Those who watched last year’s RGG Summit stream likely remember the announcement of Like a Dragon Gaiden. This upcoming spinoff promised to explore series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s story after the events of Yakuza 6, the final main entry that featured Kiryu as the focus. The trailer that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio revealed at the time consisted entirely of just one continuous, three-minute cutscene showing what Kiryu, now codenamed Joryu, has been up to. But with the reveal of a brand-new Like a Dragon Gaiden trailer at today’s Summer Game Fest, we, at last, have some gameplay footage to look at and analyze.
Old-school Like a Dragon fans will likely enjoy what the trailer has to show regarding gameplay. Rather than the new turn-based RPG style that Yakuza: Like a Dragon introduced, Like a Dragon Gaiden goes back to the traditional beat ’em up gameplay that has defined the series for the vast majority of its run. Although the new RPG style turned out quite successful, many will likely feel relieved to see that the series hasn’t abandoned the beat ’em up formula entirely outside of remakes and the Judgement spinoffs.
Combat somehow gets even wackier
The gameplay appears to remain just as flashy and viscerally violent as always, but one notable addition pushes the series’ trademark absurdity to new heights. For whatever reason, Kiryu now has the ability to throw out some sort of energy tether that can grapple enemies and even weapons and other objects from a distance. Don’t be surprised if the game never elaborates on this; it’s probably better if it didn’t, anyway.
Alongside these snippets of gameplay, the Like a Dragon Gaiden trailer featured more cutscenes aside from the one we already saw in the previous trailer. There’s typically a lot to love in Like a Dragon stories, so it’ll be interesting to see how this one handles things.
