Tekken 8 is getting a demo more than a month before its official release, but Bandai Namco put a spin on when it will drop that favors PlayStation 5 users. To celebrate, the developers are also hosting a “Special World Premiere Event” hosted by WWE Superstar Xavier Woods.
The Tekken 8 demo will drop for PS5 players on Dec. 14. A week later on Dec. 21 it will go live on Xbox Series X/S and Steam with all of the same material, it’s just getting spaced out for currently unknown reasons that may or may not have to do with Sony looking to keep its edge in the fighting game market.
As part of this T8 demo, Bandai has confirmed the first chapter of the game’s story mode, The Dark Awakens, will be fully playable. This is the first time anyone outside of press previews will get to experience the latest entry’s intro. Along with that, a local versus mode will be available to play as much as you want, however, no online component is featured.
Outside of the story only featuring one chapter, Bandai did not initially share what limitations will be in place for the content. In this case, you will be able to play The Dark Awakens Chapter One, Arcade Quest Chapter One, some content for the Super Ghost AI battles, and versus mode using four characters and three stages. Those characters are Jin, Kazuya, Paul, and Nina, while the stages are Urban Square (Evening,) Yakushima, and Sanctum—according to EVO director of business development MarkMan.
As for the “Special World Premiere Event” that Bandai announced for Dec. 14 at 8am CT, it will feature Xavier Woods, Tekken 8 producer Michael Murray, and series executive producer Katsuhiro Harada. Based on the wording, the broadcast will likely have Woods playing through the demo’s available story content and potentially playing versus while Murray and Harada provide insight into the development of T8.
