Tekken 8 sees the return of professional spelunker Leo and if you’ve been waiting to see them in action, Bandai Namco have finally caved. This one-on-one fighter’s latest trailer shows them in action and they’re fast enough on their feet to give other brawlers a run for their money.
One-on-one fighting game Tekken 8 arrives in a couple of months and to whet players appetites for its close-combat punch-ups, Bandai Namco has been drip-feeding fans character videos.
The latest fighter to get their moment in the spotlight is Leo Kliese, a Germanic non-binary brawler whose hobbies include spelunking and avenging their parents’ deaths.
The latter might sound like a cue for them to start leaping across rooftops and the trailer does show them whipping out a grappling gun. But they’re a darn sight more vocal than Batman and black is definitely not their colour.
Leo (pronounced Lay-o) debuted in Tekken 6 and, after cropping up in Tekken 7, is back for more bottom-kicking shenanigans. Their trailer’s description is simply “
Employing the real-life martial art of bajiquan, the trailer shows Leo keeping their opponent off their feet, with plenty of juggling. And while the Tekken series mostly eschews long range attacks, Leo still has a respectable reach.
The trailer also gives us a look at their formidable rage attack, where they make practical use of their grappling hook. It seems like it’d be fun to use that in-match, as a regular attack, but I could see it winding up other Tekken players.
Leo is also massively offended by fellow fighter Azucena‘s insistence that she’s the ‘Coffee Queen’. Azucena cropped up in Tekken 8’s beta, which took place last month, though Leo was absent.
The Tekken 8 release date is coming up in January 2024, with the Tekken 8 characters list containing over 30 fighters. And if you want to get up to speed with your brawling, Tekken 7 is 75% off on Steam, making it £8.74 / $9.99.
If you’re a fan of fireballs or Street Fighter 6 is more your style, here’s how to get started with SF6 Ryu, and how to track down all the story mode’s star fighters in our SF6 world tour locations guide.
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