Yakuza 7 and five other amazing RPGs that take place in modern-day

Yakuza 7 breaks the series mold by going full turn-based RPG, but it’s also kind of a rarity to see an RPG that takes place in the present-day period. Here are five others that did it.

It was an April Fool’s joke, except the joke was that it’s totally real! The long-running Yakuza series, which has for the past 15 years been sort of a much wackier take on the Grand Theft Auto formula (it’s also been referred to as Shenmue, but good), will completely upend the formula it’s known for with the seventh official core entry in the franchise. Yakuza 7 (which will be titled Yakuza: Like a Dragon for the West) eschews the traditional action combat of the series for a turn-based party RPG.

This is not only a major change for the series but makes Yakuza 7 an RPG that takes place in the present day. That’s pretty rare. Most RPG series take place in settings such as the distant past, the far-flung future, some fantasy empire, etc. Essentially anywhere but the present day.

However, every once and awhile we get one that takes place in what would be considered modern times. It could be a vague “near future” date so as not to completely date the game, but here are five RPGs that much like Yakuza 7 have a modern-day setting:

#5. The World Ends With You

Much like another RPG series that takes place in modern-day Japan, The World Ends With You boasts an incredibly stylish art style and soundtrack and has you battling enemies in a secret world that normal people know nothing about.

A cult hit on the Nintendo DS, The World Ends With You was noteworthy for more than just its great style and sound. The game felt truly unique in the way it approached battles. You had your protagonist, Neku, and another partner that you controlled simultaneously (the partner changed depending on how far you were in the game). While this may sound fairly complicated, on the Nintendo DS, it worked fantastically as it was one of the few games to really not only take advantage of the dual-screen of the portable system set up in a cool way, it was in a way that really worked best on that console and not nearly as well when it came to other platforms.

This, unfortunately, was a harsh truth discovered when The World Ends With You: Final Remix was released on the Nintendo Switch last year. The gameplay just did not translate very well. The World Ends With You still is a really unique and special game that gets a high recommend, just play it on the Nintendo 2DS or 3DS if you have the option.