The upcomingLike a Dragon 8is seemingly one of the most anticipated releases to come out of the popular Japanese franchise. With fans finally receiving official confirmation and teaser material for the title, it is no wonder that speculation about the plot and characters of the game is running wild.
Of all the ambitious new titles recently revealed at the Ryu Ga Gotoku Summit presentation,Like a Dragon 8received the least amount of screen time and detailed information, with the importance and intended scale of the title still fostering a lot of secrecy before its release. That has not stopped fans engaging in discourse and theories surrounding the title, and many would love to see Takayuki Yagami of theJudgmentseries feature in the upcoming game.
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The Core Details of Like a Dragon 8
Like a Dragon 8is set to be the latest mainline installment to the longstandingYakuzafranchise, which is now being officially rebranded toLike a Dragonthanks to the lesser-placed importance on Yakuza organizations within the newer titles. As announced in the aforementioned Ryu Ga Gotoku Summit presentation,Like a Dragon 8will launch fairly closely to a spin-off title known asLike a Dragon Gaiden, as well as a long-anticipated remake of thesamurai spin-off title calledLike a Dragon: Ishin.
One of the only confirmed details ofLike a Dragon 8is that it will continue the story ofnew franchise hero Ichiban Kasuga, who won the hearts of many fans via his protagonist role in 2020’s popularYakuza: Like a Dragon. Interestingly, Ichiban is set to star directly alongside long-time franchise star Kazuma Kiryu, with the two figures acting in a dual protagonist role in the upcoming game. This surprising, important role played by Kiryu has led fans to believe thatLike a Dragon 8will open itself up to many franchise call-backs, with some deeply hoping for an appearance to be made by Takayuki Yagami in the upcoming title.
Takayuki Yagami in Like a Dragon 8
Takayuki Yagami is the protagonist of the popular spin-off series of games that come under the Ryu Ga Gotoku name,namelyJudgmentandLost Judgment. Offering the familiar high-octane beat-em-up gameplay of classicLike a Dragontitles while offering more thought-provoking detective work sections of sleuth-based gameplay, theJudgmentseries and Yagami himself quickly rose to popularity among theLaDfan base, and it is clear to see why.
Themerging of theJudgmentseries andLike a Dragonhas been a long-anticipated move for many fans, with the shared locations and rough timelines of the two series of games making fans desperate to see character crossovers between the two. With the confirmation that the upcomingLike a Dragon 8is set to take place in the familiar city of Kamarucho in whichJudgmentis largely based, the conditions seem perfect for Yagami to finally make his mainline debut for the franchise.
As seen inYakuza: Like a Dragon, the newer identity of the franchise does not shy away from embracing its past and the characters that make up its history, withcharacters like Goro Majimaand Taiga Saejima making proud appearances in the aforementioned title. With this in mind, and when considering the popular release ofLost Judgment, which came afterYakuza: Like a Dragon, the fan base desire and plot-based feasibility of including Takayuki Yagami inLike a Dragon 8appears to be a perfect storm.
Like a Dragon 8will release in 2024 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
