During the Lidia Sobieska Tekken Talk live stream it was revealed that she would be released on July 22, 2024 in early access and get an official release three days later for the rest of the gaming public, on July 25, 2024.
Lidia is the second playable character for Season 1 of Tekken 8. Eddy Gordo was the first character added to the game as DLC. There are a total of four characters being added to the game in Season 1 of Tekken 8.
Earlier in the day, we saw a new starter guide and early gameplay look where it was shown that Lidia has four different stances she can adopt during gameplay — a Cat, Horse, Striking Wolf and Heaven & Earth form. Many aspects of this character’s gameplay focus around keeping the opponent guessing with her constant stance switches.
Many of her moves will cause her to go into one of her four stances, whether those attacks land or are blocked. She also has plenty of good buttons that punish opponents for mashing, including attacks that leave her plus on block once the opponent starts respecting her options.
Her Heaven & Earth Stance is quite unique, since it’s only accessible while Heat Mode is active. When activating this stance, she permanently gains a charge which improves the damage of her moves for the rest of the match. This can be done up to three times. Given how Lidia functions, she’s regarded as a very complex character, even by Tekken’s normal standards.
During the stream the Tekken 8 development team also showed off Lidia’s other three alternative costumes, in addition to her default outfit. Here’s a look at the latest costumes.
Click images for larger versions