Behind the scenes of Like a Dragon!

Reading Time: 1 mins

Yesterday I completed Yakuza: Like A Dragon, the JRPG Yakuza game released in 2020.

This was the second Yakuza game I played (if you include Judgment as a Yakuza game) and the first one I’ve completed i.e. gotten the platinum trophy.

I wrote a brief review of the game summing up my thoughts but I just can’t get over how much I enjoyed playing this game.

I first heard about/saw a Yakuza game in action watching Twitch streamer Ray Narvaez Jr playing through Like A Dragon. I quickly discovered his entire Yakuza YouTube playlist and became hooked on the franchise.

As it happens Ryu Ga Gotoku, the studio that makes the Yakuza games has just released a behind the scenes video on the SEGA Asia (EN) YouTube channel.

As I write this there are 2 episodes available which could potentially mean there are more to be released which is exciting.

I watched the first video last week and found it really interesting to learn about the different aspects involved in putting together a game on the scale of a Yakuza game.

Something I found particularly interesting is how the story comes first, then actors mo-cap the scenes before any voice acting is done. This means a lot of the voice acting, which follows on from mo-cap, is informed by how the mo-cap actor interprets the scene. It’s almost like a conversation.