Like a Dragon: Ishin brings the 19th-century Bakumatsu-era adventures of Ryoma Sakamoto to current and past-gen consoles. In the newly revealed Blade of Vengeance trailer, we get a closer look at the conviction that drives Ryoma in his quest to track down the rogue that cut down his father figure.
The trailer gives players a summary of what they can expect out of the plot of Like a Dragon: Ishin, which is slated to release on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC via Steam on February 22, 2023.
Inspired partially by the historical events of Bakumatsu-era Japan, the game’s driving impetus as the trailer introduces Ryoma as part of the Loyalist Party, who plot to overthrow the shogunate to end the rigid class system in his hometown of Tosa.
As Ryoma returns from a blade-honing journey to Edo, he alongside Takeichi Hanpeita and government minister/father figure Yoshida Tōyō meet in the middle of the night to formulate their plans to surround the local lord’s castle, a masked assailant attacks the three. Using an unusual sword technique, the assassin mortally wounds Tōyō, defeats Takeichi, and makes quick work of Ryoma before fleeing.
Having escaped the security forces on his own, Ryoma vows to find out who the identity of the masked assailant is. After discovering that the assailant’s peculiar sword style was called the “Tennen Rishin”, Ryoma decides that if he were to find out who they were, he would have to cross swords with the man once more.
After a run-in with the Shinsengumi swordsmen in Kyoto, Ryoma learns of the fact that the practitioners of Tennen Rishin are in the Shinsengumi. Now going under the alias of Saitō Hajime, Ryoma joins the ranks of the Shogunate police force in order to get closer to the man who killed Tōyō.
▍ Recast Characters in Like a Dragon: Ishin
The trailer also gave us more sneak peeks of the cast of Ishin, revised to star characters from the recent releases of games in the Yakuza series, updating the title from its original version where characters were prominently based on the then-modern PS3 titles. Familiar faces from throughout the series return in this trailer as historical figure stand-ins just like Ryoma, with characters like Akiyama, Ryuji, and Adachi among much more revealed to appear in Like a Dragon: Ishin!
Updated character models can be seen in characters like Takeichi Hanpeita, the founder of the Tosa Loyalists Party and friend to Tōyō now recast with the actor for Shibusawa from Yakuza 0, Hideo Nakano. Another reveal showed the historical figure Kondō Isami being cast as Adachi from Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, and voiced by Akio Otsuka.
Other returning characters were seen in cutscene snippets of the game in their high-res graphics. Shun Akiyama (CV: Koichi Yamadera) as Katsura Kogoro, The Florist of Sai (CV: Yoshiaki Fujiwara) humorously becomes The Bathhouse Owner of Sai.
In a dramatical replication of the scene from Yakuza 2, the trailer also showed of shots reminiscent of the rooftop fight with Ryuji Goda. Only this time, he’s cast as Saigo Kichinosuke, a General Commander of the Satsuma Domain’s army based on the real-life historical figure of the same name.
▍ Like a Dragon: Ishin Pre-order Bonuses
The Blade of Vengeance trailer also revealed that the game would also feature deluxe editions for the game offered in both digital and physical form.
Outside of the extra content already listed in previous trailers, pre-ordering the Digital Deluxe version of Like A Dragon: Ishin! will net you three weapons off the bat, along with a 4-days Early Access to the game.
SEGA also announced that an exclusive SteelBook™ Edition of the game will be available for customers pre-ordering physically at US video game retailers Gamestop or Best Buy.
