Dragon Ball is a series that many anime fans cite as one of the best shonen series out there. The sight of seeing Goku take on the likes of Cell, Majin Buu, and Frezia is something that is engrained into the minds of fans for ages. However, with the long-running series of Dragon Ball, the only games to come out of the series are fighting titles, and the RPGs for the series, with the most recent being Dragon Ball Kakarot in 2020. 

However, there’s a new Dragon Ball game on the way, aiming to change the gameplay to something completely different from what fans are used to, an asymmetrical multiplayer title. The game is called Dragon Ball: The Breakers and pits seven people against one other person. But these seven people aren’t highly skilled and superpowered fighters like Goku and Vegeta; they’re instead normal civilians. The one lone player will take the role of one of the series main antagonists. Turning the game into a cat and mouse game between normal people and massive enemies. 

The concept of Dragon Ball: The Breakers is simple. Placed inside of a pocket dimension called a temporal seam, seven normal people, including Bulma and Oolong, will have to outwit and outmaneuver one player taking control of a fearsome foe. The three shown in the trailer are Cell, Majin Buu, and Frezia. The enemy player, called the Raider, starts in the characters’ base form, with Frezia in his armor, his highly suppressed power form, or the cocoon form of cell. With seven players running around attempting to avoid these characters, Raider aims to take out all seven players. Each time they take a person, they’ll increase in power, gaining a new form, like an imperfect cell. Once all the survivors are gone or destroyed with the abilities of the Raider, the Raider wins. 

However, there’s a way for the survivors to win. They’ll have to find a way to make it to Bulma’s time machine somewhere on the map. The game map is massive, and players will be running for their lives if they want to stand a chance against the villains lurking around the pocket dimension. However, they’re not completely helpless. Players will be able to use weapons against the villains, such as rocket launchers. Vehicles are also usable by showing a player get into a space pod before launching across the map. The only means of escape is Bulma’s time machine. However, they can abandon the other players and ditch them for an easy escape if someone finds it. This must mean that there’s another option for players to win against the villain if their main source of escape isn’t feasible. 

Hypothetically, Dragon Ball: The Breakers might take a page out of another asymmetrical multiplayer title, Friday the 13th. In the game, players take control of camp counselors to escape camp crystal lake while avoiding Jason Vorhees. However, if one player escapes or perishes, then one of the surviving players uses a special radio. This person will be brought back as Tommy Jarvis, the only player capable of killing Jason. However, this feat is something that many aren’t capable of doing. Getting all the pieces to Kill Jason is more difficult than it seems, officially. However, the character of Tommy is used for helping players escape, seeing that his stats are maxed out. He’s not a survivor but a boss for Jason. 

This same principle could be applied to the Dragon Ball game, with whatever player managing to escape or die could come back as someone like Goku, a hero, being the only person to stop the other player. Then, if possible, the player could use their abilities to help the other players escape. If specific criteria are met, they could then use their abilities to take out the enemy once and for all, making the survivors win.

Even if the possibility of Goku being added isn’t feasible, aside from weapons and vehicles, there’s going to be a large number of perks for the characters that can help them survive inside this pocket dimension. However, while it’s not said that the characters outside of Bulma and Oolong will have special abilities, Oolong still retains his shapeshifting ability, which allows him to hide in plain sight as props. 

While it’s not certain what other characters are going to be added, there will be customization options in the game. However, cosmetics are going to be purchasable when the game launches. There’s also going to save data linkage to Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, the RPG title launched in 2016. However, Bandai Namco hasn’t announced what exactly that is going to do to the game. Since Dimps, the company that developed Xenoverse 2, is working on the title. It seems that they have something planned for players who have played their previous entry in the Xenoverse series. 

Bandai Namco has also announced that a beta for Dragon Ball: The Breakers is going to be coming soon. This means that players will have a chance to check out the game before it launches in 2022. The game will launch on multiple platforms, with it coming out on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch.

What could a Dragon Ball game that takes the best from Dead by Daylight and throws it into the Dragon Ball world feel like? It seems only time is going to tell, as the beta for the game might be coming very soon.