Fighting games often have a stigma of being difficult to get into and even harder to master. Of course there are clear exceptions to this rule with games that manage to be really simple and still have tons of depth in their simplicity, such as Brawlhalla, Super Smash Brothers, Nidhogg and even Divekick in a way.
But it isn't as clear cut as a line between casual and hardcore.
There's a good recent game of a game that teaches you how to play with a great tutorial and that's really intuitive to get into, that being Guilty Gear Strive.
But you can go even further than that and blend accessibility with a high skill ceiling and complex mechanics, and of course, that's the subject of this post.
Tekken 7.
Okay, that looks like a fairly standard fighting game, what's so different?
This is:
Tekken divides its inputs into a characters limbs, so once you memorize what button does what (which is really easy even by just playing) you'll start doing combos and naturally learning moves without having to look at a movelist like in a game such as Street Fighter where moves feel like spells that'll summon the apocalypse or something.
Of course, there's still a moves list for every character, but I've only ever found myself using this for the more niche characters with weirder abilities, such as Street Fighter's cameo Akuma and Eliza, who both have unique gameplay mechanics that add a small layer of extra depth, but that's still really easy to learn and becomes second nature.
Tekken 7 lacks any kind of proper tutorial, which sounds odd, but it does have a story mode that starts of easy and gets harder and harder. The CPU difficulty can also be adjusted and it's a great way to get into the game, as Arcade mode can be a little punishing for newer players, but later on becomes an absolute breeze.
Alongside the story mode there are character episodes where you can learn a little more about the lore of each character, it's really quite an interesting concept that's as far as I know, done differently from the rest of the Tekken series.
The story in this one doesn't hold any punches either, it's really great for something that often gets ignored in these types of fighting games.
But for me, the main highlight is still the gameplay. I've always wanted to be good and competitive at a game like this but could never actually get into them. Tekken 3 was something I played a lot as a kid but the CPU was my only opponent, I had no idea how to gauge my skill.
When I tried out Tekken 7 and played it with friends, I instantly fell in love and so did they.
We gather around all the time to show off our skills and fight each other, it's an absolute blast.
And it's the first time in a fighting game that isn't Super Smash Bros that I managed to go online and not get my ass handed to me.
It has a good enough ranked matchmaking system and since it's so easy to get into, with just 20 hours I was already going up ranks online, and I don't plan on stopping that grind, that climb.
It also got me into other games, I finally beat Mortal Kombat X and now I can actually beat my friends there and in Mortal Kombat 11. Street Fighter also became a little more accessible, since inputs in Tekken are usually more forgiving and easier to execute, I got used to actually doing more complex moves, and that's a necessity in Street Fighter.
Games I used to love during my childhood such as King of Fighters finally became playable because I have a way better game sense now, and that's all thanks to Tekken 7.
This isn't exclusive for the 7th game, but I don't think any other in the franchise managed to be this accessible for noobs like me, and it's definitely the best I've played so far (with 5 coming in at a close second).
Totally recommend this for experienced fighting game fans, newcomers and even people who've never played a fighting game.
It's a great entry point that does not break away from tradition to give you the tools and let you learn how to use them.
