Sega held a livestream at its headquarters in Tokyo earlier today where General Director and Sega Chief Creative Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi, and Producer Daisuke Sato teamed up to show off an hour of gameplay for the upcoming Yakuza-meets-Fist of the North Star action game Hokuto ga Gotoku.
Overall, the duo allowed fans to see how much Hokuto ga Gotoku resembles Yakuza in terms of gameplay, but feature specific mechanics and an aesthetic that allows it to be its own unique product and not just another Yakuza title with a different coat of paint.
Things start off with the traditional tutorial fight where Kenshiro fights several weak opponents, allowing players to get introduced to the game’s combat and progression system. Once the enemies are defeated, he moves on to face-off against his arch-rival Shin who serves as the first boss fight of the game. As one might expect, the battle doesn’t conclude the way it does canonically and this turn of events is what causes him to eventually wind up in Eden.
His journey to Eden is a perilous one, and while a single misstep could mean disaster, we see that Kenshiro is a kind person and helps out a family in danger when he could have easily left them to their fate. After dispatching the bandits, he’s thanked for his efforts and continues his adventure, eventually winding up at the outskirts of the city.
Of course, just because he’s reached the city doesn’t mean that Kenshiro isn’t in danger anymore, as just like with Yakuza’s Kamurocho, Eden is littered with all sorts of people who want to put Kenshiro into the ground. Thankfully, their folly is the player’s gain and we get to see some more aspects of combat, ranging from the “Just Pressure Point” and talismans which channel the abilities of other relevant Hokuto no Ken characters, including Raoh, Toki, Shin, and Lin, to using items such as flamethrowers.
Just like with Yakuza, there’s more to Hokuto ga Gotoku than just fighting and the stream offered viewers a look at some of the more lighthearted activities Eden has to offer, such as shopping, using a customizable buggy to race, a bartender minigame where players use the DS4’s motion controls to make cocktails and even a minigame where Kenshiro has to use the Hokuto Shinken to take care of patients at a clinic.
Based on what was shown during the stream, Hokuto ga Gotoku is going to be absolutely epic, unfortunately we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out as the game’s Japanese release was recently delayed from Feb. 22 to March 8.
Check out the full stream below (from 21:30 to 01:24:30):
