Ichiban Kasuga’s arc will apparently bring a lot of new elements to the Yakuza franchise. At a presentation in Tokyo, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios and Sega have revealed that Yakuza 7 will replace its predecessors’ beat-em-up action system with a more traditional turn-based combat. A screenshot of an encounter from the game’s official website shows JRPG-like headshots of Kasuga and his companions, along with health bars indicating their remaining life. It’s the first time RGG Studios is deviating from the franchise’s familiar combat mechanics — even its spinoff, detective game Judgment, uses the same system.
The developer announced earlier this year that Ichiban Kasuga is taking over as the franchise’s main character after the events of Yakuza 6 puts everyone’s favorite former gangster, Kazuma Kiryu, out of commission. Unlike the other games in the series, which mostly take place in Kamurocho (based on Tokyo’s Kabukicho red light district) and Sotenbori (based on Osaka’s Dotonbori), Yakuza 7 is set in Yokohama. The presentation has also revealed that the story spans from 2000 to 2019, and the game’s website even has a button that lets you flip between Kasuga’s old and new looks.
According to The Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki, the Yakuza team wanted to try something new and is hoping that fans will welcome the change. That said, the studio is open switching back to the old action combat format for future games.
Nagoshi: classic Yakuza game format reached one complete style so wanted to try totally different to jump. 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.
In a deleted tweet, Sega said that Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Ryu Ga Gotoku 7) will come out in Japan on January 16th, 2020 for the PS4. The Chinese and Korean versions will be available on the same day, while its US and Europe launch won’t happen until later next year.
You can watch the game’s trailer right here:
Author: Mariella Moon
Source: Engadget
Tags: gaming, internet, ryu ga gotoku, ryu ga gotoku studio, yakuza 7
