Tekken 8 continues the story around Jin Kazama in a roughly four-hour cinematic single player story campaign in course of which you play many of the other characters of the game. The story and presentation are typic Japanese with excellent cutscenes and voice cast, however I personally prefer the single player story mode of Mortal Kombat 1.

 In addition, each of the characters has a short campaign of arcade fights in which you can learn more about the characters background. The third single player mode, called Arcade Quests let you participate in a row of arcade tournaments using a self-designed avatar. You fight your way through different arcade halls against other CPU avatars to become Tekken champion. Walking around the arcade and talking and challenge other avatars for fights feels a bit odd and is mostly linear. Once you complete enough fights in one arcade and reach a certain level you simply proceed to the next one. The open world of Street Fighter 6 is not only less linear but also offers more variety overall. Still the Arace Quest mode does a good job introducing you in the gameplay and mechanics of the game, such as Ghost Battles and the new heat system.

The gameplay and controls are complex but precise and the simplified controls can be activated at all times by pressing the L1 button, allowing to activate special moves and combos much easier. Stages are interactive with destroyable barricades and floors and offer a huge diversity of sceneries and visual elements. Online Multiplayer worked flawless in all gaming sessions with fast match making, stable connection and smooth fights itself.

Overall, the cameo-feature and a the more atmospheric story make Mortal Kombat 1 the genre leader with Tekken 8 following closely behind.