SEGA is mostly known for Sonic The Hedgehog, but it has plenty of other notable IPs under its belt, like Phantasy Star, Virtua Fighter and, most important to this discussion, Yakuza. The series has graced Western shelves for all of its past five entries, and now, the latest one, Yakuza 0, is poised to do the same come January 2017.
In a press release, SEGA announced that Yakuza 0, which serves as a prequel to the entire series, will be coming to North America and Europe on Jan. 24, 2017 as a digital and physical release. However, unlike Japan, which got the game last year on both the PS3 and PS4, only the PS4 version will be coming westward.
For those unfamiliar with the Yakuza series, the games give players a glimpse of the Japanese underworld through the eyes of various protagonists. This all started with the story of the Kazuma Kiryu, also known as the Dragon of Dojima, whose life changed forever when his boss tried to violate his childhood friend, Yumi. Since then, various playable characters have been introduced to the story, though Kiryu has always been a prominent character throughout.
Now, Yakuza 0, as the name suggests, takes players even before the start of the series and gives them an early look at Kiryu and Goro Majima, who will be playable for the first time in a core, numbered game.
"What lies in a man's past defines his future, and in this case, we learn a lot about what inspires Kiryu down the paths he takes in the rest of the Yakuza series," Sega said in a press release. "Plus, you don't get to be called 'Dragon' without being able to knock a few heads. Combat styles can be hot-swapped during fights for some of the most intense battles in the Yakuza series to date."
Though the game will take the story back to December 1988, other important features will be moving forward. Aside from the hot-swapping combat styles, it has been confirmed that the game will put all the chapter titles, character introductions, opponent names and on-screen directions in English instead of just subtitling the kanji — the first time a Yakuza game has done so since the second one on the PlayStation 2. Similarly, the original Japanese voices will be left intact, meaning Yakuza 0 will be subtitled in English.
Lastly, SEGA was sure to emphasize just how important money is to the theme of the game. Not only does Yakuza 0 aim to capture the decadence of Japan in the '80s, many of the game's systems put money at the forefront. For example, you can literally beat the money out of the people you fight — with harder hits equating to more cash — but the level-up system is centralized around it as well, with the game foregoing experience points and instead having players invest in themselves to enhance their combat abilities.
This isn't the only action going on in the Yakuza (under)world. Last year, SEGA confirmed it was working on Yakuza 6, which will be a proper continuation of the story, as well as a remaster of the original Yakuza, which will be titled Yakuza: Kiwami. On top of all that, Sony recently made Yakuza 5 a free PlayStation Plus game for PS3 for August.
In the meantime, Yakuza 0 is available for preorder for $59.99. A special Day One edition of the game may be released.
