Chief producer of the Yakuza series wasn't worried about going turn-based back in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, saying, 'we are confident that we can make an enjoyable game, even if it is in a genre we have never made before'
The Yakuza/Like a Dragon games are an annualized series, a new entry appearing every year since 2014, and sometimes two per year—as was the case in 2023, when Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio released both Like a Dragon: Ishin! and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. With so many games coming out, making sure they feel at least a little different, with changing protagonists, locations, and time periods, is essential. Changing the combat system was one of the most surprising shifts.
When the turn-based JRPG combat of Yakuza: Like a Dragon was first revealed in a trailer on April 1, 2019, some players assumed it was an April fool's joke and it would stick with the series' brawler-style combat. But RGG was serious, and the mainline series is staying turn-based for next year's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
«RGG Studio's games are narrative games», chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto recently told Game Informer. «We always think flat about the most enjoyable form of that narrative, which combat factors into. For example, one reason why we decided to make Yakuza: Like a Dragon an RPG is because we always think flat. Aside from combat, we have also made many styles of minigames, so we are confident that we can make an enjoyable game, even if it is in a genre we have never made before.»
Recent spin-offs have stayed real-time. Like a Dragon Gaiden, which brought back original protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, also brought back a version of its fighting. When the Yakuza series started, over-the-shoulder brawlers were everywhere. Now, with exceptions like Sifu and I guess the Spider-Man games, they don't seem quite as common. «It's actually difficult to find a full-contact fighting action game,» Sakamoto said, «so we don't really have
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