The director of the upcoming Like a Dragon 8 reveals that the entire main story of the game has been recorded in a video released by Sega. Like a Dragon 8 is the sequel to the seventh mainline game in the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, following its protagonist Ichiban Kasuga. Not only that, alongside Kasuga will be a returning Kazuma Kiryu as the game's second protagonist, while retaining the same Dragon Quest-esque RPG combat that fans were introduced to in the seventh game. Not much is known about the eighth game so far, although the director has revealed that the game's main story has already been recorded.
This was revealed in a three-part video documentary series that was produced by Sega titled "Behind the Scenes of Like a Dragon," and was posted to the company's official YouTube channel. It revealed things like a cut character from the Like a Dragon: Ishin remake and the recording and motion capture process for Like a Dragon 8. The third and final episode revolved around the lead-up to RGG Summit 2022, which revealed three Like a Dragon games, including the eighth mainline game, with a comment from the director indicating how far they were in development at that time.
The video showed a portion where series director, Masayoshi Yokoyama, was waiting for the RGG Summit event to start, with him commenting on his own nervousness, noting that there's still a lot that the team has yet to reveal for Like a Dragon 8. He notes that the speakers will likely be anxious to talk about the game, as they all know the entire story of Like a Dragon 8 and would feel too nervous to even speak on stage. Yokoyama also tells the interviewer off-screen that they had finished recording for the game's main story events and big cutscenes, including the game's ending.
The documentary also covered several things that happened after the RGG Summit event, such as a celebratory party that even had a dance mix of the memetically famous Like a Dragon song "Baka Mitai." The documentary also covered the reception to the Like a Dragon: Ishin remake at Tokyo Game Show, with many excited for the game and the upcoming Like a Dragon 8.
The documentaries also ended off with a brief showcase of cutscene clips out of context, such as Kasuga fishing a bill out of a fountain or meeting with familiar Yakuza: Like a Dragon party members Saeko, Nanba, and Adachi. With the game expected to launch next year, the fact the entire main story has been recorded should be a good sign for Like a Dragon fans.
Like a Dragon 8 will release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in 2024.