During yesterday's State of Play event, SEGA announced it is remaking one of Yakuza's most beloved entries. The original spin-off game from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio launched in Japan only back in 2014, featuring the same cast of characters seen in Yakuza moved to a very different setting, the 1860s Kyo (a fictional version of Kyoto). SEGA of America's Global Community Manager David Hinds explained:
While other games tell earlier stories in Japanese history, Ishin lets you experience the story of how the iconic samurai era vanished. Our hero, Sakamoto Ryoma, is a true historical figure largely credited with overthrowing the shogunate and taking Japan into a radical reformation.
Like a Dragon: Ishin brings in familiar faces to tell this epic historical tale. Fans will recognize our protagonist as Kazuma Kiryu from earlier entries in the franchise. In Ishin, Kiryu is cast as Sakamoto Ryoma and brings the rest of his crew along too. Goro Majima and other Yakuza celebrities join Ryoma as friends and foes in this fictional world that trades the flashy streets of Tokyo for the chaotic bustle of 1860s Kyo. These new character dynamics are as thrilling as they are unexpected, with a series of mind-blowing twists and turns in a story only RGG studio can tell.
This remake isn't being done in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's Dragon Engine. The developers have instead picked Epic's ubiquitous Unreal Engine 4, which will be a first for RGG Studio. According to them, UE4 has enabled them to elevate graphics even further.
Unlike Yakuza Ishin, Like a Dragon: Ishin will be released globally across multiple platforms, including PC (Steam and Microsoft Store), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X, in February 2023. More details on the new features and improvements should be available shortly, so stay tuned in the meantime.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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