When I wrote that headline, I thought I would a little bit more surprised at what I was typing but seeing as how we’re talking about a Yakuza game, nothing is ever too crazy for this series.

Sega has just released some new information regarding the enemies we’ll be fighting in Yakuza: Like A Dragon. There’s also details on two new “Delivery Help” summons. Here’s the English translation of all the information (thank you, Gematsu):

â–  Enemy Characters

A great variety of enemy characters appear in Yakuza: Like a Dragon—the most in the series history. A great number of enemies with RPG-like personalities and traits have been prepared, from power monster-types to magic users and thieves that steal your items. Several “families” of enemies exist. Most enemies belong to a family in which their strength level (grade) differs. For example, in the “Gangster” family depicted below, we see the weakest “Color Gangster,” the stronger “Mad Gangster,” the even stronger “Gangster Ace,” and the strongest “Gangster Boss.”

Gangster Family

From left to right, low grade to high grade: Color Gangster, Mad Gangster, Gangster Ace, and Gangster Boss. The Gangster family exhibits a different level of violence from the yakuza and hoodlums that cause trouble in the city.

The two lowest level members of the Gangster family (Color Gangster and Mad Gangster) only fight with their firsts, while the two highest level members (Gangster Ace and Gangster Boss) are tough enemies that mercilessly shoot their guns. Gunfire is a dangerous attack that cannot be defended against, so make sure to buy equipment and recovery items to protect yourself.

Military Family

From left to right, low grade to high grade: Military Otaku, Lone Soldier, Slice-Up Commando, and Armynater. With a kukuri knife in one hand and a bow gun in the other, the Military family can attack at ranges both far and near.

The higher the grade, the greater the Military member’s mastery of weapon-based skills such as knife slashes, grenade blasts, and rapid-fire bow gun shots. The highest level member, the Armynater, can shoot a “Destruction Beam” from its eyes. Whether it is human or not, it is an enemy shrouded in mystery.

â–  New Delivery Help Characters

“Delivery Help” is a system that lets you pay in-game money to summon strong support characters that assist you in battle. Following the previous introductions of Delivery Help characters Slaughter Hell Basami Nancy-chan and Mr. Delivery Help: Gary Buster Holmes, today we will introduce two new characters.

Name: Kiyoe Shirakawa – Skill: “Madonna’s Soup-Run”

A recovery-type service where a kind-hearted woman makes a bowl of pork miso soup. The heart-warming pork miso soup will heal all party members’ MP (Mental Points).

Name: Striking Falcon – Skill: “Idaten Dance”

A service where the leader of a bike gang assaults enemies with his bike. This attack mows down all enemies, and the heat from the tire has a fixed chance of inflicting the “heat damage” status ailment.

So now we know that enemies will often belong to a Family of some sort with stronger varieties scaling up according to levels. The “Delivery Help” summons have never been implemented in any of the primary Yakuza games but summons are a common feature in JRPGs and since Like A Dragon is going that route, it’s great to see them injecting the Yakuza wackiness in them.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon is scheduled to be released on 16 January 2020 in Japan and sometime later in the same year worldwide. So far, it’s only been confirmed for the PS4. For more news on Yakuza 7, stay tuned on Kakuchopurei.