Kazuma Kiryu may be one of the most beloved video game protagonists of all time, but there are plenty of people out there who wish they had the option to customize him a bit. In all six Yakuza games prior to Like A Dragon – which introduces a new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga – Kiryu is a man with the same face, personality, and general demeanor. He’s brilliant, but he’s the exact same for you, me, and everyone else who plays these games.
With that in mind, a Yakuza modder who goes by the handle “RyuHachii” recently decided to experiment with Kiryu’s character model. After tinkering with it in various programs, RyuHachii managed to create her brand new “Genderbent Kiryu” mod, which allows you to play through Yakuza Kiwami 2 as a woman version of Toshihiro Nagoshi’s iconic character.
“I saw some fanart about this idea and it made me want to experiment,” RyuHachii tells me. “I like the idea of having this as an option seeing as Yakuza 7 added some very cool characters like Saeko. I just wanted to take it a step further.”
RyuHachii created her gender-swapped Kiryu by taking a hostess’ face from Yakuza 7 and editing it in Blender while using Kiryu’s existing features as a reference. Once the model was fairly close, she did some finer tuning in PhotoShop to make it as similar to the original Kiryu as possible, repeatedly testing it both inside and outside the game until it looked professional and functioned optimally.
“I think that mods help the community express itself in very creative ways,” RyuHachii explains. “If this mod or something similar gets [Sega’s] attention, it would be cool to have more diversity. A spin-off section where you play as a girl during the next games would be really cool.”
RyuHachii’s gender-swapping Kiryu mod launched yesterday and has already been received remarkably well by the community. For now, she plans on adding further support for Yakuza 7, as well as creating some alternative outfits. However, since releasing the female Kiryu mod and seeing the reception to it, she’s also started to consider working on similar mods for characters like Goro Majima and Ryuji Goda if there’s a demand for it down the line. This makes sense given that she has previously made several mods for Yakuza Kiwami 2, which both of these characters play prominent roles in.
When asked if she’d consider developing related mods for other games, RyuHachii explains that she’d probably work on something similar for Final Fantasy 7 Remake if it launches on PC down the line.
If you’re curious about checking it out for yourself, you can download RyuHachii’s gender-swapping Kiryu mod over on Nexus Mods. The description notes that this only works with the default outfit for now, as well as the fact that although gameplay is consistently smooth, certain cutscenes might hiccup a bit – overall, though, it’s a fully-functional mod that allows you to play the whole way through Kiwami 2 as Kiryu, as a woman.
If you want to keep up with RyuHachii’s further work, follow her on Twitter.
Next: Twitch Said ‘Womxn’: Here’s Why It Shouldn’t
- TheGamer Originals
- PC
- SEGA
- Yakuza
- Xbox One
- Ps5
- ps4
- Yakuza 7
- Yakuza: Like A Dragon
- Xbox Series X
Cian Maher is the Lead Features Editor at TheGamer. He’s also had work published in The Guardian, The Washington Post, The Verge, Vice, Wired, and more. You can find him on Twitter @cianmaher0.
Source: Read Full Article