It's "frightening" how fast we have to release Like A Dragon games to stay "relevant", says Yakuza writer
rockpapershotgun.comA little knowledge can be worse than no knowledge at all. I know a little about the Yakuza series, having reviewed the 1980s-set Yakuza Zero for this very parish in 2018, and tried a bit of 2019's turn-based battler Yakuza: Like A Dragon. Fast-forward to 2023, and all Yakuza games are now Like A Dragon games, including the forthcoming Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which is an... Animal Crossing game, actually? With skateboarding? I'm still getting my head around the existence of a zombie spin-off, Dead Souls, to say nothing of the samurai-era Like A Dragon: Ishin. And then there's the inter-quel Like a Dragon Gaiden, due this November, which seems like a relatively straight-laced delve into the past of original protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. Phew, it's just as well Ed Thorn wrote that guide to the order you should play the Yakuza games in.
It sounds like the developers at Ryu ga Gotoku Studio have a hard time keeping track themselves, especially given the rate at which Sega publish Like A Dragon games. According to studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama, Like A Dragon's creators feel a lot of pressure to get the games done quickly, not just with a view to making money but because as projects that riff so copiously on pop culture, Like A Dragon stories go out of date fast.
"We're always rushing to get titles out in the Like a Dragon Series, and this is not because of loss of opportunity or profit, but because these are games that capture the moment," Yokoyama told Automaton in a nicely chunky interview. "You can tell from the trailer this time around, but the game captures current trends, such as VTubers.
"If this were to be delayed for half a year, it could all end up being old news. And when you take into account that
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