The Tekken franchise has been setting the standard for high-quality graphics since its first entry in the fighting game series made by Bandai Namco Entertainment was released in 1994. Now, Unreal Engine 5 is powering Tekken 8 to new heights in visual fidelity.
Speaking with IGN, Tekken 8 producer Michael Murray said that the team at Namco rebuilt all 32 character models for the upcoming fighting game from the ground up — and that the power of Unreal Engine 5 allowed them to pull off that among other graphical feats.
“Being on a new generation of hardware, it’s the first time we were on PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S. So we want to make sure that everything really popped. And so it’s not just about having pretty 4K graphics, but the environments, the characters, the detail, the depth, all of that visually, that whole experience,” Murray said in the interview. “To achieve that, we actually threw out all the character models that we had from Tekken 7; we started from scratch. So all the characters, all 32 in a roster, were built from zero, which was quite entertaining because we’re doing the sculpting and everything from scratch. And so it was interesting to see kind of weird-looking Jin Kazama, at first, for example, it’s like, ‘It doesn’t look quite right!’ Even though most of us had been doing this for twenty-something years, right?”
Murray also said that Unreal Engine 5 specifically allows the team to put a level of detail and fidelity into the fighting game’s character models and stages that wouldn’t have been possible previously. “So, you can do 4K. That’s a resolution, right? It’s more about the design of the stages, the atmosphere, and the character models, and [Tekken 8 Director Katsuhiro Harada] actually did a lot more direction in that area this time. He just was like, ‘There has to be a lot more detail. You have to fit it into a small space. It has to look spot on,'” Murray said.
“So like, when I was talking about the reflections or just the atmosphere. I think when you played the New York stage, there were two variations. One of them’s the evening, and it transitions to night,” Murray continued. “And so you go from this gorgeous sunset to the snowflakes falling at night, and the police car, the lights, and all of that stuff that’s going on. So just that kind of ambiance, I guess you could say; the atmosphere that’s created because of these small, minute details. And we’re bumping into the hotdog cart, which causes all this stuff to fall out of it. All of these little things alone aren’t something that stands out. But when they all come together to kind of create that atmosphere in the battle arena that you’ve chosen, I think it’s a lot more important than just the resolution of the graphics, per se.”
Tekken 8 has been building a steady hype train since it was revealed at EVO 2022. Featuring a large roster of 32 characters, a new explosive heat mechanic, a cinematic story mode, new training mode options and perhaps most importantly, the return of the iconic Tekken Ball game mode, fans will have a lot to look forward to when Tekken 8 releases on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on Jan. 26, 2024.
Source: IGN
