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I recently participated in SEGA’s Summer preview event and got hands-on with Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. I spent about a half hour controlling Kiryu Kazuma - trying out his new combat style and exploring a brand new area known as The Castle. Our time was brief with the game and did not provide any major plot spoilers.
All we knew is that Kiryu was going to do something he has done on and off throughout the years: compete in a deathmatch. In that new coliseum, however, there were some very familiar faces that you could control, including fan-favorite Goro Majima. Though I’m sad I couldn’t play more of the game, here’s what we know right now.
Like a Dragon Gaiden lets players customize Kiryu’s clothes without beating the game first
One of the most frustrating things in the Yakuza franchise has been Kiryu’s clothes. Thankfully, Like a Dragon Gaiden is fixing that. The Castle features a Boutique, where you can adjust the look Kiryu has when he’s navigating this zone and when he’s taking part in the death matches at the coliseum.
This means you can have a casual outfit - everything from three-piece suits made of snakeskin to jeans and a t-shirt Kiryu Kazuma. Then, when it’s time to fight, you can put on your Majima Construction Company hard hat and start throwing down.
According to SEGA, these outfits carry over into the main world - except the coliseum loadouts. Simply having cosmetic options for Kiryu without having to first beat the game and get to the Premium mode in Like a Dragon is spectacular.
You can even save several costume loadouts and preview them. When you hit preview, Kiryu does a little turn on the catwalk, and it’s incredible. I admittedly spent far too much time seeing just how much you can do with this. The options were pretty great for this upcoming entry into the classic franchise.
Like a Dragon Gaiden’s battle coliseum lets players control an assortment of characters
While Kiryu may be the star of Like a Dragon Gaiden, he’s not the only playable character - sort of. While taking part in The Castle’s deathmatches, you will have access to a roster of characters to play as. It’s not known how you unlock them, but the cast is wild and interesting.
Some of the characters in the coliseum
- Rooster Man (Y7 Movie Minigame)
- Ram Man (Y7 Movie Minigame)
- Gary “Buster” Holmes (Y7, Y4, YK, YK2, YDS)
- Goro Majima (Virtually every Yakuza title)
We had access to roughly 20 or so optional characters in the coliseum in Like a Dragon Gaiden. However, I focused on Goro Majima because let’s be honest - he’s amazing.
He played very similar to using his Legendary style in Yakuza 0, as well. This will be a great way to use familiar characters from the Like a Dragon franchise, from Yakuza 0 to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, that have never been playable in battle.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name releases on November 9, 2023, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One platforms. You can learn more about the reason for Yakuza 8's title change here.
