This page assumes that you've played and completed Tekken 6's Scenario Campaign, as spoilers for the aforementioned game, as well as all Tekken games preceding this one will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
A fight is about who's left standing. Nothing else.
— Heihachi Mishima
Tekken 7, also known as Tekken 7: Fated Retribution, is 3D fighting game that hit Arcades in 2015 before being ported over to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC in 2017. It's the seventh mainline entry in the Tekken series. It is stated by Katsuhiro Harada to be the Grand Finale of the Mishima Zaibatsu Arc that's been ongoing since Tekken all the way back in 1994, though it's not the end of the series as a whole.
The ongoing global war between the Mishima Zaibatsu and G Corp continues to rage, and in the wake of Jin Kazama's mysterious disappearance, Heihachi Mishima makes his grand return after his apparent death to take the reigns of his company once more and announce a new King of Iron Fist Tournament — the true purpose of which being to draw out Kazuya Mishima, the president of G Corp, his own son, and a possessor of the Devil Gene. At the same time, however, Heihachi and Kazuya finds themselves in the crosshairs of a new rival, and a devil of another kind: no less than the Raging Demon, Akuma! The origins of the Devil Gene will be laid bare, secrets of the Mishima family will be revealed, and a decades-long feud between father and son will finally reach its bitter conclusion, from which there can only be one survivor!
7 introduces Rage Arts and Power Crush. The former deals out a devastating attack after while in a critical state, the latter allows one to continue attacking their opponent while receiving damage.
The game has sold over ten million copies during its lifetime.
The sequel, Tekken 8, was announced in 2022, around seven years after 7 hit arcades.
Playable Characters:
Italics indicates DLC.- From Tekken: Kazuya Mishima, Paul Phoenix, Marshall Law, Nina Williams, Yoshimitsu, Jack-7, Lee Chaolan/Violet, Heihachi Mishima, Anna Williams, Ganryu
- From Tekken 2: Lei Wulong
- From Tekken 3: Jin Kazama, Hwoarang, Ling Xiaoyu, King II, Kuma II, Panda, Eddy Gordo, Bryan Fury, Julia Chang
- From Tekken 4: Steve Fox, Craig Marduk
- From Tekken 5: Asuka Kazama, Feng Wei, Emilie "Lili" De Rochefort, Sergei Dragunov, Devil Jin, Armor King II
- From Tekken 6: Leo Kliesen, Miguel Cabellero Rojo, Bob Richards, Lars Alexandersson, Alisa Bosconovitch, Zafina
- From Tekken Revolution: Eliza
- New to Tekken 7: Katarina Alves, Claudio Serafino, Lucky Chloe, Shaheen, Kazumi Mishima, Josie Rizal, Gigas, Master Raven, Leroy Smith, Fahkumram, Kunimitsu II, Lidia Sobieska
- Guest Fighters: Akuma, Geese Howard, Noctis Lucis Caelum, Negan Smith
Get ready for the next tropes:
- A Winner Is You: Arcade mode for all characters ends with a brief cutscene of the final boss being defeated, credits, and the Game Over screen. That's it. Quite disappointing considering how Tekken was known for over-the-top and lavishly produced endings before this.
- Back to Base Form: Heihachi manages to hold his own against Kazuya's True Devil form and wear him down to his normal human form, but Kazuya manages to kill Heihachi in said form.
- The Bad Guy Wins: With no one left to stand in his way of world domination, Kazuya finally succeeds in further bringing down the whole world to its knees. Though the only silver lining is Jin having woken up from his sleep, sets to kill Kazuya once and for all, setting in motion the events of the eighth tournament.
- Beware the Superman: The central theme of the Mishima Saga storyline. The reason Heihachi kills his own wife is due to her Hachijo lineage having also possessing a demonic blood, which would be passed on to Kazuya (and later on, Jin) that would result into the vicious cycle of infighting among Mishimas.Heihachi takes advantage of Kazuya's battle against Akuma to expose his son's Devil form to the entire world, losing a great deal of supporters in the process. Even with Heihachi's death, Kazuya has no problem using his devil powers to further subjugate the world. The reporter even remarked that the infighting between Mishimas was basically a war between humans and devils.
