Sega’s latest entry in the Like A Dragon franchise has been leaked online and it’s not quite what anyone expected.
There’s a good chance that this year’s Tokyo Game Show will be the most significant in over a decade, with Sony’s possibly unveiling the PS5 Pro there and far more publishers hinting at major announcements than usual.
That’s no doubt in part because E3 is no more but at the moment it’s all hints and guesswork and the reality of the situation, as is so often the case with these types of events, may end up being a disappointment.
It definitely will be when it comes to Yakuza Wars, whose name was previous leaked via a trademark filing, after Sega confirmed that the developer would be announcing their next game at the show. The only problem is Yakuza Wars is a mobile game, with what looks like AI artwork.
Previously, fans had speculated that the game might a real-time strategy or musou style game, or perhaps something to do with the Sakura Wars franchise, but in the end it’s none of those things.
A series of ads and banners have appeared on Facebook in China, seemingly before they were supposed to, confirming that the game is a mobile app subtitled Dragon Among Men.
Ah yes, my favorite RGG character
— Lê Thanh Hảo (@LThanhHao232) September 9, 2024
Random male in suit with facial hair https://t.co/XBY3ujpjiq pic.twitter.com/SWjoTVqxdi
The translation of its description describes it as involving ‘innovative strategic war gameplay’ as you ‘fight side-by-side with classic characters such as Kiryu Kazuma, Kasuga Ichiban, and Majima Goro, and write your own legendary story in the underworld world.’
It all looks horribly tawdry, and is no doubt filled with in-app purchases, with some fans even suspecting the artwork is created by AI, although that’s not certain.
There’re no clear descriptions of the gameplay but one image shows a map of what seems to be Tokyo and it appears very likely that gaining new characters involves a gatcha element (i.e. paying to unlock randomly selected new allies).
The only possible silver lining is that it’s not clear that developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is the one making Yakuza Wars, so it may not actually be the game they promised to unveil at the Tokyo Game Show.
Although, if they’re not involved in Yakuza Wars it’s not clear what else they might be working on, whether that might be another mainline entry, a new spin-off, or something completely unconnected to the franchise.
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