Tekken 8 Story Mode: The Dark Awakens - Is Completing It On Hard Mode Worth It?

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Getting your metaphorical butt in online Ranked Matches isn't the only content option available to players in Tekken 8. The game was released with quite a lot of content, including an Arcade Mode for each character, character side-stories, Arcade Quest, the Tekken Lounge, Tekken Ball, and of course the main story mode called The Dark Awakens. The Dark Awakens is a fully fleshed-out story mode for Tekken 8, expanding on the plot threads left hanging at the end of Tekken 7, establishing new characters, and continuing the saga of the Mishimas.

New Tekken Stories- New Villain Ogre Tekken X Street Fighter

Tekken 8: Where The Series Can Go After The Mishima Saga

It's interesting to speculate where the Tekken franchise could go after the conclusion of the long-running Mishima Saga.

And, when you play Tekken 8's Story Mode, you have the option of picking between 3 difficulty options for your opponents, Easy, Medium, and Hard. And, these choices do have a pretty big impact on the CPU difficulty during the story mode, so is it actually worth it to go for the hardest option right off the bat?

The Rewards For Beating The Dark Awakens On Hard

It's Not Much, Honestly

Tekken 8 - Selecting The Story Mode Difficulty

Anyone who is even more than halfway through Story: The Dark Awakens in Tekken 8 on Hard is likely wondering if it's actually worth it, given how much of a pain fighting against True Devil Kazuya seems to be. It would be one thing if this CPU fight was a one-time thing that was difficult, but you end up fighting this exact form (or a slight variation of it) of Kazuya Mishima like 4 other times in the second half of the Dark Awakens, with the final fight having him rely on his 'crystalline' ground projectile and command grab even more than before.

So, if it's not really all that fun fighting this form of Kazuya, is completing the story on Hard Mode worth the rewards at least? Well, that depends on the individual of course, but in our opinion not really. The only extra rewards you'll get for beating Story: The Dark Awakens on Hard (not including the alternate ending) are:

Icon	Reward Name	Type
	Devil Health Gauge (Gold)	Player Customization (Health Gauge)
	Devil Panel (Gold)	Player Customization (Player Information Panel)
	Devil Plate (Gold)	Player Customization (Title Plate)

So it really only boils down to a bit of player customization that all follows the same gold aesthetic. No cosmetics, no character skins, not even an extra amount of Fight Money are awarded to you for beating the whole (surprisingly long) Story Mode of Tekken 8 on the hardest difficulty. Granted, there are a lot of other rewards to be earned in the other modes of Tekken 8, so it makes sense that the game wouldn't hand you too much here.

All Other Rewards

At Least There Are A Lot Of Those

Tekken 8 - Jin Kazama In Final Chapter Of Story Mode

However, as for your rewards received beating Story: The Dark Awakens in general, those rewards are pretty sizeable. Outside of the ones mentioned above, when you beat the Story Mode on at least Medium difficulty you'll receive:

Icon	Reward Name	Type
	Soul Chain	Character Cosmetic (Jin Kazama)
	TK8 Style (Story Version)	Character Cosmetic (Kazuya Mishima)
	TK8 Style (Story Version)	Character Cosmetic (Jin Kazama)
	Hope	Player Customization (Title)
	Devil Health Gauge (Bronze)	Player Customization (Health Gauge)
	Devil Health Gague (Silver)	Player Customization (Health Gauge)
	Plate (Gold)	Player Customization (Title Plate)
	Devil Panel (Bronze)	Player Customization (Player Information Panel)
	Devil Panel (Silver)	Player Customization (Player Information Panel)
	Devil Plate (Bronze)	Player Customization (Title Plate)
	Devil Plate (Silver)	Player Customization (Title Plate)
	10 Million G	In-Game Currency

Now these are the types of rewards people were probably looking for that include Fight Money and character skins, though it's a bit of a shame it's only Jin and Kazuya. So as a whole, playing and completing the Story Mode of Tekken 8 is absolutely worth it from both an experience and reward standpoint. But, when it comes to whether you should play it on Hard or not, that choice is a bit more dependent on what you're looking to get out of it.

If all you're looking for are rewards, which given how absurd you can make characters look in Tekken 8, is understandable, then the Dark Awakens Story Mode probably isn't for you. However, if you're using the Story Mode as a way to re-warm up to Tekken's combat for online mode, as a way of challenging yourself in general, or as a way of making the Story Mode feel more fulfilling, than playing on Hard is probably te right choice for you.