Unveiling the Next Chapter: Like a Dragon's Development Secrets Revealed

Formerly known as the Yakuza franchise, the Like a Dragon games have consistently showcased the deep drama of the Japanese underworld alongside the inherent goofiness of everyday life.

Across seven mainline games and numerous spin-offs, Sega’s Like a Dragon series has become renowned for its beat ‘em up gameplay. It surprised players when it transitioned into a turn-based RPG with its seventh game, Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Satisfying both old and new fans are the upcoming games, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. The former adheres to the classic beat ‘em up gameplay, while the latter continues the RPG expansion.

To delve deeper into the Like a Dragon franchise, IGN Southeast Asia spoke to Chief Producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto and Chief Director Mr. Ryosuke Horii about the series’ development and what fans can expect in the future.

In Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Kiryu adopts a new secret agent-inspired fighting style. What influenced this design?

Hiroyuki Sakamoto: This design decision was made after we chose Kiryu as the main character and the secret organisation setting for this action-based Gaiden game. To show more dynamic battles, we wanted to change Kiryu’s typical gangster fighting style and create something that really contrasted with that.

One way is with the many secret agent tools Kiryu can use, like smoke bombs and the like. This also opened up for long-range attacks, which is something Kiryu doesn’t usually do in the heat of battle as he relies mainly on his fists.

We were definitely inspired by so many of the typical spy movies. We even had the idea to make Kiryu use guns. But we wanted to bring a Like a Dragon flair to this and came up with our own take on typical spy tropes.

What is the central theme of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?

Hiroyuki Sakamoto: We actually gave a clue with one character in the Tokyo Game Show trailer saying “Bon Voyage”, so to specify, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth represents the end of a journey of sorts.

After all of his character developments in previous games, what can we expect from Kiryu this time around in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?

Hiroyuki Sakamoto: Actually, by playing Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, you’ll see how it connects to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and how much Kiryu has grown throughout the series.

At the end of the sixth game, Kiryu disappeared from the yakuza underworld and reintegrated into society. With this change comes different challenges for him to face, which you can see in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.

So with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, we portrayed an older Kiryu who has been through the worst of life. Hopefully, fans will relate to this version of the character and really enjoy his return in the eighth game.

From the spy-based setting in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name to the wacky minigames and giant squid enemies in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, are there any ideas that are just too weird for the franchise to handle?

Ryosuke Horii: First of all, setting the stage in Hawaii for Infinite Wealth definitely opens up the possibilities of even crazier things for our characters to do. We’ve had Kiryu fight a tiger and a shark with his bare hands before, so a giant squid should be no problem for Ichi and the crew.

With Infinite Wealth being more of a party-based game, having more instances for all the characters working together in battle also calls for larger enemies, beyond the usual street thugs and the like.

Why was Hawaii chosen as the setting for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?

Hiroyuki Sakamoto: We chose Hawaii based on the story we wanted to tell, following Kiryu going into hiding and Ichiban also looking for his mother Akane. It is almost a stereotype for Japanese people to go to Hawaii to disappear, so we are definitely paying homage to this trope and chose Hawaii for our cast to find themselves in.

Beyond Hawaii, will we ever see the Like a Dragon cast go to other parts of the world or come face-to-face with international crime syndicates?

Hiroyuki Sakamoto: Overseas locations were never a central concept we wanted to pursue, and as we said, it began with the story we wanted to tell. So if we are ever to include more international elements, it really depends on the needs of the story and how we make it more interesting.

Ryosuke Horii: There might be chances for more in the future, but it depends on the story we want to tell and how the setting can serve our characters.

Will the Like a Dragon go back to the samurai setting of the Ishin spin-off game or the Dead Souls spin-off game on the PlayStation 3?

Ryosuke Horii: When it comes to the franchise, there’s never a solid plan for upcoming games. There might be a chance for us to enhance the action-based gameplay of our Gaiden games in the future with either new settings or returning ones. Nothing’s on the table yet, so we’ll see.

With voice actor Takaya Kuroda portraying Kazuma Kiryu since 2005, has the actor shaped the way Kiryu is being played and the direction of the character as a whole?

Hiroyuki Sakamoto: Since he was Kiryu from the very first game, he has definitely inspired the development team and how Kiryu has grown. It has been an astonishing experience and no one else understands Kiryu as much as Kuroda-san.

Do you have any messages you would like to share with your fans in Southeast Asia?

Ryosuke Horii: We have gained more and more recognition from all over the world, even though the entire concept of the Like a Dragon series was to be a representation of Japanese culture for Japanese audiences.

We have never shied away from this concept and are very grateful that fans have come to love the franchise. I want to thank our fans in Southeast Asia for all the support and we can’t wait for you to try the new games!