Yakuza: Like a Dragon Adds Dungeons to its RPG Systems

We knew Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be taking an RPG turn when it releases later in 2020. What we now know is that it's leaning even further into the RPG genre with dungeons.

Sega Japan released new information (translated by Gematsu) that details the dungeons in full. Protagonist Ichiban Kasuga and co. will use passageways to travel to enemy headquarters, and it's these passageways that form the dungeons of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

While traversing the dungeons, you'll encounter randomized enemies, which you can use to boost the level of your party before you arrive at the enemy HQ. After defeating the enemy organization, you can then return and repeat the dungeon as many times as you please, primarily for XP gains.

Enemies associated with the enemy HQ will appear in the dungeon beforehand. Additionally, dungeons can be laced with traps and surprises that Ichiban and co. will need to avoid or work their way around, all before coming face to face with the dungeon boss for one final showdown to end the entire mission.

In 2019, Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku announced that Yakuza: Like a Dragon would switch to turn-based combat for the first time in the series. The Yakuza series has always maintained a fast-paced action combat system, so the switch to the turn-based system, completing with an RPG party and levelling, came as a fair surprise.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon releases January 16 in Japan for the PS4. It'll be coming to the west later at an unknown point in 2020.