During a press conference on August 28th, Sega announced the details for the much anticipated next chapter in the Yakuza series, known as Ryu ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon) in Japan. Fans were anticipating what was to come next for the series as Yakuza 6 had been the final chapter for long time protagonist Kiryu Kazuma. The detective themed spin-off Judgment (released as Judge Eyes in Japan) was very well received and was praised for pushing the depth of the beat-em up style of combat the series is known for to its peak, but it was not considered a mainline numbered game. Sega revealed that the next game in development would be the next direct sequel in the series titled Ryu ga Gotoku 7: Hikari to Yami no Yukue (Like a Dragon 7: Whereabouts of Light and Darkness) and will be known as Yakuza: Like a Dragon in the West (Yakuza 7 for short). The game will feature a brand new protagonist named Ichiban Kasuga.
The new trailer released alongside the conference gives some insight into the new plot. The story revolves around Ichiban, a member of the Tojo clan of Yakuza, going to jail after taking the fall for a murder he did not commit. After 18 years, he is released from prison only to find the rival Omi Alliance had taken over Kamurocho, the city the majority of the Yakuza series takes place in. Ichiban must now find and gather what remaining allies he has left in a changed Kamurocho while figuring out how the Omi Alliance came to power as well and fighting against the police who have seemingly allied with them.
The most drastic change, however, came when it was shown that the battle system would be changed from a beat-em-up to a turn-based style. Footage from the conference showed Ichiban with three other party members fighting a group of a street toughs through menu selections much like a traditional JRPG. Immediately, people began to draw comparisons to the Persona series, another Sega property, and the Dragon Quest series which Ichiban actually makes reference to in the trailer. This style of combat for Yakuza was actually first seen in an April Fools video. The scripted joke video was received fairly well with commenters saying that a new spinoff or minigame featuring this style of gameplay would actually be welcomed although it seems very few, if any at all, expected it to be to main combat system in a mainline game.
Opinions on the game so far have been decidedly mixed. On Youtube, the official trailer as of this writing has been viewed almost 650,000 times and has a substantial 2000 dislikes out of 68,000 likes. On Twitter, Famitsu Magazine’s tweet thread about the press conference is peppered with replies from people of various opinions. While the majority of comments on both platforms seem open-minded albeit a bit confused on the necessity for changing the system, the rest of the comments were less amiable. These range from saying the series was dead and already vowing to not purchase the game to treat the game as a spinoff instead of a mainline title to also wishing the team instead made a sequel to Judgment or Black Panther (a spinoff series on the Playstation Portable) instead. Some also noticed a parallel situation comparing the drastic change in the genre to the newest Sakura Wars game, another Sega property, that changed from a turn-based strategy RPG to an action game.
According to Japanese media that were present at the press conference, creative chief director for Sega, Toshihiro Nagoshi, says that he hopes fans will welcome the change as the Yakuza series had reached completion and wanted to try a brand new direction. However, he also states that the team would be happy to change back for future releases if its fans do not like it and Yakuza 7 fails to sell.
Yakuza 7 will release in Japan on January 16, 2020, and sometime later the same year for the West. The game is also a Playstation 4 exclusive.
