Bandai Namco announced that a new character release and a closed beta test will take place next month. Feng Wei is to join the fray and he’ll be playable in the upcoming closed beta test. The beta will run from Friday, October 20 at 1 am PDT / 4 am EDT / 9 am BST / 10 am CEST until Monday, October 23 at 12am PDT / 3am EDT / 8 am BST / 9am CEST.
Characters known as Raven and Azucena will also be available to play during the closed beta test. This will be the first time the characters have been sampled and seen in action. Feng Wei, Raven and Azucena will also be joined by the following characters, who were previously available in Tekken 8’s closed network test: Jin, Kazuya, Jun, Paul, Law, King, Lars, Jack8, Xiao Yu, Nina, Leroy, Lili, Asuka, Hwoarang, and Claudio.
The closed beta test will include six battle stages. These stages include, Urban Square (Evening), Yakushima, Rebel Hanger, Sanctum, Arena, and Ortiz Farm. Unlike the previous 5 battle stages, Ortiz Farm will be seen and be available for the first time. A summary of all gameplay changes made for the closed beta since the closed network test can be found here, along with sign up details. Details of changes to gameplay since the appearance of the closed network test include changes to the ‘Heat System’ and the ‘Battle System:’
- Damage dealt by Heat Bursts (RP+LK or R1 while being in a Heat state) has been adjusted
- You can now withstand an upper-middle attack (power crush) with a Heat Burst.
- Using Heat Bursts and Heat Dashes together could lead to very long combos – changes were made to reduce these kinds of combos
- The amount of recoverable damage granted by the effects during the Heat state has been reduced.
- The Heat gauge will now tick down when attacks are blocked while in the Heat state.
- The Heat gauge drain caused by attacks that are enhanced by the Heat state has been increased.
- Improved the performance of Power Crushes.
- Overall performance of reversals and parries have been decreased. The number of techniques that cannot be parried have also been increased.
- Dashes and back-dashes are now easier to perform.
- Added restrictions to wall-hit combos.
- Overall balance adjustment.
Registration for the closed beta test is now open until October 11 at 12am PDT / 3am EDT / 8am BST / 9am CEST. Players who were able to participate in the closed network test don’t have to worry about signing up, as they’ll be automatically added to the closed beta list of participants. Tekken 8 will be released on January 26, 2024, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC via Steam.