Tekken: The Board Game Preview

I bask a bully bout successful a warring crippled from clip to time, with Bandai Namco’s Tekken being my favourite 3D combatant retired there. Conveniently enough, I americium besides a instrumentality of committee games, truthful erstwhile these 2 passions of excavation mingle with 1 another, specified arsenic with the Guilty Gear Strive oregon Street Fighter V committee games, I marque definite to cheque them out. Now, acknowledgment to a palmy crowdfunding run implicit connected Gamefound, it’s clip for the King of Iron Fists to participate the cardboard ringing with Tekken: The Board Game.

The crippled is made by Go On Board, the steadfast of The Witcher: Old World and Cyberpunk 2077- The Board Game among others. I've had a accidental to get immoderate rounds successful with a prototype of Tekken: The Board Game, graciously sent to maine by the developer, and I person to say, it whitethorn person nailed the feeling of “reading your opponent” successful a warring video crippled amended than immoderate different committee crippled I’ve played.

In Tekken, 2 players (the last merchandise volition see a solo mode and optional tourney enlargement for up to eight) prime from their favourite fighters and duke it retired until 1 player's beingness is gone. Characters I got to effort retired and that volition beryllium included successful the basal crippled are Jin, Kazuya, Paul, King, Nina, Asuka, Yoshimitsu, and Jack-8, each coming with elaborate minis featuring the quality and a beauteous nifty colorful accent.

Playing a lucifer of Tekken feels a spot similar a crippled of Rock-Paper-Scissors, and is reasonably speedy to prime up and learn. Matches are short, too, taking 10 to 15 minutes. Attacks are dictated by cards that you play successful beforehand of you, which amusement not lone the country they are targeting, either high, mid, oregon low, but besides the effects and harm the onslaught volition do, indicated by icons.

At immoderate fixed time, lone 1 idiosyncratic is connected the offense, laying retired cards and trying to crockery retired damage. The thought down this strategy is calved retired of the request to support Tekken feeling accelerated and dynamic, Go On Board told IGN. “To genuinely seizure the dynamic feeling of the video game, we needed a mechanic that keeps the combat fast-paced and afloat of tension. In Tekken, speechmaking your opponent’s intentions and reacting astatine the cleanable infinitesimal is important – blocking a cardinal onslaught tin interruption a combo and crook the tide of battle. The 'guess the close card' mechanic embodies that essence. It’s elemental and intuitive, similar pressing a fastener connected a controller, but mastery comes from profoundly knowing your hostile and predicting their moves. It’s each astir timing, reading, and accomplishment – conscionable similar successful the archetypal game.”

For the defending player, your lone extremity is to work the hostile and effort to conjecture which country the attacker’s paper is going to target, indicated by a paper played look down successful beforehand of them. Guessing correctly volition halt the onslaught successful its tracks, and the defending subordinate becomes the attacker, with their archetypal onslaught being unblockable. Guessing wrong, however, not lone volition fto the onslaught spell done and connect, but the subordinate who played the paper continues their battle and is capable to play different card, extending their combo and perchance triggering added bonuses based connected their character's circumstantial combos oregon however lanes connected cards whitethorn enactment up with the next.

Only 3 attacks tin hap earlier roles reverse, with the objection of a once-per-game HEAT enactment that each subordinate tin take, which allows 1 further onslaught to beryllium played, oregon lets the subordinate proceed attacking aft a close conjecture by the antiaircraft player.

This constituent of trying to work your hostile to conjecture what they are going to bash adjacent is an intrinsic portion of warring video games. Having it condensed successful specified a mode to a one-in-three accidental to conjecture correctly works shockingly well. The actions that an onslaught tin trigger are besides alternatively straightforward: you tin woody damage, determination your character, propulsion an opponent, oregon expanse an opponent, causing them to autumn down, letting you woody other damage. Your character’s peculiar Rage onslaught is simply a spot much complicated, but my friends and I ne'er felt overwhelmed.

Tekken besides uses mechanics that marque it consciousness similar you’re playing, well, Tekken. Pushing an hostile into the partition causes a partition bounce, dealing damage. You tin interruption done signifier walls oregon floors into different areas and crockery retired that other wounded connected the ground. Even the tiny arenas you combat connected consciousness precise Tekken-like, giving you capable abstraction to determination around, but not truthful overmuch that it turns reaching your hostile into a chore.

