Eddy Gordo joins Tekken 8 roster today

Iconic capoeira fighter Eddy Gordo is now available in Tekken 8 as part of the game's season pass.

Eddy is the first DLC character to be added to the game and will be followed by three more yet to be revealed.

First introduced in Tekken 3, Eddy is a Brazilian capoeira master who's appeared in every mainline game in the series since.

Eddy is available as part of the season pass or individually. Players who own the Deluxe, Ultimate, or Deluxe Upgrade pack versions of the game will already have access.

His inclusion expands the 32-character launch roster, which includes plenty of well-known faces and three fresh fighters: Azucena, Victor Chevalier, and Reina.

Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada recently appeared on the Game Maker's Notebook podcast with PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida, in which the future of fighting games was discussed.

Harada noted the way fighting games are played “has evolved over time” and differs between generations. His own generation, generally people in their 50s, is competitive as people “prefer definitive outcomes, a clear winner and loser.”

He continued: “But most young people nowadays are the opposite. They're rarely eager to engage in one-on-one showdowns. Plus, because fighting games pit you by yourself against a single opponent, you have to accept all the responsibility if you lose.”

As such, players are unable to blame others if they lose, as they can in team-based shooters.

“I thought about how we might accommodate the younger generation of players,” said Harada. “I'm not saying we should suddenly turn a fighting game into a puzzle game, or a real-time strategy game. I still think there's demand for games like this, this sort of hand-to-hand fighting. But maybe we could include other ways of competing, outside of the main game.”

One option could be to include team-based modes as part of online rankings.

Do you enjoy the competition of Tekken 8? Are you excited to get into the ring with Eddy?

We described the game as “a perfectly executed balancing act, keeping older players happy while revealing its trademark freedom to newcomers” in our Tekken 8 review.