Tekken 8‘s fighters have been slowly revealed, trailer by trailer, and now it’s the turn of Sergei Dragunov. Think Street Fighter’s Zangief is a scary Russian? He’s got nothing on Bandai Namco’s new brawler.
Tekken 8’s latest fighter is here, and it’s Sergei Dragunov, the fighting game series’ badass Russian battler. As a soldier in the Russian army, he’s nicknamed ‘The White Angel of Death’ for his combat skills. And he’s got a gaze so intense I’m surprised anyone actually dares to fight him.
But he does fight opponents to fight, usually on the orders of his superiors who want a tournament fighter taken out. Admittedly, his entrance to the arena is a little silly, as he commando crawls his way across a grill for no good reason at all. If we were his opponent, we might be tempted to giggle.
We won’t be laughing, however, when he lands the first punch because, as a practitioner of sombo, he’s a powerhouse on par with Steve Fox. Though unlike Fox, who prefers fist-fighting, Dragunov goes for full-body combat. In his new trailer, he’s seen delivering some devastating low attacks.
Perhaps he’s more vocal in the final game but in the trailer he barely utters a word, giving him an air of menace. In Tekken 7 he walks away from an explosion without even looking, which, as confirmed by action movie law, is the mark of a true badass.
You can step into Sergei Dragunov’s military-issue boots when Tekken 8 releases this Friday, January 26. And if you’ve yet to play Tekken 7, the Originals Edition (which includes extra characters), is a whopping 85% off on Steam, down to just $13.49 / £11.24. Snap it up and get some practice in.
Alternatively, if you’d prefer to hone your Street Fighter skills instead, here is our in-depth Street Fighter 6 tier list rounding up the game’s best fighters. If you prefer gory finishers to super moves, you can check out the gruesome Mortal Kombat 1 fatalities.
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