We might’ve gotten one hell of an appetizer yesterday at Sony’s State of Play with Like a Dragon: Ishin!’s reveal, but the main course will be served quite early for us East Coasters, since the RGG Summit 2022 will be airing at 6am EST. However I am up because I will do anything for my “oyabun”.
Masayoshi Yokohoma the head of the studio takes the stage, he announces today’s proceedings will reveal new titles and will last an hour. His rise to his new station has not been an easy one, since he has ascended to the head of the studio the stress of the work has led to teeth loss. Needless to say we appreciate the hard work the team has been putting in and hope they balance work with their health.
The first trailer shown is one of Like A Dragon: Ishin!. Providing a bit more details Sakamoto Ryoma whose visage mirrors longtime series lead Kiryu Kazama. The trailer also revealed some new faces joining the game from more recent titles like Yakuza 0 (The Dojima Lieutenants Trio) and Like A Dragon (Tianyou Zhao, Joon-gi Han) Release date has been revealed as February 21nd 2023. The first set of guests have taken stage and it’s the three actors who portrayed the Dojima Lieutenants Trio (Riki Takeuchi, Hitoshi Ozawa, Hideo Nakano) from Yakuza 0. The topics of the chat include how they felt when they received the offer to appear in Ishin, how it felt to see their CG selves, how they prepared for the role and even their strategy on how to play the yakuza games. Yokohama revealed that Nakano got the meatiest role as his character actually had the most amount of lines after the main character. There also will be videos of each man’s visit to the RGG Studios on their respective social media accounts. The game will be playable on the TGS floor. Needless to say Ishin’s release in the west means there’s hope for other left-behind titles to get the ?Kiwami? treatment.
The second reveal starts off with a silhouette walking towards the infamous Kamurocho Gate with dialogue from the first Like a Dragon. Then a 2nd silhouette joins the first and it’s revealed the duo are Kasuga Ichiban and Kiryu Kazama…with a new hairdo?!? Like a Dragon 8 is officially revealed and it’s still the last generation of consoles in 2024 The game will feature dual protagonists, personally I think it’s a little weird to have Kiryu return to the spotlight after Yakuza 6 being his swansong, however I’m sure RGG will continue to do the character justice. The voice actors of Ichiban and Kazama are brought on stage. Yokohama confirmed the game will remain a RPG. Everyone on stage felt like they were walking on eggshells, hoping not to reveal too much.
A new video shows Kazama Kiryu leading a more solitary monastic life, but is approached by a shadowy figure to take on a job, thus revealing the 3rd announcement of the summit, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man who Erased his Name. It turns out Kiryu wasn’t just playing slot cars and hanging out at hostess bars while he was out of the series spotlight. This side story will be coming in 2023 and is considered an addendum to Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Yokohama stated this will be an action title, but not necessarily in a traditional Yakuza sense. In terms of length, it can be described as larger than The Kaito Files from Lost Judgment, but half the size of a standard Yakuza title. It will act as a Kiryu refresher course for those who picked up the series at Like a Dragon.
The trio of announcements certainly shows the future of RGG studio is bright, and apparently 1 hour wasn?t enough because we just got news that the Judgment series will finally be arriving to PC proper today! Furthermore Sega PR sent over additional details containing the pre-order incentives for Ishin! as well as the various bundles the Judgment games can be purchased, that information can be found below. As always I eagerly await for the next time I’ll set foot in the lifelike but fictional Japan this studio has crafted for decades.
Like a Dragon: Ishin! | Ambush Trailer:
Like a Dragon 8 | Announcement Trailer:
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name | Announcement Trailer:
