Today’s PlayStation State of Play event may have been brief, but it packed a punch with several big game trailers fans are looking forward to, including Hogwarts Legacy and God of War: Ragnarok. Joining the mix was a reveal trailer for the upcoming global release of Like a Dragon: Ishin! The game was originally released in 2014, but it was only released in Japan. Since then, the Like a Dragon franchise fandom has spread across the world, and now Western audiences will finally get to play the game early next year.
Fans of Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be really excited for this one because there will be a bunch of familiar faces! Though it is not a sequel, it will star Kazuma Kiryu as Sakamoto Ryoma and much of his crew will still be by his side. They’ll just be in very different clothes because this spinoff takes place in 1867 in the fictional city of Kyo.
The State of Play announcement trailer was so well done, opening with a quiet, one-sided conversation. Ryoma’s face was revealed and then things picked up with a spicey mix of gameplay and cinematic footage. First, Kyo looks beautiful as it was modeled after 1860s Kyoto. But everything about the trailer was exciting, from the big character reveal to the exciting music to the combat.
The look at gameplay was interesting as we see a lot of sword swinging as well as gun firing. It turns out that there are four combat modes in the game. Swordsman style and Gunman style are exactly what they sound like. You wield a sword, or you wield a gun. Wild Dancer style, however, is where things get crazy, and you can wield both at the same time. That looks pretty cool. Finally, Brawler style is for when you feel like clobbering people with your bare hands.
Oh, and the parts that looked like cinematic footage with the tiger and the plums are actually called heat actions. You can summon a tiger to kill an enemy for you or shove pickled plums in someone’s face. That last part is kind of hilarious, but heat actions are an interesting addition to an otherwise historical fighting game. Take a look at that fast-paced announcement trailer below.
It turns out that Sakamoto Ryoma is a real historical figure. No, he was not Yakuza, but he did take on the shogunate. Ryoma is given a lot of credit for ending the Samurai Era by overthrowing the shogunate. That does seem like the perfect fit for Kazamu Kiryu.
Like a Dragon: Ishin! will be available on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 sometime in February 2023! Keep an eye out for updates and release dates.
Update: The release date is set for February 21, 2023!
