We already knew this one was coming, thanks to Bandai Namco’s Japanese side. But on the Xbox briefing stage at E3 2019, Bandai Namco’s North American branch officially revealed the latest Dragon Ball video game, with a brand new title. Originally known as Dragon Ball Project Z, this new open world action/adventure/RPG experience in the Dragon Ball world is now called Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
A new trailer was shown, giving us a look at many iconic moments in the life of Goku, sometimes known as Kakarot when his alien background is involved with the story. We see the invasion of evil Saiyans Vegeta and Nappa (Vegeta babyface turn notwithstanding), and of course the famous climax of Goku’s planet-destroying final battle with Frieza. Yamcha’s unfortunate and posthumously hilarious corpse is also present, as it should be. But perhaps most importantly, we also see true gameplay for the first time, instead of footage of Goku walking around in a stranger’s backyard.
In the trailer, the gameplay is all action, showing how it looks to play as Goku in the middle of a fight. The gameplay looks fast and explosive, for example at one point Goku is shown avoiding a blast from Nappa that nearly takes up the entire screen. Later, Goku is shown firing a blast to counter an attack from Frieza, which either triggers a cutscene or… that’s just how the trailer was edited.
In later footage that was shown on a stream from IGN, Bandai Namco also showed off gameplay of the open world activities Goku can participate in. Goku was shown riding around on the Flying Nimbus and collecting stuff, fishing with his tail, and punching deer to death. Much like many of the other Goku-oriented adventure games based on Dragon Ball (largely exclusive to various handheld platforms), the humor of the series seems to be just as present as the action.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is currently set to launch with an early 2020 release window for the PS4, the Xbox One, and the PC.
