In a torrent of Yakuza announcements this week, Sega has announced another game for us to look forward to. Titled Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, this will be a spin-off game with a plot that takes place between the events of Yakuza 6 and Yakuza 7. The plan is for this new game to bridge a gap in anticipation of Yakuza 8 (now titled Like a Dragon 8) and explain what happened to Kiryu Kazama.
The game is set to release in 2023 on all platforms, which includes PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows, and Steam. With gameplay in mind, this game looks like it’s going to go back to Kiryu’s roots and not be an RPG like Yakuza: Like a Dragon, giving it more of a spin-off feel. In the words of Masayoshi Yokoyama, “this is going to be an action-adventure game. It will be about half the size of a regular Yakuza game.”
However, Yokoyama also added that there would be Yakuza elements that the players have already grown used to after Like a Dragon, despite it not being a more traditional RPG. The new game, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, was initially announced with a teaser trailer. We have glimpsed the protagonist of the game Kiryu Kazama meditating at peace, while we also learn that he has taken on an assumed name. Of course, in true Yakuza fashion, things will likely not go as peacefully as the trailer would have us believe.
It will be interesting to see if this game will fully explain how Kiryu and Ichiban come into contact, as that was one of the main parts of the reveal in the announcement of Like a Dragon 8. So the hope remains that this game will give us those answers. Fans also have another Yakuza spin-off to look forward to in 2023 as RGG Studio is remaking Like a Dragon: Ishin!, which is a samurai game starring Kiryu and the gang as historical warriors.
