Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio Potentially Considering Yakuza Kenzan Kiwami

If today’s release of Judgment and the recent news that we’ll be receiving more details regarding the upcoming Yakuza game next month isn’t enough for the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and SEGA, they might be planning a Kiwami style remake of the samurai spin-off Yakuza Kenzan.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan was a Japanese only Yakuza spin-off that launched on the PS3 in 2008, taking the action the series is known for and applying it to 17th Century Kyoto. While the spin-off never saw a release over in the West, it did generate enough success for a sequel in 2014, Ryu Ga Gotoku Isshin.

At a recent event in Taipei which celebrated the Chinese release of Yakuza 5, series producer Daisuke Sato spoke to GNN (which Siliconera translated), bringing up the possibility of Kenzan getting the Kiwami treatment:

“Personally, Yakuza: Kenzan is quite suitable to get a ‘Kiwami’ makeover. Kenzan was the first Yakuza game on the PlayStation 3, and only released in Japan. A lot of Western players mentioned that they want to play this game in English, and Asian players also want the game to release in Chinese. And because Kenzan was an early PS3 game, if it were to receive a simple HD remaster it would feel like it’s missing something, so in my opinion a ‘Kiwami’ version would be better.”

Sato also mentions that if Kenzan were to get the Kiwami style overhaul, they would swap out the character models and actors for new ones. Personally, as a Yakuza fan who hasn’t played either Kenzan or Isshin, seeing them brought to the West would be brilliant, though let’s not forget about bringing over the remastered PS4 ports of Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 first. Come on Sega, we’re waiting. In the meantime, let’s take this with a pinch of salt.

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