Because the reveal of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, many veteran followers of the sequence have been perplexed by the choice to deliver again long-time sequence protagonist Kazuma Kiryu as a twin protagonist. Nevertheless, Like a Dragon sequence producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto claims that Kiryu’s return has been within the playing cards for a protracted, very long time.
First, some context. Be warned: beneath the video, we have included spoilers for the ending of Yakuza 6: Track of Life, and the late-game of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
On the finish of Yakuza 6: Track of Life, Kiryu fakes his personal demise to guard these closest to him, successfully ending his profession as a member and/or pawn of the yakuza. Nevertheless, he made a short return in Yakuza: Like a Dragon in a dramatic section the place he battles protagonist Kasuga Ichiban. The late-game combat is extremely tough, and was seen by many gamers as symbolizing Kiryu passing the torch of being “the dragon” from himself to Ichiban – a real remaining farewell for Kiryu of kinds.
With that context, it is sensible why followers have been so stunned to search out out that Kiryu would return in full in not simply the eighth sequence installment, but additionally in an upcoming spinoff entitled Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Identify. Nevertheless, once we spoke to Sakamoto at gamescom 2023, he indicated that the plan had at all times been for Kiryu to return, even way back to the event of Track of Life.
After we mentioned goodbye to [Kazuma Kiryu], we have been nonetheless planning to have him seem as a double protagonist for [Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth]
“After we mentioned goodbye to [Kazuma Kiryu], we have been nonetheless planning to have him seem as a double protagonist for [Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth]. So, this has been sort of a very long time one thing that we have been interested by. So, additionally in [Yakuza: Like a Dragon], Kazuma sort of appeared as a kind of backup character, and lots of people who performed [Yakuza: Like a Dragon] however weren’t aware of the earlier video games within the sequence are in all probability nonetheless questioning, ‘Who is that this character and what’s his function?’ throughout the sequence.
“So, [Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name] was sort of invented as a derivative, a Gaiden, however what we actually needed to do with it was discuss what kind of life Kazuma had from the tip of [Yakuza 6] to the occasions in [Infinite Wealth]. So, what he was doing within the background and what he was as much as. That is the objective for this entire sport.”
We additionally spoke with Sakamoto about extra particulars from Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Identify, together with some tidbits about his style, a brand new battle enviornment known as the Coliseum, and the presence of Ono Michio within the sport. You’ll be able to learn our full Q&A proper right here, and meet up with all the remainder of the information popping out of gamescom with our roundups of day one and Opening Night time Stay. And for extra Like a Dragon Gaiden, take a look at our first preview of the sport proper right here.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Bought a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.
