Voice actor Yong Yea has dropped off a new sample of his work for Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, where he’s providing the English voice over for protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. Yea is also voicing Kiryu in the English dub of Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, which is arriving post-launch.
Posting Twitter, Yea explained that the clip, which you can listen to here, features work recorded early on in the development process, and offers a side-by-side comparison with the Japanese voiceover by Takaya Kuroda.
Honestly, even for me it’s kinda strange hearing a voice that isn’t Kuroda’s come out of Kiryu’s mouth, especially one that I can recognize as my own. There’s gonna be an adjustment period for me as well lol. But I think having options is dope, pick the one that’s right for you!
This isn’t the first time that Kiryu has been voiced in English. The original western release of Yakuza on PS2 featured a full English dub, with Darryl Kurylo voicing the Dragon of Dojima. He reprised the role for 2020’s Yakuza: Like A Dragon, although for all other major games the character has been voiced only in Japanese.
Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth is launching for PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One on January 26, 2024.