1 uses Unreal Engine 4 and has amazing physics, as well as some of the most detailed characters in a fighting game. Tekken 8 with UE5 should, in theory, look significantly better. However, that’s not the case.
The biggest offender here though is the game’s lighting system. Tekken 8’s debut trailer impressed everyone when it came out. This was mainly due to the amazing character models and its advanced lighting system. However, Bandai Namco has severely downgraded the game’s lighting system. I’ve been complaining about this constantly. And now, a month before release, we finally got proper comparisons between the final version and the debut trailer.
Shared by Resetera’s member jett, these screenshots show a massive downgrade to Tekken 8’s lighting system. Thankfully, the game’s character models remain amazing. But man, this is a huge downgrade to the overall image. And I’m not even mentioning the fewer and less-advanced particle effects. Or the raindrops that have been severely reduced. I’m not exaggerating here. The announcement version of Tekken 8 feels like a next-gen remaster of the final version.
All in all, Tekken 8 is a huge Unreal Engine 5 letdown. In no way does this fighting game take advantage of UE5. Bandai Namco has used UE5 for marketing purposes and nothing more. And that’s a huge disappointment. As a game, I’m certain that T8 will be fun. However, it misses that “wow” factor that its debut trailer had. And that’s a shame.
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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