As expected Sega have unveiled in the next game in the incredibly popular Yakuza series and there are some major changes to the game with creator Toshihiro Nagoshi describing it as a “watershed” moment for the franchise.
Ichiban Kasuga, the lead character in the game is said to be a big fan of Square Enix’s Dragon Quest, Sega and Square have come to an arrangement where Kasuga will talk about the game within his own game, which is a bit meta. You also have to wonder why Sega wouldn’t make him a big fan of Outrun or something they own.
Kasuga went to jail in 2002 and now, eighteen years later, he finds himself looking down the gun barrel of Masumi Arakawa who Kasuga owes his life. He manages escape, saved by Nanba (Ken Yasuda), and heads to the city of Yokohama. The story will tell the tale of Kasuga’s rise and the new location, Yokohama, is said to be three times larger than Kamurocho.
The big news is that, despite joking about in an April Fools earlier this year, Yakuza 7 really does have turn based combat. You will also be able to use objects and your environment to battle, and there will be real-time physics.
“Classic Yakuza game format reached one complete style so wanted to try totally different to jump,” tweeted tech journalist Takashi Mochizuki who was at the”Ryu ga Gotoku Latest Title” conference in Akihabara Japan . “Our experts of action game creation made this RPG with their flavor; hope fans welcome this change. If not, happy to change back to action game for future releases.”
Yakuza 7 will launch for PlayStation 4 in Japan, South Korea, and China on January 16th 2020 and rather than making us wait, Sega have already announced the game will be coming to Europe and North America in 2020.
