Yakuza’s Kazuma Kiryu is back in Like a Dragon 8 and a new spinoff

polygon.com:

The next mainline Yakuza game, Like a Dragon 8, will be released in 2024 and will feature the return of Kazuma Kiryu as one of two protagonists, alongside Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s Ichiban Kasuga.

Kiryu will also star in a spin-off game to be released in 2023 called Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. And yes, it seems that the name of the series in English has officially changed from Yakuza to Like a Dragon (a direct translation of its Japanese title, Ryu Ga Gotoku).

The news was revealed Wednesday during a livestream hosted by developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, which also went a bit deeper on Like a Dragon: Ishin!, the remake of the 2014 samurai-era spinoff that was announced during Tuesday evening’s PlayStation State of Play stream.

Details on Like a Dragon 8 are light, and only a brief teaser was shown, featuring the two co-protagonists. Nevertheless, Kiryu’s radically changed appearance, with graying hair swept down over his forehead, was enough to shock viewers on Twitch.

RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama said that there were “a lot of reasons” for Kiryu’s new hairdo, but said they would remain secret for now. He added that Like a Dragon 8 would have a role-playing gameplay system similar to Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s, explaining that this decision was motivated by story; both games feature lots of discussion and are based around working with friends, and the RPG system and combat seemed to fit best.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, however, will be an action adventure game, and “about half the size” of a mainline title in the series, according to Yokoyama. It won’t be entirely linear — players will still be able to “got to town, hang out and do side quests,” he said. But it will be “easy