- Bittersweet Ending: Kazuya and Heihachi have their fight to the death; the former emerges as the victor and the latter killed, this time for real. Even after killing Heihachi, Kazuya was denied of any closure after finding out the truth about Kazumi wanting both her husband and son dead in the event they become Drunk with Power despite his fondness for his mother. With no one standing in his way of conquering the world and the Mishima Zaibatsu in shambles now that Heihachi is gone, Kazuya would go on to declare war against the entire world. On the bright side, Jin wakes up from his sleep, forming an alliance with Lars in hopes of bringing down Kazuya once and for all, setting in motion the events of the 8th tournament.
- Book Ends:
- The story mode starts with a younger Heihachi throwing an unconscious child Kazuya off a cliff, telling him to "Try again in the next life". The story ends with Kazuya throwing a dead Heihachi down a cliff, into lava, while citing that the strong survive and the weak die.
- In the opening narration, Nina says that Jin, as the leader of the Zaibatsu, sent the human race to hell to save it. In the epilogue, Lars tells Jin that after sending the world to hell, he now has to bring it back.
- The Bus Came Back: Anna, Armor King, Julia, Lei, and Marduk were initially cut from the game, but were readded in Season 2. Zafina and Ganryu also return as a part of season 3.
- Canon Immigrant: Akuma officially exists as part of the Tekken universe. This means that Tekken and Street Fighter share universes, or at least some version of the latter exists here.
- Canon Welding: It's been implied that the Devil Gene and the Satsui no Hadou have a connection, and Akuma's reasoning for being Kazumi's hitman boils down to "I Owe You My Life."
- Climactic Volcano Backdrop: The setting of the Final Battle between Kazuya and Heihachi.
- Combat Breakdown: The final battle between Kazuya and Heihachi starts out epic and flashy, with Kazuya turning into his True Devil form and Heihachi refusing to stay down even with torn karate gi (represented in gameplay as Ascended Heihachi, another SNK Boss), with both of them taking moves that deal huge damage and keep going, such as Kazuya's 10 hit combo, later Devil Kazuya and Ascended Heihachi giving each other their Rage Arts (One-Hit Kill in normal gameplay). By the end of the battle, both men are exhausted and at their limit, reduced to slugging it out until Heihachi finally falls and dies.
- Costume Evolution: All returning characters get a brand new costume. This is the first time this happened since Tekken 5 in 2004.
- End of an Age: This is the final game in the "Mishima Zaibatsu arc," which had been ongoing since the very first game. It's also the final game with Heihachi, a character that has had a huge part in the series canon, and has been featured in every game up to this point.
- Evil Versus Evil: As a closure for the Mishima saga, the central conflict of the game is one between Kazuya and Heihachi, with Kazuya finally killing Heihachi in their fight to the death and throws his lifeless body at a volcano much like the latter did at the end of the second tournament.
- Final Battle: Between Kazuya and Heihachi.
- Game Mod: The PC version has a surprisingly robust modding community, with mods ranging from costumes, to stages, to even voice packs for various characters.
- Grand Finale: This game serves as the ultimate conclusion of the Mishima Zaibatsu Arc and puts an end to the Kazuya and Heihachi conflict that has been ongoing since the original Tekken.
- Guest Fighter: The first since Gon back in '98 to feature them. Akuma, Geese, Noctis and Negan are among the roster, though the latter three are DLC.
- Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: The final battle has the player play as Heihachi against Kazuya. The player has to win against Kazuya gameplay-wise, or it's Game Over. Even if the player wins and wears down Devil Kazuya Back to Base Form, Heihachi gets killed by Kazuya anyway.
- Impending Clash Shot: New visual effects for Tekken 7 include a feature where the game will zoom in and slow down for particularly painful hits (like landing Paul's Phoenix Smasher) and also slow down the action entirely if you and an opponent are closing in for a hit at the same time and one or both of you are one hit away from KO.
- Killed Off for Real: At the climax of their Final Battle, Kazuya delivers a decisive punch against Heihachi. The old man falls, completely unresponsive, but soon gets thrown into a live volcano by Kazuya for good measure instead of a cliff like before, guaranteeing his death once and for all.
- Legacy Character: Kunimitsu is the daughter of the original who appeared in the first two Tekken games and both Tag installments.
- Limit Break: The biggest new addition to the gameplay is the Rage Art and Rage Drive allowing you to unleash a powerful attack when your character's health is low. Rage Arts are essentially "super moves" that require a single hit to launch into a flashy string of attacks while Rage Drives are single attacks that are very strong both in power and strategically, opening new combo opportunities. Rage Arts also retain the Power Crush's ability to ignore incoming attacks (and are immune to more attacks than a Power Crush) while Rage Drives have no immunity.
