One Tekken 8 modder has crowbarred all of Baldur's Gate 3's origin characters into the fighting game

News
By published

Works surprisingly well, as far as crossovers go.

Two Astarions offering the player a rose in a Fighting game selection screen for Tekken 8
(Image credit: Bandai Namco, Larian, D0ct0rSauce)

Who would win in a fight: Karlach or Kazuya? What about Gale vs. whatever Jack model number they're on now? Thanks to modder D0ct0rSauce on the Tekken 8 Nexus, we don't have to wonder anymore: They've finagled all six of Baldur's Gate 3's Origin characters into Tekken 8 to duke it out in a decidedly less turn based, gentlemanly fashion than we're used to.

Rather than the sizable task of implementing them as all new characters, D0ct0rSauce swapped out some of the alternate skins of Tekken 8's pre-existing characters for models ripped straight out of Baldur's Gate 3. Karlach is Azucena, Shadowheart is Jun, Astarion is Lee, Lae'zel is Reina, Gale is Claudio, and Wyll is Shaheen. According to D0ct0rSauce's descriptions for the mods, they only replace two presets per character, and should leave your custom costumes alone.

I modded every BG3 Origin character into Tekken 8 from r/BaldursGate3

D0ct0rSauce shared a nice sizzle reel of the mod in action to the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit. It's as slapstick as you might expect such a mashup to be: Highlights include Lae'zel squaring off with Kazuya, Astarion and Shadowheart air juggling poor Gale, and Lae'zel slamming Wyll through multiple plate glass windows. RIP to the Blade of Frontiers.

All great fun, and surprisingly of a piece with fighting games' long history of guest spot crossover fighters. Geralt of Rivia's stint in Soul Calibur strikes me as a particularly appropriate comparison, but that series has also seen Yoda, Spawn, and Tekken's own Heihachi Mishima show up for a day in the sun. When you think about it, those big Baldur's bucks are just there for the taking if someone wanted to do an official fighting game cameo. Until that time, you can check out D0ct0rSauce's mods over on the Tekken 8 Nexus⁠—each character is à la carte, and they've also dropped some Berserk model swaps in there too.

Image 1 of 3
Lae'zel adopting martial arts pose with fighting game health bars visible in Tekken 8
(Image credit: Bandai Namco, Larian, D0ct0rSauce)
Ted Litchfield
Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.