Over the weekend at SDCC, Bandai Namco unveiled the trailer for Tekken 7 and it was quite the bold statement to say the least. In the past, Tekken pre-release trailers have emphasised the action or gameplay, but in this case the focus is on the end of an era.
The trailer contains no gameplay footage whatsoever, instead showing a monologue of Kazami Mishima, Heihachi’s wife. She is deeply conflicted by her love for her husband and the fact that she has to be the one to stop him, implying that he is more evil than the Devil that consumes her son Kazuya.
It’s a pretty bold move for a fighting game trailer to emphasise its story at the best of times, but Tekken 7‘s trailer has the focus entirely around a character who is long dead by the events of the game. However, with the way that the story has progressed, escalating from a simple revenge story to include volcano immolation, company warfare and huge amounts of explosions and collateral damage, perhaps a ghost is the best person to warn of the end of an era. It would also be the biggest possible contrast to the incredible, yet story-less, Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
Besides, we all know Mishimas never die…
