As part of the festivities of this year’s SDCC, Bandai Namco have released a new story trailer for their upcoming fighting game Tekken 7.
Since the series’ inception in arcades and on the original PlayStation in the mid-90s, the Tekken games have always been popular with gamers looking for solid fighting mechanics. The series’ story has always focused around the Mishima family and the King of Iron Fist tournament, but according to Bandai Namco’s latest game trailer that could all change in Tekken 7.
That’s right, the new trailer for Tekken 7 proclaims “the end of the Mishima Saga,” the revenge-driven plot that has underlined the series since its start.
What could this mean for the future of the series? Naturally there are far more characters in the Tekken universe than just those directly associated with the series’ main plot, and the King of Iron Fist tournament still offers plenty of room for future games even if the story itself is over. It’s doubtful Namco Bandai would change the Tekken MO so much as to remove a story altogether in future installments, however, so it will be interesting to see how events play out in Tekken 7, and what they will ultimately mean for the series as a whole.
The trailer above was part of Bandai Namco’s SDCC panel on fighting games, only one of many things they talked about during the showing (which is also available for watching on YouTube) and, for many, the most important.
There is one thing many gamers are criticizing the trailer for, and that is its complete lack of any in-game or combat footage. Though the storyline of the Tekken games is an important part of their charm, for many people the mechanics of the game trump the story, and despite its length the SDCC trailer for Tekken 7 features not a single in-engine punch, kick, or juggle. The trailer does emphasize the game’s use of the latest Unreal engine, making the lack of actual gameplay footage even more flummoxing for many gamers who are excited to see what the new game will bring to liven up the long-running series.
Though a hard release date for Tekken 7 has yet to be announced, Bandai Namco have confirmed that the title will be coming to the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4, and PC. No release has been announced for the last-gen consoles nor for the WiiU, likely due to the game’s Unreal 4 dependency.