Yakuza Kiwami 3 was officially revealed earlier today, confirming that we'll all be experiencing Kiryu's adventures at the Morning Glory orphanage once again. It was a pretty impressive trailer, showcasing Yakuza 3 in the stunning detail that has been seen in previous modern titles, but one aspect of the entire game seems to have longtime Yakuza fans reeling — the character designs.
Yakuza games these days quite often like to scan the faces of their voice actors for certain characters, with the most notable example being Judgment protagonist Yagami, whose actor Takuya Kimura. Thanks to Yakuza 3 being 16 years old, a few recasts have been made of various popular characters, and instead of remaking their original looks, Ryu Ga Gotoku has decided to use their new voice actors instead.
As a result, several popular characters in Yakuza Kiwami 3 look completely different to their original counterparts. One of the more blatant examples is fan-favorite character Rikiya, who latches onto Kiryu and forces him to become his aniki. Other characters that we know have been redesigned are Nakahara, the patriarch of the Ryudo family, and Hamazaki, one of the game's villains.
For those that haven't played Yakuza 3 before, the...
