Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s last expansion felt like a breath of fresh air for both the game and the series as a whole, thanks to its focus on the underappreciated original Dragon Ball. I’ve enjoyed every DLC that has been released for Kakarot (even the ones that only act as training rooms for transformations) but it quickly became my favourite for shining a spotlight on something other than the sagas we all know so well.
Just like how the Tenkaichi Budokai expansion focused on OG Dragon Ball, Goku’s Next Journey shines a spotlogight on the oft-forgotten epilogue to Dragon Ball Z and shows what happened to the Z-Warriors a decade after the defeat of Kid Buu. For the first time in the series since before Raditz showed up, there’s no big enemy left to fight and the characters we grew up watching are finally living out their lives in peace.
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As someone who loves Dragon Ball for its characters as much as the beam struggles and power-raising screaming matches, these unprecedented peaceful times are exactly why I’ve always wanted to see the End of Z saga adapted properly in a Dragon Ball game. Getting to see Goku, Krillin, Goten, and Bulma age and evolve is a treat after following their adventures for so many years, especially since most Dragon Ball games just skip over this important moment in the series since it’s less focused on combat and spectacle.
Much of your time in the DLC is spent flying around peacefully with Pan, lightly sparring with Goten to train him up, and simply talking to the other characters and seeing how they’re getting on with their lives. Goku’s Next Journey is like reuniting with long-lost friends, which goes to show how overlooked the End of Z saga usually is in gaming.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Dragon Ball without some action, and the DLC delivers on that front too. Not only do we get the flight-based and special-move-focused combat from the main game with robots attacking Goku as he explores the open world, but we also get a lot more of the grounded battles that were introduced in the last DLC thanks to the return of Tenkaichi Budokai.
We even get to play as Pan, which adds a nice bit of variety since the last DLC was also centred around Goku.
All of this culminates in two of the best and most epic boss battles in all of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Goku’s fight against Uub is surprisingly challenging and really tests your knowledge of the combat mechanics (while also letting you call his dad a bed-wetter), while the rematch with Vegeta is one of the best fights the two have ever had.
The last few expansions for Kakarot have felt like they were missing something, but Goku’s Next Journey feels like the most feature complete with lots of side quests to make your way through and tons of extra challenges. Combine all those challenging optional encounters with moments of peace where Goku is simply talking to his sons or helping Krillin find a wedding ring, and this DLC feels like the first that perfectly gets the balance between Dragon Ball’s action and its heartfelt character moments – and that makes it the perfect sendoff.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot might not be my favourite Dragon Ball game (that honour goes to Budokai Tenkaichi 3) or the one I’ve got the most playtime in (thanks, XenoVerse), but after rolling credits on its potentially final piece of content, I couldn’t help feeling emotional. It’s a game that I’ve been covering as a journalist for more than four years now, so its final story being about the future of its characters and closing the book on Dragon Ball as a whole hit me harder than expected.
Goku’s Next Journey being the final piece of Dragon Ball Z is exactly why it should be what closes off Kakarot too. We rarely see a DBZ game get to tell the whole story (and then some!) like this and, while there are lots of non-canon stories and other Dragon Ball series that could be delivered, this is the perfect time for things to end.
As much as I’d love to see CyberConnect2’s take on Super Saiyan Blue Kaioken or Vegeta beating the snot out of Toppo, Goku’s Next Journey is such a perfect finale for Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot that I’d rather it went out on a high and left those adventures for other games. After four years of expansions that give us the most painstaking retelling of Dragon Ball Z out there, Kakarot has done more than enough to earn its rest.
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