Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio revealed new Yakuza 7 details in this week's Famitsu magazine. We got an introduction for two of Ichiban's party members, on a Final Fantasy summon-like system, and some of the minigames.

Yakuza 7 has a summon system similar to many RPGs, called "Delivery Help". Protagonist Ichiban can use his smartphone and pay some cash to summon help in battle. One of these summons is Gary "Buster" Holmes, a regular side-character of the Yakuza series, whose summon attack deals huge damage.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio also confirmed there are both new and old characters included in Yakuza 7 this way. Susumu Gondawara from the Be My Baby Yakuza 2 sidequest is back as a summon for example. Summons are unlocked when clearing sidequests. Each summon has varying prices, but most are pretty expensive.

Yakuza 7 will also feature many minigames, one of which is called "Dragon Kart". You can get items and shoot them on your rivals. It's a completely original game and totally not inspired by Crash Team Racing.

We also have a cinema minigame: In Isezaki, there's a cozy cinema called Umineko which only screens very old movies, so Ichiban ends up getting drowsy when going there. Like in a rhythm game, you need to push the right buttons at the right time to keep him awake and watch the movie till the end.

Yakuza 7 also has many real-life Pachislots included as well. (Pachislots are advanced versions of Pachinkos, and for example, the billions of Konami "pachinko" game adaptations you often hear about are actually Pachislots.) The development team explained they put in actual Pachislot locations and machines to make Yakuza 7 more realistic. There's even one of Sammy's Souten no Ken pachislot included. It was also confirmed that Ichiban and his friends will pay a visit to Kamurocho at some point.

Speaking of which, here are the profiles of two members of Ichiban's party.

First, we have Saeko Mukouda, a hostess. The club she works at is owned by Nonomiya, the same person owning Otohime Land, a long-established soapland in Isezaki Ijin. Saeko is one of Nonomiya's most trusted employees, entrusting her with the role of "mama" at the club she works at. Saeko ends up meeting protagonist Ichiban after a certain incident. Saeko is voiced by Sumire Uesaka.

It's worth noting "Mukouda" can mean "over there" in Japanese, and there will definitely be dumb jokes and puns with her name. A new nightmare awaits for the localization team.

Saeko is modeled after and motion-acted by Eri Kamataki, who won a huge audition for the role. As a reminder, while they didn't say in what form yet, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio stated four of the finalists who won the audition's special award will also appear in Yakuza 7 in some way.

Next, we have Kouichi Adachi, who's an ex-detective. Back when he was in the police, Kouichi had a superior named Horinouchi, who now became the superintendant-general. At that time, Kouichi was looking for a certain culprit related to a case Horinouchi was responsible for, which led to Horinouchi unfairly demoting him. Kouchi kept investigating alone and he suspects that Horinouchi was bribed by Masumi Arakawa (Ichiban's father figure who betrayed him and joined the Omi Alliance). In order to approach Masumi Arakawa and find some decisive evidence, Kouichi ends up joining Ichiban. Kouichi is voiced by Akio Otsuka.

Keeping the RPG theme, Sega also described the four-party members revealed so far with RPG terms. Ichiban is the "Hero", Namba and Saeko are "Wizards", and Kouichi is a "Fighter ". While Yakuza 7 was confirmed to have a class change system, it's unclear however if these are actually their initial classes' names or not.

You can read more details on Yakuza 7 from Sega's Chief Creative Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi and from Producer Masayoshi Yokoyama. You can read more details on the story and characters here and check out the reveal trailer here.

Yakuza 7 launches on January 16 in Japan, exclusively on PS4. The game will come west later in 2020. Yakuza 7 will be among the games featured at Tokyo Game Show 2019 from September 12 to 15. Sega will reveal new gameplay and info then. Look forward to our detailed coverage on DualShockers.