Oh my lord, SEGA. What are you doing to me?! In the past few days, there were three, three Yakuza titles announced for Japan! For some companies and publishers, that might sound like suicide, but each of these is different in their own wonderful way. But what scares me about this, is the thought that some of these might not come overseas to the West. Especially Yakuza Online. We didn’t get Dragon Quest Online, we didn’t get .Hack//Online. So while I’m excited about a Free-to-play online Yakuza title, I’m not holding my breath on that one. The other two? One I’m 100% sure we’ll see, one I’m about.. 60% sure we’ll see. SEGA/The Yakuza Team announced: Yakuza: Hokuto no Ken, Yakuza: Kiwami 2, and Yakuza Online! Trailers are courtesy of IG0 and Captain Epic3:
Oh. My. Lanta. In order of likelihood, we’ll see Yakuza: Kiwami 2, Hokuto no Ken, and then Yakuza Online. So let’s talk briefly about what these are, and why I’m so damn excited. Yakuza: Kiwami 2 is going to be a remake of another game I didn’t play, Yakuza 2. This one will be done in the Yakuza Dragon (Yakuza 6) Engine from what I’m aware of, and if it’s anything like Kiwami 1 (which is tremendous, by the by, and I’m still working towards the end/completion), it will be a must-play. You won’t need to have played 0, but I still recommend it. So that’s the biggest one because it’s the most likely game we’ll see on our shores. But when? My money is on sometime next year, probably this time next year more or less. I’d like it faster, but localization takes time. It’s also going to feature some never-before told stories concerning Majima, and some gameplay as him that nobody has ever seen before. As a big fan of Goro Majima, I’m so excited I can barely stand it.
Next up is Hokuto no Gotoku! Yes, Fist of the North Star collaborating with the Yakuza franchise. But it’s not just “A Hokuto no Ken game in the Yakuza Engine”. Kamurocho is going to exist in the Hokuto universe. And Kenshiro, the titular character of the anime/manga will be voiced by Kiryu’s voice actor. So it’s Yakuza in the far, war-torn future. It reminds me of Yakuza Kenzan (which we didn’t get overseas, with good reason), in that it will be a sort of alternate reality/alternate world for the Yakuza games to enter. Does that make Kamurocho officially in the Hokuto no Ken timeline/canon? Are the adventures of Kiryu, Majima and Nishikiyama somehow going to tie in to Hokuto no Ken? Oh boy, the possibilities are endless. The Dragon of Dojima would fit in perfectly in a world where only the strong survive. The final one, the one I know the least about, is Yakuza Online. It’s going to be an online free-to-play Yakuza game for PC and mobile. I imagine it will be on the streets of Kamurocho, and you’ll be beating up thugs and other Yakuza with the best of ’em. Thanks to IGN for breaking this news! A link to their video is below:
