Like a Dragon Gaiden could have all of the facet content material you’d count on — simply in a shorter game
On: October 20, 2022
Followers of Yakuza, or Like a Dragon as Sega would favor you name it now, absolutely anticipated to see one thing associated to Like a Dragon 8 eventually month’s RGG Summit. What they in all probability didn’t count on, nonetheless, was that it might star the collection’ earlier protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, and that he’d even be getting a separate game of his personal, titled Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Title.
Little or no of Like a Dragon Gaiden was proven off outdoors of a cinematic trailer, with RGG Studio solely confirming that it might be a standard motion game, not an RPG like Like a Dragon 8, in addition to a launch yr of 2023, and that it might show what Kiryu was doing after the occasions of Yakuza 6: The Track of Life.
Because of a current Twinfinite interview with studio head and govt producer Masayoshi Yokoyama, we now know a bit extra about what to anticipate. And whereas it seems like a basic Yakuza journey that followers of Kiryu’s saga will likely be aware of, it additionally appears to be extra compact than the earlier video games, additional cementing its standing as a facet game quite than a real sequel.
In reality, Yokoyama says Like a Dragon Gaiden is anticipated to be lower than half so long as a typical Yakuza game, primarily resulting from the truth that it received’t be spending numerous time explaining who Kiryu is. “I feel if you happen to have a look at simply the scale of the primary story of The Man Who Erased His Title, it should in all probability be a bit shorter than half of a typical mainline title,” he explains.
“It is because we’re depicting a pre-existing protagonist independently, and received’t want to incorporate lengthy explanations within the dialogue. I feel you may say it might be someplace round 4-6 chapters of a typical mainline game.”
It’ll be fascinating to see then if the game will closely depend on gamers already being aware of Kiryu’s previous or if it intends to function an introduction to his character for newer followers who started with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which featured a model new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga. Earlier video games within the collection have often aimed to be self-contained, though they’ve at all times maintained a level of continuity for returning followers. Like a Dragon Gaiden will seemingly be no totally different and have no less than a number of throwbacks to earlier video games.
Regardless of its shorter size, Yokoyama assured that the hallmarks of the Yakuza collection will likely be current. Specifically, a wide range of facet tales and minigames to eat up your time. So, altogether, the general measurement of the game will in all probability be “about half the scale of a mainline game.”
He didn’t present any particular examples, however it might be protected to imagine that collection regulars like mahjong, baseball, and karaoke will likely be included.
