Like a Dragonseries developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio seems to have its hands full in 2025. Not only is the studio releasingLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaiias the follow-up toLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but two new RGG titles were revealed at The Game Awards 2024: a newVirtua Fighteras well asProject Century. It’s the latter of these two that likely holds more interest forLike a Dragonfans, as it appears to draw inspiration from the series' action-brawler roots, but it could hold an even greater significance to the franchise.
With little information to go on, it’s unclear whetherProject Centuryis connected to theLike a Dragonfranchise, or is its own standalone IP. Although few details about the game were shared during its TGA trailer, the one piece of information that was shown was the confirmation of its 1915 Japan setting. Fans familiar with the in-universe lore of theLike a Dragonfranchise might recognize the significance of that time period and how it could suggestProject Century’s place within the franchise’s continuity.
Project Century’s 1915 Setting Aligns with the Founding of the Omi Alliance
Yakuza: Like a Dragon Puts the Omi Alliance’s Founding 100 Years Ago
The “century” part ofProject Centurycould be the key to understanding its place in the largerLike a Dragonuniverse. The series has yet to see a canon entry explore a time earlier than 1988, the setting ofYakuza 0, and very few details about the history of the series' rival Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance exist before this time. However,during the events ofYakuza: Like a Dragon, Omi Alliance Captain Masaru Watase notes that the organization was just over 100 years—or a century—old at the time of the game in 2019, putting its founding date right around 1915.
Although spin-offs such asLike a Dragon: Ishin!andLike a Dragon: Kenzan!are set in historical Japanese periods, they are not canon to the main series.
While the series has explored the succession of the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance leadership in depth, the details of these organizations' founding have never been chronicled, leaving a gap in the lore ofLike a Dragon. As theLike a Dragonseries continues to expand its universe with side games that includeLike a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name,Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and even theJudgmentseriesthat takes place within the same universe, it seems like a logical step for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to visit the roots of these foundational organizations within the franchise’s world.
Project Century Could Be Setting Up the Original Clash Between the Tojo and the Omi
With the 1915 setting ofProject Centurylining up near-perfectly with the founding of the Omi Alliance, it seems like too much of a coincidence to not be intentional. As such, fans could finally see the origins of the Omi Alliance and perhaps even the Tojo Clan depicted inProject Centuryas a way to bring the legacy of these organizations full circle within the series after the Great Dissolution inYakuza: Like a Dragonsaw the end of their criminal reign. This type of story would naturally align with thebrutality ofProject Centuryshown in its reveal traileras disorganized criminals unite to create formal clans.
The largest real-world yakuza conglomerate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, was founded in 1915. The Omi Alliance is said to be the largest yakuza organization in theLike a Dragonseries, so Project Century could draw inspiration from this event and follow its founding.
Theprotagonist ofProject Centuryis also up for speculation, as the character shown in the trailer is never named; he could be the founder and first chairman of the Tojo Clan, Makoto Tojo, or perhaps the unnamed founder of the Omi Alliance. It’s also possible that they are a character on the periphery of these clans and players will get to see their origins from the outside looking in. Whatever the case may be, the significance of the year 1915 for both the real-world yakuza and the in-game lore of theLike a Dragonseries clans points towardsProject Centurybeing an origin story for the Omi Alliance, Tojo Clan, or both.
