At an event in Tokyo, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios, developers of Judgement and the Yakuza series officially shared and formally announced the next chapter in the Yakuza series. Yakuza 7: Whereabouts of Light and Darkness or Yakuza: Like a Dragon as it will be called in the West will feature a new protagonist, a new setting, and a new turn-based combat system.
Previous Yakuza games followed Kazuma Kiryu but his story ended in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Yakuza: Like a Dragon features the story of new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga as he gets released from prison after taking the fall for a crime he didn’t commit. After getting released, Ichiban tracks down his boss who leaves him for dead. The previous Yakuza games have primarily taken place in Kamurocho, however, Like a Dragon will be set in Isezaki Ijincho in Yokohama which is more than three times the size of Kamurocho in Tokyo.
The biggest shakeup to the series is the new combat system which was originally revealed as an April Fools joke. Yakuza: Like a Dragon will use a “live command RPG battle” system that combines the crazy over-the-top action that the series is known for with a JRPG command system. The system has players selecting techniques with various effects such as attack, recovery, support, and more. Yakuza: Like a Dragon will release on January 16, 2020, in Japan and sometime in 2020 in the Americas and Europe.
Recently, Sega announced The Yakuza Remastered Collection which includes Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 with updated versions of the original games including improved visuals, revised localizations, and content that was cut from the original Western releases. Yakuza 3 is available to download with Yakuza 4 becoming available on October 29, 2019, and Yakuza 5 will be available on February 11, 2020. Once Yakuza 5 comes out, all of the Yakuza games will be available to play on PlayStation 4.