The Dark Awakens, Tekken 8’s main story mode, tells an interesting narrative that pits Jin Kazama up against Kazuya Mishima for the fate of the world. Overall, I’d say that it’s one of the better story modes for a fighting game, but I personally couldn’t help that there were a few plot threads that did not get addressed during the experience.
It turns out that there are unused scenes that can be found in Tekken 8 with some digging. This has led many to believe that Bandai Namco is planning to release some side story DLC for Tekken 8 in the future. Going forward, we’ll be talking about potential spoilers for Tekken 8’s The Dark Awakens mode.
According to Voļ’Skìmmer Eu, there is a cutscene that shows Jun Kazama waking up after her battle with Ogre that took place prior to the events of Tekken 3. She appears to be in the cave where Jin Kazama was able to come to terms with his Devil Gene within the story of The Dark Awakens.
For me personally, I thought Jun being almost completely absent from Tekken 8 was a bizarre decision considering the amount of attention Bandai Namco was putting on her return considering that she had previously only been playable in Tekken 2.
Based on the vision that Jin had while attempting to fend off a massive energy blast from Kazuya, it would appear that Jun is hopeful about saving Jin and Kazuya. Needless to say, her arcade mode ending somehow manages to be both hilarious and sad at the same time.
Aside from that, there’s a scene in the story’s ending that depicts who is believed to be Jun standing over an unconscious Kazuya. However, Jun herself is never playable and is never fought against during The Dark Awakens.
Voļ’Skìmmer Eu also indicates that there’s an unused cutscene that shows Leo Kliesen reuniting with their father, Niklas Kliesen. This appears to be an extremely emotional reunion for Leo.
Leo’s father disappeared when Leo was just a child. Regardless, Leo’s fighting skills and passion for spelunking came from their father.
Curiously, it would appear that Leo and Niklas have already been reunited within Leo’s arcade mode for Tekken 8. This seems to imply that the side story DLC that Voļ’Skìmmer Eu is hinting at could be intended to act as a segue between The Dark Awakens and the arcade modes for both Leo and Jun, even though most arcade endings are typically supposed to be not canon to the overall plot.
Assuming Bandai Namco does plan to release future story DLC for Tekken 8, it would be the first time in the series that they’ve done this sort of thing. It could be that Bandai Namco was inspired by NetherRealm Studios’ story DLC for Mortal Kombat 11 (and Mortal Kombat 1 in the future).
Check out a glimpse at the aforementioned unused scenes found by Voļ’Skìmmer Eu below:
Tekken 8 Side-Story DLC is coming. Unreleased cutscenes shows Jun Kazama waking up after her battle with Ogre and Leo reuniting with her Dad. pic.twitter.com/VoSM6sDKMd
— Voļ’Skìmmer Eu (@VolSkimmer) February 6, 2024