Tekken 8 review: the difference is slight but we still like the fight

Tekken no prisoners

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

Tekken 8 review It’s a lot like Tekken 7, but angrier. Developer: Bandai Namco Studios Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment Release: Jan 25th On: Windows From: Steam Price: £60/$70/€70 Reviewed on: Intel Core-i7-11700F, 16GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, Windows 10

When I am faced with Death, and that grim skeletal mouth asks me to choose the game we play to decide my fate, I have long believed I will pick Tekken. I’m not confident I will best the reaper in Iron Fist combat. But I cannot pass up the adrenally depraved possibility of successfully performing a ten-button airborne combo on mortality made manifest. It would be rad. It would be absurd and beautiful and I know, for a fact, that Death will play as Panda.

But will we play Tekken 8 ? Or roll back to Tekken 7 ? Hmmm. Let’s find out.

Tekken 8 is an angry, nonsensical fighting game . Nonsensical in its flavour, you understand, its personality. In function, it is very sensical. Those acquainted with this long-running fury fest will recognize the one-button-per-limb controls with a kind of comfortable tension. You punch, you kick, you grab. You uppercut pink-haired robots into the air and juggle them around with all the recommended tippy-taps chronicled in your character’s extensive movelist.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

What makes this instalment different is the addition of a “Heat” meter. This is basically a tank of gas that you can activate once per fight, which makes your character fizz with a steamy blue aura and lets you dole out some especially painful blows. There are other benefits to the effervescent fury. Blocking a move in Tekken is usually safe and straightforward - no hit, no hurt. But when an opponent is in Heat (oh God I just realised how that sounds) even their blocked hits will result in chip damage. This means fired-up fighters can nibble away at a defending player’s health even if the defender is judiciously blocking every strike.

This makes the fights somewhat angrier than in Tekken 7. There’s also the ability to perform a “rush” (a teleporty lunge across the arena), and activating Heat puts you into an armoured state (your character can take a bunch of hits while the move starts up). On top of all this you can often scratch back a chunk of health with certain moves, provided you go on the attack in good time. Together, these additions prove that the developer’s constant barking about aggression and forward momentum is more than a marketing talking point. It does feel, in my hands at least, more pacy and pressurised.

But do I like that? Well, I’m not sure yet. My body memory is upset with Tekken 8 on more than this account. I like to “play slow”. Which is a Tekken player’s way of saying “my hands get sore before my head does”. The shuffling and guarding that precede the combo fireworks, to me, is just as compelling as the explosion of somersaults and tornado kicks that signal half of your health bar disappearing in a few seconds. There’s less of that dance here. You’ve got to pile on the lashes and keep lashing.

I’m also one of the unlucky souls who lost all their favourite characters in the Great Ensequelizing. Bar room brawler Miguel, twirling mix-upper Josie, and wacky cop Lei have all been purged, along with others. (For now, that is. You can bet your penultimate pound that Lei will appear as upcoming DLC, at the very least (the very… Leist? )). In any case, my cult taste in fighting game weirdoes means much of my gut-based finger-twitching has been rendered obsolete. I am forced to learn new characters.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

The new faces are sound, though. Cocky Peruvian punch artist Azucena hits heavy and bounces around in a gleefully infuriating stance, performing evasive parries, and talking non-stop about coffee. French superspy Victor is a John Wick-inspired close combatter who regularly uses guns in the middle of a fist fight. And the mysterious Reina is there to fill the hole left by a missing Mishima, embodying the moves and smirks of the headbutt happy Heihachi. They’re neat additions in their own way. But I’m still sad my Drunken Master Lei is not in the opening line-up, preventing me from channelling the Chan. Eddy Gordo freaks will be likewise disappointed.

I’ll tell you who won’t be sad though. Jin fans. Tekken 8’s story mode focuses heavily on the fire-trousered trauma victim, continuing the intergenerational saga of violent dads who yearn to throw their family members into a volcano. This will be incomprehensible hysteria to any newcomer, and the ludicrous Dragon Ball Z-ing on display rarely lets up for the four or five hours it takes to blast through everything. Battles often come with gimmicks attached. A monstrous unblockable move you must endure and overcome. A multi-step brawl against faceless guards and robotic Jack units. Quicktime prompts politely ask that you Press A To Not Deny Your Comrades And Your Bonds.

In short, story mode feels made for diehards. To its credit, it plays with Jin’s mechanics as a character in some interesting ways. Setpiece fights contract and expand his moveset in unexpected directions. The impact of this - emotional and otherwise - will be lost on anyone who does not recognise when or why this happens. But to a long-term fan these temporarily borrowed moves can feel like a powerful boon, or a meaningful nod to a forgotten favourite.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

For long-lost Tekkenistas or fresh-faced fisticuffers, the actually helpful mode is Arcade Quest. This is a tutorialised adventure through a Disneyfied ideal of the fighting game community, where nobody trash talks and everybody treats one another with respect. You play a legally distinct Mii dressed in Tekken-branded t-shirts and trainers. Aside from functioning as the place to learn Tekken basics, here you’ll earn clothing and cosmetic items for both your doll-like avatar and the fighter characters themselves (this isn’t the only way to earn such items, mind). A big part of Tekken remains playing dress-up to show everybody online that you are edgy, horny, or just plain weird. Tekken 8 stands by that tradition, and I approve.

As far as online battles go, server time was limited during review. Which is a shame, considering this is where most of everyone’s time will be spent. I squeezed in a bunch of battles against the same few opponents. The fights were smooth and silky and I survived a statistically satisfying fifty percent of the time, thank you very much. But like I say, my experience is limited, so I can’t guarantee what it’ll feel like come launch.

I’m not overly worried. There are detailed on-screen stats you can enable to monitor the latency and “tech-gap” between machines, and plenty to pay attention to if you want to filter out crossplay or those fighting via a wireless connection (you horrible snob). The developers have taken obvious measures to make things frictionless. I mostly ignore the statstuff and put my trust in the dark magicks of the netcode, but it’s good to have the option to plainly see whether certain matches might be shonky wobblefests.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Bandai Namco

When the final fist lands, I have found myself less excited by Tekken 8 than I expected. But much of that dispassion comes solely from not having any characters that I truly love and have immediate familiarity with. I feel like an outlier here. All the classic contenders are present, after all, your Kings, your Pauls, your Kazuyas, your… Zafinas?

Whatever. My point is: YOUR favourites are probably still here. And if they are, you’ll be content to kick and/or punch. There isn’t anything revolutionary happening aside from the Heat meter and all that it entails. But a lot of the quality of life improvements and subtle design tweaks stack up. Practice mode alone has become an excellently robust training zone that clearly displays a lot of handy info about frame advantage and move properties. For pros, streamers and rank-chasers, the transfer to this sequel is therefore a no-brainer. And since little else quite like Tekken exists in the fighting game niche (don’t listen, little Soul Calibur 3) the rest of us pugilistic rubes will only get FOMO if we don’t follow. So when I face Death, I guess Tekken 8 it is.

He’ll be pleased Panda is on the roster.

This review is based on a review build of the game provided by developers and publishers Bandai Namco.

Find out how we conduct our reviews by reading our review policy .

Tekken 8

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

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