Image via Bandai Namco
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If you’ve ever played one of Bandai Namco’s Dragon Ball games, you know the company consistently supports them. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 came out almost 10 years ago. It got an add-on based on the Dragon Ball Daima new spin-off anime back in May 2025 and Future Saga updates in 2024. It’s totally plausible and even expected for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot to get its own Daima DLC five years after that installment’s debut and, after some initial time spent with it, it seems
For those familiar with Dragon Ball Daima, I feel like the add-on starts off by quickly getting us introduced to the spin-off’s new characters and shuttled off to the Demon Realm where the story takes place. If you didn’t watch that show, it’s pretty good at quickly and concisely getting you started. As a quick summary, new Supreme Demon King Gomah got the Dragon Balls. He wished Goku and his allies would become kids. He took Earth’s Guardian Dende. The bad news for Gomah is that Goku was still super powerful as a kid. He and Supreme Kai Shin (also turned into a child) end up going into the Demon Realm with new allies Panzy (was a child even before the wish) and Glorio (the only “adult”) to save Dende and show Gomah what for.
I really appreciated how quickly things get going. Which is a necessity here, since the whole point of the add-on is to get access to this new space, its original quests and characters, and the adventure tied to it. I experienced only the first parts. It’s a pretty solid introduction to this new story. I think that will bode especially well for newcomers, since the banter between existing characters like Goku and Shin works well, and this add-on maintains the same relationship I enjoyed between him and Glorio and Panzy for the parts I went through. I don’t feel like someone new to this story would feel left out.
There are also marked design decisions present to make the Daima Demon Realm feel different than other places we’ve been in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. CyberConnect 2 made it look different, naturally. We’re also forced to explore it all on foot. This makes it feel like a more traditional type of open-world experience, and I also felt it encouraged me to do a little more exploring and investigating since I couldn’t just fly up and check out everything from above. Also, seeing his crew around him, running alongside as you explore areas, is just a nice touch and makes it feel a bit more like the newest anime.
This decision also changes combat. Since this is a child version of Goku, our moveset is a bit different. He’s still going to use ki, but I appreciated the enhanced focus on using his Power Pole. It genuinely reminded me of watching the original Dragon Ball anime after school as a kid. The inability to fly comes up in fights as well. This means different types of evasive maneuvers or pursual tactics need to be employed to dodge or get in close for attacks.
The first part of the Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Daima DLC seems like it could be a really worthwhile adventure. The brief segment I sampled seemed surprisingly large. It added a new type of gameplay experience that remained true to the source material. It could also serve as a good introduction to that storyline for folks who didn’t catch the series yet. I’m excited to see more. Especially since CyberConnect 2 made sure we get introduced to and comfortable with the new world so swiftly.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available on the Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the first part of the Daima DLC debuts on July 17, 2025. The second part of the add-on’s story will arrive in 2026. The Dragon Ball Daima anime is streaming on Crunchyroll.
Published: Jul 11, 2025 09:00 am