Famitsu has revealed another character to appear in Sega’s upcoming zombie-slaying PlayStation 3 title Ryu Ga Gotoku: Of the End, (the Ryu Ga Gotoku series being called “Yakuza” in the West). Takeshi Tanigawa is a researcher studying zombies, and given that Tokyo looks to be overrun with them in this game, the job seems timely. Below, she’s the lady in the lab coat.
Players can go to Tanigawa frequently throughout the game and receive information as well as new side missions from her. Just how many of the game’s dozens of hours or so of optional content come from her specifically is not revealed, though. Tanigawa works with the “Kamuro Shield” organization, generally overseeing a quarantine area.
Tanigawa can issue special assignments to the protagonists as well, the completion of which can land very rare valuable items in addition to the other usual bonuses that would come with finishing a quest. Some of these can only be obtained through her assignments. Moreover, players will slowly unravel mysteries regarding Tanigawa’s strange past as time goes on. That is, of course, if they want to. The main story of Yakuza: Of the End is said to only be about 10-15 hours long, with the huge majority of the gameplay being optional.
While Western gamers have been able to enjoy main-series Yakuza titles, the one-off gamees such as this haven’t made it across the ocean. Yakuza 4 will be released this month in North America, but Of the End has yet to receive a localization announcement. The PSP spinoff, Black Panther: Yakuza New Chapter,came out last fall in Japan, but Sega has been silent about a North American release, where it is considerably harder to sell a PSP game. The PS3’s Yakuza: Kenzan also never made it. We’ll just have to wait and see if Of the End breaks the trend.
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