Dragon Ball Zhas a long history in video games but for the most part, Bandai Namco has kept the franchise to fighting games likeRaging Blast,Budokai, and this year’sDragon Ball FighterZ. ForDragon Ball Z: Kakarot, developer CyberConnect2, best known for theNaruto: Ultimate Ninja Stormseries, are looking to retell the life story of Goku a.k.a. Kakarot over the span of the entire series in a new action-RPG. We got to go hands-on withDragon Ball Z: Kakarotat Microsoft’s X019 Xbox event in London and were pleasantly surprised with what was on display.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarotprimarily follows Goku, the main protagonist of the entire Dragon Ball series but the game does feature a highnumber of playable charactersthat play an integral role in Saga’s where Goku wasn’t around. The demo opens with an on-screen message that offers explanation for where we are in the Dragon Ball story; for long term fans, that placed us towards the end of the Cell Games Saga, right after Goku declared Perfect Cell as the winner and stepped aside to let Gohan finish Cell off for good - now in his Super Saiyan 2 form.
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From the get-go, the graphics forDragon Ball Z: Kakarotare absolutely stunning, although with a little less attention to detail in the new 3D design compared toDragon Ball FighterZ. The background scenery is pretty barren and the UI takes up a shocking amount of screen real estate, outlining all of the controls and attacks on the left side of the screen - something that will hopefully be removed in the full game. After a brief introduction, we were able to takecontrol of Super Saiyan 2 Gohan, sporting his purple Namekian robes and a glowing yellow aura around his entire body.
Gohan has a standard melee attack that can be used from almost any distance, pulling him towards Cell like a lock on target, the ability to teleport and step out of the way, guard against oncoming attacks, use a special move like Kamehameha, and shoot a Ki blast which has its own charge meter. Charging Ki can be done at any point simply by holding the Y or Triangle button but it does leave Gohan vulnerable to attack when doing so. Movement and controls both feel very smooth - for the first time, players will be able to feel like they’re a Super Saiyan. And Gohan was able to maneuver in any direction whether its side to side, up or down, or around the enemy. There’s absolutely no restriction to player movement within the play space and although there were no clear boundaries,the map was very big.
When it comes to gameplay, despiteDragon Ball Z: Kakarotnot being a fighting game, the combat is very similar to a fighting game and feels very familiar. Each character basically has four health bars, moving from Green to Yellow to Orange, and then on to Red before knocking someone out entirely. And Cell was no easy match, using multiple abilities and extreme speed, Cell could create holograms of himself, use seeking bomb like attacks, large Kamehameha beams, and a fury kick attack when Gohan got to close for comfort. This meant that whileDragon Ball Z: Kakarotwill likely have standard battles against enemies in the world, there is a large focus onmulti-stage boss battlesthat incorporate new mechanics and techniques for the player to overcome.
Getting used to controls and the speed of battles took a bit of time. Bandai Namco hasn’t commented on remappable controls so far but after spending some time with the game, it might need to be an area of focus. None of the controls makeDragon Ball Z: Kakarotunplayable, not even close. However, button combinations like holding the trigger for flight (somethingAssassins Creeddid for years) felt slightly awkward at that fast a pace. When the fight was over and Cell finally fell to the might of Super Saiyan 2 Gohan, the game ranks the overall performance just like inDragon Ball FighterZor hack-and-slash games likeDevil May Cry 5.
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Unfortunately, the demo left out most of the most exciting aspects thatDragon Ball Z: Kakarothas to offer - the RPG elements.Kakarotis an action-RPG, meaning that while combat will pay an integral role, there is so much more on offer including multiple playable protagonists like Goku, Piccolo, Future Trunks,an open-world with NPC’s and side quests, and a skill tree and leveling system. However, what we were able to play showed an impressive amount of depth to combat that will be very exciting to see if it’s expanded to all areas of the game.
Developer CyberConnect2 is very well versed in creating authentic anime games that not only faithfully adapts the source material but feel like a natural fit, so it’s no surprise thatDragon Ball Z: Kakarotfeels as fun and as polished as it does. At no point did we come across any issues with the demo’s performance in our three playthroughs, so it comes as a surprise that Bandai Namco has confirmedKakarot won’t be coming to Switch, especially after the eventual release ofDragon Ball FighterZ. With recent releases like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, it’s a little hard to believe that the console wouldn’t be able to handle a game of this caliber.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarotreleases May 18, 2025, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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