Back on November 13th, 2019, Sega released the demo for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon, as reported by Gematsu. While that might seem like good news, the bad news is that the demo is only available in Japan. However, there’s more good news and it’s that Japanese gamers have been livestreaming the demo since its release, to give gamers a full and thorough look at the upcoming turn-based, beat-’em-up drama.

YouTuber Game Yuna has a two and a half hour livestream of Yakuza 7, going through the basic interaction sequences, the exploration, as well as the brand new turn-based combat system. You can check it out below.

The demo picks up well into the story after Kasuga is released from prison and kicked out of his Yakuza chapter.

He’s teamed up with a homeless man and a former police officer.

The former officer joins Kasuga’s party, and it plays the typical party chime just like in old JRPGs whenever someone joined your party. The basic premise of the story at this point is that Kasuga and his pals are intent on finding work to help pay for their lodging and food.

After a short sequence where the trio have a tough time retrieving a barbed baseball bat from the street, they then engage in a three-on-three fight with some local thugs.

The turn-based combat isn’t like typical JRPGs where everyone stands still and trades blows. After each attack – some of which require you to press corresponding buttons to complete the combo – the enemies will move and fall over, while the other characters will also charge in to attack.

This creates a scenario very similar to a turn-based strategy game where positioning becomes a strategic point of exploitation, since the longer the fight wears on the more the characters and their positions change.

Also, the fights are a lot more fast-paced than typical TBS titles where you’re waiting and sitting and watching everyone carry out their attacks. They keep it moving fast and fluent.

Once the battle is over with we see that the demo has quite a few side activities available, including a racing mini-game.

Later on a hot chick joins the team and they end up getting into a fight with some gangsters dressed as babies at a fetish club.

Now I don’t know if people will like or hate this feature, but changing their battle professions will change their clothes during battle. Different professions will alter their moves and abilities during a fight, not unlike Final Fantasy V.

The demo is jam packed with content. In fact, there’s more to do in the Yakuza 7 demo than there is content in most fully released games.

At the 1:45:00 mark Yuna finally does the go-kart racing mini-game.

Yuna plays a puzzle mini-game, goes to the movie theater and watches a Jaws rip-off, and then she goes on to complete the story segments that leads up to awkward showdown with a manager at an idol agency.

There’s a lot jam-packed into the demo, and even more content in the full game. You can look for it to release in Japan on January 16th, 2020 on the PS4.

(Thanks for the news tip Wondy Bergers)