Why 'Ghost Of Tsushima' Was So Important To 'Like A Dragon: Ishin' Remake

Last week, PlayStation’s State of Play livestream revealed a whole host of exciting new games, including Rise of the Ronin and Like a Dragon: Ishin, both of which seem to be very promising titles for samurai fans. The latter of those two is a remake of Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!, a Yakuza/Like a Dragon series spinoff title which previously only released in Japan in 2014. There’s no doubt that fans are excited to see it get localised after all these years, but why now? A totally separate title may be, at least partially, the reason behind the decision. 

Take a look at the trailer for Like a Dragon: Ishin below.

As reported by Fanbyte (which sadly got hit with some big staff layoffs last week), the head of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Masayoshi Yokoyama, has said that the success of Sucker Punch’s Ghost of Tsushima proved how well Ishin could potentially sell.

“We saw how well Ghost of Tsushima did, and how it was about this very Japanese setting made by Americans, so that gave us confidence Ishin could do well in America too,” Yokoyama told Fanbyte.

If you want to catch up with the series, a huge amount of Yakuza games recently hit the library of games available to PS Plus Extra and Premium tier members. Yakuza: Like a Dragon was also one of last month’s Essential tier freebies, so there’s a very good chance that a lot of people out there are now experiencing the series for the first time - you love to see it.