A bit less than a month has passed since the release of the demo of Yakuza 6 on PS4, giving a glimpse on the current-gen exclusive future of the series. Producer Masayoshi Yokoyama talked about it on Famitsu, comparing the new game to a luxury car, as opposed to the past chapters of the series, compared to economy cars.

Here's a summary of what he mentioned:

  • The gameplay sensation has changed from previous Yakuza titles, but more importantly, the battle sensation has changed as well. The lack of loading screens is another big chance.
  • Yokoyama-san used cars to explain the difference with past Yakuza games. While the distance traveled and the time you take for the trip is the same, it's like changing from an economy car to a luxury car. The demo of Yakuza 6 is like the test drive of a luxury car. With the demo, the Developers wanted to players to see that Yakuza 6 will be a good game, and to experience its feel.
  • The demo actually has no relationship with the story of Yakuza 6. Everything from the clothes Kiryu wears to the characters we met in the demo are entirely different from what we'll experience in the final game.
  • The demo did not include a growth system and minigames, but this doesn't mean that they won't be in the final game. The demo was meant only to be a taste of the gameplay feel, but more information on growth system and minigames will come down the line.
  • The developers are actively pursuing the "feeling of fighting" with Yakuza 6. Animation now fits the situation and is influenced by physics. The location of hits changes depending on the position of the combatants. Basically, the same combination of motions is never repeated twice.

Personally, I really loved the demo. I heard some complaining about resolution and frame rate (forgetting that it's a demo of a game that won't be released before eight months. It's a bit early for number crunching), but I found it fantastic. You can judge on your own in our screenshot gallery, and full video playthrough.