- Marrying the Mark:
- This game reveals that the Hachijo's clan's modus operandi is to marry their daughters to powerful men to kill them when they get too powerful and/or ambitious. Kazumi Mishima, wife of Heihachi and mother of Kazuya, married him and even had a child for the explicit purpose of assassinating Heihachi and preventing him from threatening the world. Though internally conflicted, she still made the attempt on Heihachi's life when the time came...which not only failed, but helped turn Heihachi into the monster he would become.
- In addition to making her own attempt to kill him, Kazumi also told an old acquaintance of hers (Akuma/Gouki of Street Fighter fame) to murder both Heihachi and her own son Kazuya if her own attempt failed.
- No-Sell: Power Crush lets you keep attacking without fail even as your opponent is hitting you. However, you still take damage. Low attacks and throws can also interrupt a Power Crush. Most Rage Arts also have this property and are not restricted by lows or throws.
- Nostalgia Level: Dragon's Nest, a stage originally from Tekken 5. The stage is more open to accommodate Tekken 7's more complex combos and on the match point, a thunderstorm will descend. New main and climax music themes are also present.
- Put on a Bus: Baek, Bruce, Christie, Wang, Raven, and Roger Jr. all appeared in Tekken 6 and were cut from here. At launch Anna, Armor King, Julia, Lei, Marduk, Zafina, and Ganryu were among them as well, but they came back later as DLC. It should be noted that the door is always open for the cut characters to return later.
- Rag Tag Bunch Of Misfits: In the story, the alliance formed by Lars and Lee at the end of Tekken 6 is expanded to include a fully restored Alisa, the Reporter and Jin Kazama, who acts as the group's Secret Weapon against Kazuya, the slated Big Bad of the next game.
- Riddle for the Ages: The "Special Chapter" is a bonus fight takes place immediately after the main story, with Kazuya finishing off Heihachi for good. Akuma arrives shortly after to finish their battle, but it's not revealed who truly won in the end.
- Sequential Boss: The final battle pits the player as Heihachi against base Kazuya, then base Kazuya that can fire lasers, and finally his True Devil form (with the player controlling Ascended Heihachi at this point).
- Stunned Silence: This is Asuka's response in her ending when Lilli reveals she purchased Asuka's house and dojo and will be living with her from now on and also reveals just how much research she's done into the history of the Kazuya clan. She snaps out of it to chase Lilli down, demanding to know if it's a joke.
- Variable Mix: A feature brought back from the Arcade version of Tekken 3, each stage has a main and a "climax" musical theme that plays when one character is one point shy of winning. Typically it's a harder, more aggressive version of the main theme. Lars and Leroy get special climax themes when they're playing on Twilight Conflict (both versions) and Dragon's Nest, respectively. Lars also has a special climax theme if he's wearing the Hiroshi Tanahashi customization (Tanahashi's entrance music). Strangely, the one exception is Geometric Plane, which simply has one theme that plays through the whole fight. If you're on the PS4 and don't care for the climax theme feature, setting a stage's music to a single theme in the Jukebox for the whole fight will cause the music to play uninterrupted from start to finish.
- The Island Paradise stage, added in the final DLC bundle for Season 4, has a unique gimmick where its climax theme (a remix of Tekken 4's Beach stage theme, "Kitsch") will play at match point or immediately if the balcony break stage gimmick is triggered.
- Version-Exclusive Content: The PlayStation 4 version features the "Tekken Jukebox" feature that lets players change the music for each stage (similar to the "Tekken Tunes" feature from Tekken Tag 2) and three exclusive costume customizations for Jin (Tekken 4 hoodie), Xiaoyu (Tekken 4 pink dress), and King (King I's blue shirt and tie combo from Tekken 2). It also includes a VR mode but the stage used for it (a starry sky version of Infinite Azure) was eventually added as a free component of Julia Chang and Negan's arrival in Season 2.
- Weird Crossover: Considering the guests, the game mixes Tekken with Street Fighter, Fatal Fury/King of Fighters, Final Fantasy and The Walking Dead.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: This is Negan's response at the end of his trailer when Bob does his intro while declaring "Speed and Weight!": "Speed?! You?!" *laughs* "You better be jokin'!" Bob turns around and cries while Negan just turns around with a "Well, that just happened..." look on his face.
