When Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot was first revealed, it promised to tell the story of Dragon Ball Z with accuracy never before seen in a video game. Since its release in January of 2020, most fans would agree that it accomplished that goal even if it skips a few filler arcs. Despite this, there were some criticisms about the way it handled this, with one of the major ones being how fans barely play as Goku during the main story. Despite the game being named after him, it often puts the focus on other characters such as Piccolo, Gohan, or Vegeta, with Goku typically only swooping in for the final battle of each arc.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has also had two DLC packs since then, and there's one more on the way before the game's post launch support is officially over. These first two DLCs tackled the events of the canon Dragon Ball Z movies, those being Battle of Gods and Resurrection F, while the upcoming DLC 3 is showing off Future Trunks' story based on the "History of Trunks" TV special. For the most part, fans are very excited about DLC 3's undoubtedly heart wrenching story, but it does bring to mind that criticism from before.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - How Often Do You Play As Goku
Admittedly, Bandai Namco Entertainment never claimed that players would be Goku all the time in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, but it still struck many fans as odd. In the Saiyan Saga, Goku dies against Raditz and is absent for most of the arc. He comes back to do battle once with both Nappa and Vegeta, but that's it. In the Frieza Saga, the focus is on Gohan, Piccolo, and Vegeta, with Goku only showing up at the very end to deal with what remains of the Ginyu Force and fight Frieza.
In the Cell Saga, Goku willingly gives the spotlight to his son, Gohan, stepping back and not playing a hugely important role. Even in the Buu Saga where Goku is a major player, he doesn't get too much more screen time when compared to other characters. In truth, it's nice to see other characters get the spotlight for once in a world where players are so used to the game revolving around Goku, but naming this one Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot seemed to give some fans a bit of a misconception about this. Moving forward, the first two DLCs did help to rectify this issue.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - DLC 1 and DLC 2 Develop Goku and Vegeta
The first two DLC packs for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot introduce content from the two canon Dragon Ball Z movies. The first DLC brings Beerus and Whis into the picture and allows players to learn Super Saiyan God, while the second sees the return of the villainous Frieza after he unlocks his Golden Frieza form. To tackle this threat, Goku and Vegeta must learn Super Saiyan Blue, and for the duration of these DLC chapters, the focus is almost entirely on Goku instead of other characters.
That is to say, the focus can be on Goku instead of other characters. Players still have the option to use Vegeta in all of the story missions here rather than Goku, and Vegeta's more versatile move-set encourages players to do so. This means that even these DLC stories can suffer from the lack of Kakarot in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Although it was unknown for a long while, fans assumed that DLC 3 would continue on into Dragon Ball Super territory, placing the emphasis on Goku's showdown with Hit in the Universe 6 Saga or his struggle with the evil Goku Black. As it happens, this isn't the case at all.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot - DLC 3 Kills Off Goku
It's hard to have Goku be an important character when he's dead, and that's exactly what will happen in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 3. In Future Trunks' timeline, Goku gets a heart virus and ultimately dies from it. As a result, he isn't there to help against the Android menace, causing all the other Z Warriors to get wiped out. Trunks and Gohan are the only ones that survive, eking out a meager existence as they try in vain to fight back against their oppressors.
This means that yet another DLC for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot won't include the titular Kakarot at all. He may be shown in a few of the cutscenes early on that depict his death by heart virus, and depending on how far DLC 3 goes, players may see him again when Future Trunks returns to the main DBZ timeline, but other than that Goku won't be a major player this time around. If the criticism that players barely play as Kakarot was valid back when the game first released, it seems to be even more valid now that all three DBZ: Kakarot DLC packs have been revealed.
Goku in Dragon Ball Z Games
Speaking honestly, most fans likely aren't really bothered by this. Traditionally, Goku gets way more attention in Dragon Ball Z games than he ever did in the original anime, and the anime sequel Dragon Ball Super continued this trend by focusing the entire story around him. There's even a meme about how many Goku characters there are in Dragon Ball FighterZ, with players making entire teams of only Goku to fight each other. Between Base Goku, Super Saiyan Goku, Super Saiyan Blue Goku, Kid Goku (GT), Ultra Instinct Goku, Goku Black, and other characters that are fusions or related to him, he makes up a huge portion of the roster.
Even though many players may remember the original Dragon Ball Z anime as being all about Goku, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot reminds fans that this wasn't really the case. Even before the game released, players that were very familiar with the anime likely knew that there wouldn't be much Goku gameplay in the main story, as it follows the anime very accurately. Now that it has been confirmed that DLC 3 is Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's last DLC, perhaps a sequel in the form of Dragon Ball Super: Kakarot or Dragon Ball GT: Kakarot will return Goku to the spotlight.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.