At GDC 2025, Sega’s RGG Studio held a session about the Like a Dragon series’ development, entitled “RGG DESIGN: The Secret to Narrative-Driven and Short-Term Development in Like A Dragon” (as reported on by 4Gamer). During the lecture, Like a Dragon producer Ryosuke Horii and background artist Eiji Hamatsu talked about some of the secrets behind the series’ famously fast development cycle.
One of the key points inevitably brought up was the recycling of existing assets. Important locations, like the bustling, neon-lit Kamurocho, have reappeared throughout most of Like a Dragon’s mainline entries, and the series frequently refurbishes individual city components and buildings for reuse in new games.
The developers explain that while reusing locations in games tends to result in players complaining of “being taken to the same places again,” the Like a Dragon series – where the same locations reappear as a necessary part of telling the story – turns this into emotional significance for the players.
This includes “the joy of revisiting a place where a past story has left its mark” and “the satisfaction of coming back to a place where a certain event occurred, but for a different reason.” Due to the Like a Dragon series’ accumulated stories and experiences, revisiting the same locations in a new entry gives the player a feeling of nostalgia, becoming a “meaningful encounter” of its own, according to the developers.
However, another important point of successfully reusing assets is not relying on existing assets for everything. The Like a Dragon developers redirect the time and resources that get freed up into creating something new for players to bite into, balancing the nostalgia with freshness.
For example, in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, (which was overflowing with bittersweet nostalgia for Kiryu fans), locations like Sotenbori were reused, but the developers implemented elements like The Castle, an all-new explorable location. Similarly, as the latest Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii reused Infinite Wealth’s Hawaii setting (which was carefully made from scratch), the developers were able to focus on creating its ocean, islands and ships, incorporating them into gameplay.
Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is out now for the PC (Steam), PS4/PS5, and Xbox One/Xbox Series X|S.
