Tekken 8 Game Modes Explained - Story, Offline & Online

Releasing on January 26th, Tekken 8 has a wide array of player experience. From the single-player story mode to multiplayer, there are many ways you can experience the latest installment of the Tekken franchise.

Story

Story mode is the main single-player content for those who want to follow the story the franchise has been building up to. Aptly titled "The Dark Awakens," the story follows Jin Kazama, the world's last hope to stop Kazuya's conquest and rating in the corporations that have perpetuated a constant state of war in the world. Playing through it, you will also unlock special "what if" episodes about various characters.

The story mode is comprised of 15 chapters to play through. Although you can select any difficulty you want to complete the story, there are customization rewards tied to completing certain chapters at harder difficulties.

Offline

Besides the story mode, a handful of offline game modes can be played as a single-player or with friends. These are Arcade Quest, Super Ghost Battle, Fight Lounge, Practice, and Tekken Ball.

• Arcade Quest
  • A linear game mode gives players, new and old alike, a practical guide through Tekken 8's systems.
• Super Ghost Battle
  • New in Tekken 8 is the "Ghost" system, which looks at your own gameplay and generates a model capable of fighting like you do. With all your habits, both good and bad. You can also download other players' ghosts and play against them.
• Arcade Battle
  • A way to play against other opponents offline with two controllers.
• Practice
  • As the name suggests, this mode allows you to jump into a match with a CPU opponent to either practice moves, combos, or other tools.

Online

Likely where most players will spend most of their time with Tekken 8. The online game modes for the latest title in the franchise include:

• Tekken Fight Lounge
  • This mode acts like Street Fighter 6's Battle Hub; that is to say, it's a shared community space where you can join friends' lobbies or any open lobby with up to 100 people. Inside it, there are areas for Battling against other players, a beach area, the Tekken Dojo, and a shop for customization.
• Ranked Match
  • Competitive matches with other players in a skill-based matchmaking system. All the matches are First to 2 and there are 30 ranks achievable for this mode. 
• Quick Match
  • Like ranked matches, but without the possibility to rank up.
• Player Match
  • It allows you to invite another player for a match directly bypassing the Lounge and Ranked/Quick matches matchmaking.

If you still want to know more about Tekken 8, we have a whole article explaining every edition, story, requirements, and options available.