The Yakuza game, which features Ichiban Kasuga as the protagonist (no, not Kazuma Kiryu!), has been revealed properly.

In Japan, SEGA will release the game as Yakuza 7: Whereabouts of Light and Darkness (Ryuu Ga Gotoku 7: Hikari to Yami no Yukue), but in the West, the name will be Yakuza: Like a Dragon. So they changed the subtitle significantly here, which is somewhat weird, but okay, let’s move on.

„The latest numbered entry in the Yakuza series for PlayStation 4, this is the story of new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga. In the new setting of Isezaki Ijincho in Yokohama, the story of the hot-blooded thugs stirred up by Ichiban Kasuga will begin. If the protagonist changes, so do the gameplay. This is a new Yakuza experience! New protagonist Ichiban Kasuga changes not only the story of the game but also how you play. Protagonist Ichiban Kasuga makes his way up from the depths of despair. Depicted until the becoming of a new “Dragon,” this is the ultimate story of overcoming the higher-ranked and rising to new heights. The future is in your hands! […]

“Live command RPG battles” bring the fight of the “Dragon” to a new stage! Yakuza 7 uses a “live command RPG battle” system that combines the series’ signature action with an RPG command system. It has evolved into a system in which anyone can easily enjoy exhilarating battles. In this completely new battle system, Ichiban Kasuga and his party will fight by selecting techniques with various effects such as attack, recovery, support, and more. Enjoy immersive and dynamic battles against all sorts of enemies. [In other words, the combat will be turn-based, but they forgot to use this term… – the ed.]

A new setting: Isezaki Ijincho in Yokohama! Yakuza 7 is set in the huge new area of Isezaki Ijincho in Yokohama, which is more than three times the size of Kamurocho in Tokyo. In Yokohama, where every place has different faces, a grand story will unfold,” the game’s website reads.

The protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, gets out of jail after 18 years (taking the fall for a murder), and the characters around him will also be entirely new. The Tojo clan has fallen in Kamurocho (and one of its leaders, Masumi Arakawa will play a role in the plot), and its „whip,” Jo Sawashiro, still hates us, even though he has moved on to work with the Omi Alliance, the new Yakuza leaders in Kamurocho (we took the fall for him…). There’s also Namba, who lost everything after channelling medicine from a hospital to the black market (he worked as a nurse). After Masumi Arakawa shoots Ichiban Kasuga, he comes to save his life, and then, he joins us as our main helper. Kasuga, Arakawa, and Sawashiro will all be in the game in their 2000 form as well. So the plot seems to be quite dramatic, which is one of the key aspects of the Yakuza games.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon will launch in Japan on January 16 on PlayStation 4. The Western launch (the English website can be seen here) will follow later this year. We wonder if changing the combat system would work for SEGA or not…

Source: Gematsu, Gematsu