Sega just released trailers for two new Yakuza games that are on the way: Yakuza 8, the next mainline game in the series (and one which we’d already seen and knew about), and Like a Dragon Gaiden, an all-new announcement which stars series stalwart Kazuma Kiryu. That makes this three Yakuza announcements in one week for Sega, after yesterday’s reveal of Like a Dragon: Ishin!
First up is Yakuza 8, which looks to have ditched having Ichiban as its lone star in favour of a shared adventure with Kiryu, the man nobody can say goodbye to. Please note that Sega isn’t really using the Yakuza name anymore, this is officially called Like A Dragon 8, but it’s going to take a while to get used to that, so for now let’s just keep calling it Yakuza 8:
The eighth game in the main series will be out in 2024 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC. I…I don’t know how to process what they’ve done to Kiryu’s hair here, and to be honest, I don’t want to talk about it right now. Instead, let’s move onto the other Kiryu-related project shown off overnight, called Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name:
Now this is interesting. Not only is it filling in some narrative gaps, showing us what Kiryu had been up to between Yakuzas 6 & 7, but it’s also specifically targeting fans who preferred the older style of game (before Yakuza 7’s leap to turn-based combat), with a big focus on action-based combat. The game is reportedly a smaller, more manageable affair as well, lacking the sprawl of mainline Yakuza games, so hopefully it comes in a bit cheaper as well.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will be out in 2023.
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