Tekken 7 to Make June 2 Debut on PC, Consoles

The latest King of Iron First Tournament will be within our fingertips as Tekken 7 is set to hit shelves on June 2, 2017. The announcement is courtesy of Dalton Link, Bandai Namco community manager, who wrote the good news in the PlayStation blog. It came with an intense trailer that emphasized the darker tone of the installment.

The game will serve as the closing chapter of the Mishima clan saga. Players will hopefully find answers to mysteries in the series. This includes why Heihachi Mishima is trying to kill Jin Kazama, why he threw his son Kazuya off a cliff, and the true origins of the Devil Gene.

Producer Katsuhiro Harada hinted the game’s story – an exclusive for the console versions – will be “much darker” than before. Players will also be introduced to Kazumi Mishima, the wife of Heihachi and the primary antagonist of the game. Not to mention, the arrival of guest character Akuma from Street Fighter has raised questions as to how are the two game franchises connected with each other.

Tekken 7: Console features, exclusives

Fighting game enthusiasts may have already played the arcade version of Tekken 7, which was released last March 2015. Link explained in another PlayStation blog post that observations, comments and data from the arcade launch were carried over to balance the console release of the game.

PlayStation 4 fans get access to a Jukebox mode. This allows players to create playlists of songs from previous games.  Players will also get exclusive costumes for certain characters!

Bandai Namco also announced the arrival of the Season Pass for Tekken 7. Purchasing this grants players access to three content packs. This has new characters and stages, and a 35-piece Metallic Costume Pack. Link also teased the arrival of an undisclosed game mode. However, its details are yet to be provided along with the exact contents of the Season Pass.

Meanwhile, the game retains quite the large roster of players from previous games. This includes mainstays Jin Kazama, Ling Xiaoyu and Nina Williams. Fan-favorites Marshall Law, Devil Jin, Lili and Yoshimitsu will also make a reappearance. The roster appears to be 36, including the aforementioned characters above.

New mechanics

Tekken 7 officially introduces new gameplay mechanics, such as the Rage System which activates while a character’s health is on critical levels.
This activates the Rage Art and the Rage Drive, with the former providing a “comeback mechanic” and the latter a quick way to provide a combo punishment.

The Power Crush is also an extremely powerful attack that can deal decent damage to opponents – but only when timed carefully.

The new Screw moves replace bounds. This allows players to spin and land in a slump-like state. The Screw mechanic can make characters vulnerable for extra combos and damage. Meanwhile, item moves and stage effects will also make a return in Tekken 7.