Everything We Know About Ichiban's Return In Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Turn-based combat will return in this new entry.
The adventures of Ichiban Kasuga (and friends) will continue in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the next entry in the beloved Yakuza series. The 8th mainline installment drops the Yakuza title completely in favor of its Japanese naming convention and will borrow many familiar mechanics from its acclaimed predecessor, Like a Dragon (aka Yakuza 7). Now that Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio have officially announced Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, there’s plenty to be excited about. But what do we know about the upcoming installment?
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Release Window
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will launch in early 2024. Sega announced two other games in the series including Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Like a Dragon: Ishin!, both of which are launching in 2023. This means you’ll have plenty to hold you over until Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth comes out.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Developer
Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu will be featured in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
Ryo Ga Gotoku Studio is the team that has worked on recent Yakuza installments, including the acclaimed Like a Dragon and Judgment games. This developer will also work on the forthcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, as confirmed by Studio Director Masayoshi Yokoyama.
How Does Infinite Wealth Connect to Like a Dragon Gaiden?
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name tells the story from Kiryu’s perspective between the events of Yakuza 6 and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
Sega announced a side-story game titled Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. This game will bridge the gap between Yakuza 6: Song of Life and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and will take place from longtime protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s perspective. “Gaiden” literally means side-story in Japanese, so its title makes sense.
This will hopefully give more backstory, which will help provide context since Kiryu will play a role in the new mainline installment.
Is There a Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Trailer?
There is a trailer, yes! It’s only a teaser trailer, so it doesn’t feature any gameplay or story elements, but it does confirm the inclusion of Ichiban Kasuga and longtime Yakuza protagonist Kazuma Kiryu.
You can also check out a (Japanese-only) video shared by gaming magazine Famitsu in July. In it, MMA fighter Mirai Asakura posted a YouTube video showing a tour of the Ryo Ga Gotoku offices.
Asakura’s video shows developers at work on Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, including a few shots of their computer monitors, where several of the game’s characters can be seen. In these shots, you can see Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth star Ichiban Kasuga with his hair tied back, rather than in his signature afro. The video also reveals that Mirai Asakura himself will appear in the game and shows his 3D modeling session at the studio.
Mirai Asakura’s video shows a glimpse of Ichiban’s new style (around 10:25 in the video above).
Then, as part of the 2023 Xbox Games Showcase, Sega finally revealed Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth with a funny new trailer.
While the trailer didn’t show us much, it did hint toward the game’s new setting: Hawaii. It’s unclear how Ichiban ended up there, but he seems just as shocked about it as we are.
What Is the Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Story?
Ichiban Kasuga will return for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
It’s too early to know the exact details of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s story, but we do know it will serve as a continuation of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. According to an IGN report (via Famitsu), Yokoyama said “I can’t go into any details about Yakuza 8 yet, but I can reveal it will be a continuation of the story of 7, set a few years later.”
Yokoyama added “the story will be set in the present day for the year the game goes on sale,” which should be in 2024. We do know that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will introduce a brand-new town to the series, likely Honolulu, as shown in the reveal trailer.
Though the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon wrapped up nicely, there’s plenty of room for more adventures starring protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, and side characters Yu Nanba, Koichi Adachi, and Saeko Mukoda.
In fact, Kasuga’s voice actor Kazuhiro Nakaya revealed that Ichiban will serve as the series’ protagonist for the next decade, so it’s best to get used to him since he’ll be around for a while.
Why is It Called “Like a Dragon” Instead of “Yakuza”?
Ichiban and other characters will return in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
In Japan, the series has always been called Ryū ga Gotoku, which translates to “Like a Dragon” in Japanese. Even the developer is called Ryū Ga Gotoku Studio, so given the series’ recent success in the West, it seems the team feels comfortable enough to utilize its original Japanese name.
“Yakuza” is also a tricky marketing term, so it makes sense to swap over to Like a Dragon, which is a more distinct search phrase.
RGG Studio also wanted to keep the Like a Dragon naming convention, since many new fans started their Yakuza journeys with that game.
What will the Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth gameplay be like?
Infinite Wealth will be a turn-based RPG, just like its predecessor.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon marked a turning point for the long-running series, as it was the first entry to implement a turn-based battle system, rather than utilizing the familiar beat ‘em up mechanics from previous installments.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will retain the turn-based system from its predecessor, while the Judgment series will continue using the beat ‘em up combat mechanics. We also know that Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu will appear as playable characters in the new installment, each with their own parties, hopefully offering plenty of variety.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth launches in 2024.
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