Tekken 8 Reveals 2 New Characters at EVO 2023

With EVO 2023 taking place over the weekend, most new and upcoming fighting games have been popping up with new trailers. NetherRealm showed up with new Mortal Kombat 1 footage showing off Reptile, Ashrah, and Havik, but it was far from the only developer taking the stage. Bandai Namco also joined the party, giving players an in-depth look at two characters coming to Tekken 8. One of them is making their return to playable status after taking Tekken 7 off, while the other is a newcomer. Raven's return is sure to excite some fans, but Azucena the MMA fighter is maybe more exciting for Tekken 8 fans.

Azucena's Tekken 8 trailer starts with her living on a coffee plantation in Peru where she's dancing alongside her alpacas. As an MMA fighter, we see her using both her stand-up game alongside different submission takedowns and holds. The footage also shows her being incredibly nimble, slipping her opponent's attacks as she looks for openings to strike. The trailer ends with her fighting Lili to decide which is better: coffee or tea. 

Raven first joined the fray back in Tekken 5. The secret intelligence officer for the United Nations has seemingly mastered the use of shadow clones, as we see him making different versions of himself to distract his enemies. In previous games, Raven has been one of the trickier characters to play and master. While we can't know for sure, that doesn't look to have changed with all of these shadow attacks allowing him to move around in somewhat unexpected ways. Either way, he's sure to factor into the story quite a bit as he almost always stands in opposition to the Mishima Clan.

We still don't know exactly when Tekken 8 is going to be released, but the expectation is that it will be relatively soon. Bandai Namco just wrapped up its Closed Network Test where players had a chance to jump in and test the game out while giving the developer the info it needs to make the best game possible. It's not an exact science, but it certainly seems like we're getting very close to release date for Tekken 8.