Tekken has ne'er been astir playing keep-away and hurling fireballs astatine 1 another; alternatively it's astir getting successful adjacent and letting escaped devastating punch-and-kick combos, and I deliberation Go On Board has captured that tone perfectly. “Each combatant successful Tekken: The Board Game feels genuinely unsocial acknowledgment to a operation of plan elements. Each quality has a chiseled platform composition, combo structure, and a Rage quality that reflects their iconic playstyle from the video game. Some characters besides diagnostic unsocial components oregon mechanics that acceptable them isolated adjacent further.”

When the crippled comes out, fighters volition person a assortment of ways to cheque retired Tekken and beryllium themselves. The halfway container contains 8 fighters (Jin, Kazuya, King, Paul, Jack-8, Yoshimitsu, Asuka, and Nina) and 4 stages (Sanctum, Urban Square, Descent into Subconscious, and Into the Stratosphere). Or, if you conscionable privation a taste, a starter acceptable featuring Jin and Kazuya and the Descent into Subconscious volition besides beryllium available.

But immoderate Tekken instrumentality knows that 1 of the defining aspects of the bid is its characters, and Go On Board is bringing galore of them implicit done assorted enlargement sets that you tin acquisition separately, too. These see the following.

Expansion 1

• Fighters: Jun, Leroy, Xiaoyu, Panda
• Stage: Yakushima

Expansion 2

• Fighters: Heihachi, Reina, Lee, Kuma
• Stage: Secluded Training Ground

Expansion 3

• Fighters: Azucena, Leo, Lili, Shaheen
• Stage: Ortiz Farm

Expansion 4

• Fighters: Lidia, Eddy, Victor, Raven
• Stage: Seaside Resort

Expansion 5

• Fighters: Lars, Alisa, Claudio, Zafina
• Stage: Rebel Hanger

Expansion 6

• Fighters: Hwoarang, Law, Steve Fox, Feng
• Stage: Arena

Expansion 7

• Fighters: Dragunov, Bryan
• Stage: Midnight Siege

“Legendary” Expansion

• Fighters: True Ogre, Mokujin
• Stage: Tekken 3 Stage “Carnival”

When asked astir what went into deciding the quality pairings, the plan squad not lone wanted to marque sets that played good together, but besides ones that made consciousness from a communicative standpoint. “When creating the quality packs, we took into relationship respective cardinal aspects. We wanted each container to see characters that enactment good unneurotic mechanically, but besides stock meaningful communicative connections. For example, the battalion featuring Jun, Xiaoyu, Panda, and Leroy with the Yakushima committee was designed this mode due to the fact that Yakushima is Jun’s stage. Xiaoyu erstwhile fought disconnected the Jacks units attempting to scope the Sanctum adjacent Yakushima, portion Panda is Xiaoyu’s adjacent friend, and Leroy served arsenic her mentor.”

With truthful galore characters, including my idiosyncratic favorites Leo, Steve, and Hwoarang each making appearances, it has my humor pumping, and I can’t hold to spot however they play. Even successful the halfway box, I could already archer that attraction was being enactment into highlighting qualities of the characters to marque them consciousness antithetic from 1 another, specified arsenic King’s quality to propulsion opponents astir oregon Yoshimitsu’s peculiar instrumentality that lets you bid beingness to rotation for a imaginable large payoff. I can’t hold to spot however each the different characters feel.

From the antithetic signifier hazards, the quick-to-learn systems, and highly elaborate miniatures, Tekken: The Board Game has rapidly changeable up my database arsenic 1 of my astir anticipated committee games adjacent year. My biggest interest is that, with conscionable however galore characters they're promising, immoderate volition tally the hazard of feeling samey. Time volition archer however successfully the squad is capable to debar that imaginable pitfall, but considering that by taking the enlargement attack with the characters, not to dissimilar to thing similar Unmatched, means fans tin prime and take from those packs they want, and aren’t required to bargain them all. Even the halfway container offers a bully spot of assortment connected its own. You tin person a perfectly bully clip with that alone.

While Tekken’s archetypal run is over, precocious pledges volition beryllium starting soon with an expected transportation day of April 2026, but if you privation to effort it retired for yourself, caput implicit to Board Game Arena close now, oregon cheque retired the WIP rules.

Scott White is simply a freelance contributor to IGN, assisting with tabletop games and usher coverage. Follow him connected X/Twitter oregon Bluesky.