Back when we first saw Kiryu’s return inLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’sfirst sneak peek, a lot of fans were taken aback by how different his look is compared to previous games. Rocking a new grey hair style, he was almost unrecognisable from even his biref appearance in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. We knew there had to be some reason behind it, but it turns out that it’s down to the Dragon of Dojima’s battle with cancer.
Revealed in a new trailer for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth that was showcased during developer Ryu Ga Gotoku’s most recent Summit event, Kiryu has been fighting cancer for a long while and has simply been going about his business as usual, even though doctors have been trying to get him to stay put. Instead, Kiryu wants to “put what time [he’s] got left to work”, and chooses to help Ichiban Kasuga in a final fight against unknown forces.
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Ryu ga Gotoku Studios has even managed to incorporate Kiryu’s illness into the combat, as it was confirmed during the panel after the trailer that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will be turn-based just like the previous mainline title Yakuza: Like A Dragon. It was explained that because of Kiryu’s weakened state due to his illness, he has to rely more on his friends in combat, making turn-based fighting much more of a natural and realistic fit.
You do have to feel sorry for the poor guy at this point though. Not only has he been shot and stabbed throughout the Yakuza series, he’s also had to give up his entire family in order to protect them, and completely wipe his own identity from the face of the Earth. Ryu ga Gotoku Studios has now making Kiryu fight in a battle with cancer, and right now I just feel like going and giving the guy a big hug to tell him everything is going to be okay.
Apart from Kiryu’s cancer revelation, we also got a bunch more story details from this trailer, including the reason why Ichiban Kasuga has travelled to Hawaii. Right at the start, we learn that Kasuga is in Hawaii to try and find his long lost mother, as he’s been told she resides somewhere in the state. It’s a very ‘Ichiban Kasuga’ storyline, and obviously things devolve into the typical Yakuza drama we’ve come to expect from the series.
Thankfully, we don’t have to wait too long to unravel these mytseries and experience that game for ourselves, as Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios also announced thatLike A Dragon: Infinite Wealth will be launching in a little over four months time on January 26 next year.
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