Sega’s Yakuza series has been slowly building in popularity in the west ever since the release of Yakuza 0 in early 2017. Since then, Sega has kept up a steady release schedule for the franchise, usually dropping more than one title every year since 2017. Now, the franchise is set to be reborn with the release of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which is acting as a soft reboot for the series following the end of Kazuma Kiryu’s saga with Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, and the release of the first title in the spin-off series Judgment in 2019.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is bringing a lot of innovations to the series, including a brand new battle system, full English voice acting, the franchise’s debut on next-generation consoles, and more. Perhaps most importantly, the title is setting itself up to be the perfect entry point for newcomers. With that in mind, here’s everything fans need to know before buying Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the seventh entry in the main Yakuza series but, as previously mentioned, acts as a soft reboot from the franchise. The game is centered around a new protagonist named Ichiban Kasuga, a member of the Arakawa Family, a subsidiary of the Tojo Clan. Ichiban is asked by the boss of his clan to shoulder the blame for a crime one of the other members committed. Believing it will allow him to repay the patriarch that raised him, Ichiban is sentenced to 18 years in prison, but when he is released he finds that he has been betrayed by his family and sets off on a quest to discover the truth of what happened between the Arakawa Family and the Tojo Clan in his 18-year absence.
The first thing returning players will realize about Yakuza: Like a Dragon is that the franchise’s combat system has been revamped entirely, with Sega transitioning the series from third-person action style combat to a turn-based RPG combat system similar to franchises such as Dragon Quest and Persona. This is because Yakuza: Like a Dragon is directly inspired by the Dragon Quest series, with Ichiban frequently referencing the series in the game’s trailers. The game will even feature a Final Fantasy 3 style job system, allowing players to assign any class they choose to any of their party members. The game also includes summons, which are based on characters featured throughout the story.
Like usual, Yakuza: Like a Dragon will also see the return of Yakuza‘s iconic sub-stories and side-activities. While not many sub-stories have been revealed, likely to avoid spoilers, Sega has detailed some of the game’s side-activities. This include a new kart racing mini-game known as “Dragon Kart,” which sees the characters driving through Yokohama in a cartoonish adaptation of some of Japan’s kart racing outlets.
For the first time since the original Yakuza for the PlayStation 2, Like a Dragon is reintroducing English voice acting to the series. This is likely the result of 2019’s Judgment featuring a well-received English dub. Purists will be happy to know that, like with Judgment, the game will also feature the Japanese voice track, which has its own subtitle option so fans do not have to use the subtitles matching the English dub’s dialogue. Like a Dragon‘s dub includes actors such as George Takei (Star Trek,) Kaiji Tang (Berserk,) Andrew Morgado (Fallout 76,) Elizabeth Maxwell (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild,) and Greg Chun (Overwatch.)
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is releasing on almost every major current home console, but it is immediately important to mention that the game will not release on PlayStation 5 until March 2, 2021. This appears to be the result of a marketing agreement between Microsoft and Sega, which will keep the title as a next-generation exclusive release for Xbox Series X and S until next March. With that in mind, Yakuza: Like a Dragon will release on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 10, 2020. The game will retail for $59.99, yet there are multiple versions to choose from.
The base version of the game is the Day Ichi Edition. This version is available both physically and digitally, with the physical edition featuring a special steelbook case. Both versions of the Day Ichi Edition come with the Legends Costume Pack, which includes costumes based on characters from the previous titles. Following this is the $69.99 Hero Edition, which is digital only. This version includes the Legends Costume Pack, Job Set, and Management Mode set, which act as boosters for some of the game’s side-activities. Finally is the digital-only $89.99 Legendary Edition, which includes all of the content from both previous editions, combined with the Crafting Set, Karaoke Set, Stat Boost Set, and Ultimate Costume Set.
Despite releasing alongside major titles such as Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sega and Microsoft are putting a lot of faith into Yakuza: Like a Dragon. While the title might not catch on as well as those bigger titles, positioning Yakuza as a launch title for the Xbox Series X/S could see the series make a huge leap in popularity as the hype surrounding the bigger launch titles begins to die down.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon will release on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 10th 2020. The game will release on PlayStation 5 on March 2nd 2021.
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