Tekken 8 Reveals New Character Reina Designed by Bayonetta Artist Mari Shimazaki

The last launch character for Tekken 8 has been revealed and she's the brand new character & Mishima-style user Reina, designed by Bayonetta's artist Mari Shimazaki, who also designed Josie.


Published: November 12, 2023 11:49 PM /

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Tekken 7 - New character reina

At the end of the EVO Tekken 8 Showcase, Bandai Namco revealed the last launch character that will appear in the game, Reina.

She's a brand new character and she's nicknamed a "Purple Lightning." Her stage is the "Secluded Training Ground" and she brings the total of playable characters to 32. 

One of her key concepts is "Duality" and she's designed by Bayonetta character designer Mari Shimazaki, who also designed Josie for Tekken 7. You can check out her beautiful art below.

Tekken 8 Reina Art by Mari Shimazaki

Interestingly, she fights by blending the Mishima Style Fighting Karate and Taido. As a funny (but possibly relevant) side note, executive producer and director Katsuhiro Harada mentioned before introducing her that "Heihachi Mishima is Completely Dead."

You can watch her in action below.

We also heard more about the game from Harada-san, producer Michael Murray, and director Kohei "Nakatsu" Ikeda.

Interestingly, we get a list of changes to ranked matches from Tekken 7, as you can see in the slide below.

Tekken 8 ranked matches changes from Tekken 7

Group matches have also been made easier to understand compared to the closed beta.

Super Ghost battles have also been expanded. You can play against your own ghost and even play against the AI ghosts of developers and pro players by finding them in the leaderboards.

Playing against your own ghost will let you see it evolve as you improve, and you may even be able to spot some of your weaknesses. 

Super Ghost Battles in Tekken 8

The My Replay & Tips will let you record matches in multiple modes and not just online, as you can see in the slide below.

Tekken 8 my Replay & Tips

We also get to see some really interesting art portraying the details of the recently revealed characters Devil Jin, Zafina, Alisa Bosconovich, Lee Chaolan, and Victor Chevalier.

 

If you want to watch a ton of Tekken 8 gameplay, you can check out the full showcase below.

Tekken 8 will be released for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S on January 26, so the wait is almost over. 

If you'd like to see more recently revealed characters, you can take a look at Azucena and Feng Wei.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


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Started as News Editor at TechRaptor in January 2023, following over 20 years of professional experience in gaming journalism both on print media and on the… More about Giuseppe

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Game Page Tekken 8
Developer
Bandai Namco
Genre
Fighting
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