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This Tekken update has done more damage to the community than a direct hit from Paul’s Deathfist.
It’s been more than a week since the Tekken 8 season 2 patch dropped and the only assessment we can give is that it’s been brutal. Sweeping changes, broken promises, and a volatile design philosophy has created a whirlwind of negative press. So much so that the game is currently sitting at an overwhelmingly negative rating on Steam.
Tekken 8 was always a divisive entry into the series but it had the potential to be something great. Now, fans are staging boycotts and even prominent Tekken figureheads are stepping away from the game due to displeasure from the latest update.
So, how did we get to these rough waters and what could this mean for the future of Tekken?
“Focus on Defense”
There were already grumblings and warning signs long before the release of the Tekken 8 season 2 patch. An initial interview with Director Katsuhiro Harada and key Tekken 8 developers revealed their plans for season 2 and that it would “focus on defense.”
Many fans latched on to that line because it was the number one request they’ve had since the game’s launch. Fans felt that Tekken 8’s offense was too much and wanted it either toned down or given more options to deal with it.
However, whatever hope fans had for the Tekken 8 season 2 patch was drained away as more details were revealed. While there were some improvements to defense, such as adjustments to sidesteps, everything else was going in the opposite direction.
New homing moves that make the sidestep change moot, characters taking a small amount of damage from successfully breaking a grab – these were just a preview of what was to come.
Welcome to the Casino
It must have been fate that the Tekken 8 season 2 patch released on April 1st. Fans certainly felt like they were reading a prank as they perused all the changes the patch had to offer. Every single character in the game was changed in some meaningful way but all those changes boil down to this: make a 50/50 guess and if you guessed wrong, you die.
Hours of discussions and research have already gone into this patch and its intention seems to be clear. The depth that Tekken’s been known for has been stripped away while doubling down on its simple yet overwhelming offense. Damage has increased across the board and characters have lost their unique identities as they now follow the same mixup heavy gameplan.
Fans are baffled and upset, especially considering the “focus on defense” line develpoers mentioned weeks before. While there are ways to counter all this crazy offense, the solution is often as binary as a 50/50. Even then, the situation is so heavily in the attacker’s favor that making a wrong guess means you’ve already lost.
Ultimately, what makes this patch truly painful for fans is that the game no longer feels like Tekken. Many fans fell in love with Tekken because it’s a 3D fighter that boasts a plethora of options and variety. It rewarded character mastery as well as being able to adapt on the fly to your opponent. Now fans believe that Tekken has been homogenized to the point where it feels like a completely different game.
An Unsteady Future
The community displeasure to the Tekken 8 season 2 patch has been toxic, to say the least. It’s never a good look when pro players openly mock your game, although this wouldn’t be the first time for Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique. Other pros are choosing to stick it out but their lack of enthusiasm is telling.
To Harada and the Tekken developers’ credit, they are aware of the patch’s problems and will be making changes in the future. But at this point, bug fixes and slight adjustments are not going to cut it. They promise changes but will these address the community’s issues or will it keep pushing along this new direction? The community has lost their faith in the developers and the direction of Tekken 8 and the backlash has been devastating.
While Harada’s view of the situation is calm and candid, it offers us no guarantees, only that they’re paying attention. The reality is that this will likely be the face of Tekken 8 for the next year. The developers will need to make sweeping changes again to accommodate the community’s criticisms and walking back the entire Tekken 8 season 2 patch is likely out of the question.
For now, all we can do is wait and see how things will shake out. Whether or not the developers keep these changes or revert them, their relationship with the community will never be the same.
Only time will tell where Tekken 8’s new direction will take them.
Banner images from Steam and RDNE Stock Project / Pexels.