Bandai Namco broughtDragon Ball Z: Kakarotto the annual Jump Festa manga and anime expo in a big way. The publisher showed off a lengthy new gameplay demo featuring Future Trunks as a playable character. And while this gameplay would normally not be shared online, a helpful viewer recorded livestream footage of the demo and released it on Youtube. The resulting video is over 12 minutes ofDragon Ball Z: Kakarotfootage including a fight with Freeza and open-world exploration.
The leaked footage starts with a scene that will be immediately familiar toDragon Ball Zfans. It’s the start of theCell Sagaand Trunks has just come back from the future. Trunks is going into an encounter with a resurrected Freeza, pieced together by his father, King Cold. In this scene, fans can see just how wellDragon Ball Z: Kakarotcaptures a scene direct from the anime, including a fight scene where the player takes over and has to fight Freeza themself.
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From there, the world ofDragon Ball Z: Kakarotopens up.Future Trunksis able to fly around and explore a snowy region. Trunks is able to do a variety of things in this area, starting with fishing. He flies around the area, fights a variety of what seem to be random encounters, and discovers a handful of memorable locations forDragon BallandDragon Ball Z. More striking than what Trunks does in the trailer is what he doesn’t do. There are so many locations and activities that viewers can see in the distance, but will have to buy the game to play.
Also released at Jump Festa is a new cinematic trailer forDragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s Buu Saga. There’s relatively little gameplay in the new trailer, but a lot of cinematic in-engine footage from the Buug Saga era ofDragon Ball Z. This includes early scenes with Gohan, who has grown older, as well as the release of Majin Buu. There’s also some great fusion footage showing Goten and Trunks becoming Gotenks, as well as Goku and Vegeta becoming Gogeta.
The sheer size ofDragon Ball Z: Kakarot, which explores every major saga from theDragon Ball Zanime, is difficult to see just from trailers. But today’s Jump Festa footage offers perhaps the most persuasive argument to play the game yet. It shows how dedicatedKakarotis to the anime, as well as showing just what the open-world will offer to players. Being thefirstDragon Ball ZRPG in a decadeis a lot of pressure, butDragon Ball Z: Kakarotseems more than up to the challenge.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarotreleases July 02, 2025, on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
