The Yakuza series has been constantly releasing games for the last 16 years, developing on a story that has now taken place over four decades. From Kiryu as a fledgling Yakuza in 1995 to Ichiban’s turn at the mantle in 2019, it’s been a long journey. During the RGG Studio Summit, three new Yakuza games were shown off, including the sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, named Like a Dragon 8.
During the Summit, two other Yakuza games were announced as well, these include the 1800s Like a Dragon Ishin and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Ishin is a remake of the 2014 title, now featuring an all-star cast of characters from Yakuza 6 set around the time that Japan began to move away from isolationist policies.
Like a Dragon Gaiden is a spin-off from the main series likely taking place between Yakuza 6 and Like a Dragon. It will likely explain where Kiryu was while Ichiban was traveling around Isezaki Ijincho, allowing players to take on a new adventure with Kiryu. The character did seem to change in some way by the time he showed up in Like a Dragon and now players will get to understand that firsthand.
According to executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama, Like a Dragon 8 will be another RPG, available for current and last-gen consoles, as well as Steam. Yokoyama states that “The scale of the game is really big, it’s going to be the largest game to date.” This follows after the first Like a Dragon, which was a large game in its own right.
On Like a Dragon 8, which will feature Kiryu and Ichiban, Yokoyama speaks to their motivations, “The game is about Kiryu who has all of his past on his back and Ichiban who has all of the future ahead of him.” While Kiryu was mostly absent from the last game, the producer states that they felt bringing the character back was necessary for this game’s theme.
With that in mind, Like a Dragon 8 may work like Yakuza 0, where the player takes on alternating characters with each new chapter. The stories may briefly intersect and parallel before culminating at the end with both characters working together. This is just speculation, but it could follow a similar timeline that RGG did in some of its past games.
The next game to be released from RGG will be Like a Dragon Ishin, releasing on Feb. 21, 2023. After that will come Like a Dragon Gaiden in 2023, and Like a Dragon 8 likely in early 2024.
