Yakuza: Like a Dragon Is More like An Action Game Than You Might Think, Says Director Nagoshi

Sega’s Toshihiro Nagoshi, who’s once again taking up the position of director with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, appeared on Sega’s semi-regular livestream today to talk about the upcoming game. While no new footage was shown, he did elaborate upon some of the development details behind the project, and expanded upon what was explained by chief producer Masa Yokoyama last week. [Thanks, Game’s Talk!]

Here are the highlights below:

• Nagoshi admits that part of the reason is that the team couldn’t really think of a way to one-up the culmination of the previous battle system, but also furthermore he wanted to try something new.

• Regarding the UI, things are still in development so it’s subject to change.

• This game is not a game about choosing commands for multiple characters, then lying back and watching the battles play out. It’s more like watching multi-man battles play out in front of you as if it were an action game.

• While it takes a bit to get used to, when you get used to it you can play the game with the same sort of tension as an action game. Nagoshi doesn’t like slow-paced games, so he wasn’t about to make one himself.

• There will be an autobattle function that has quite smart AI. Nagoshi recommends it for when fighting weaker enemies.

• The Heat Actions surpass the limits of ridiculousness that were previously possible precisely because this game is an RPG.

• Originally, they debated having both a Command RPG style and a regular action style hybrid game, but that would be akin to making two games, and they wouldn’t make their schedule if they did so.

• After choosing commands, there are additional action inputs that might occur.

• If other party members are nearby, they may join in together on the attack.

• To people unfamiliar with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Nagoshi believes they might mistake the game for an action game.

The first gameplay footage for the game is set to debut at TGS 2019, as well as a gameplay demo at Sega’s booth.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon releases for PlayStation 4 in Japan, Korea, and China on January 16, 2020. The game releases later in 2020 for North America and Europe. The official website for the West is expected to launch soon.