Yakuza: Dead Souls Announced for Western Markets, Video and Screenshots Available

Sega has officially confirmed that the Yakuza of the Dead title previously released only in Japan, will be making its way onto North American and European markets next year, under the Yakuza: Dead Souls name.

Sega's Yakuza series has achieved huge sales in its native Japan, but Western releases haven't always been so great, with the loyal community often forced to beg Sega for months on end before the company would confirm that a title would be released for their own pleasure.

The same thing happened with the outlandish Yakuza of the Dead, and once again succeeded, as Sega confirmed that the unique title, which sees various Yakuza protagonists fight against legions of zombies as well as other rivals from the mob, is going to arrive for Western markets.

"We know how much people love Yakuza in the West and with Dead Souls being the latest and greatest in the franchise its only right we bring it to them closer to the Japanese release than ever," said Gary Knight, Senior Vice President of Marketing at SEGA.

Yakuza: Dead Souls is the new title of the game, which seemingly hints to a relationship with two other popular Japanese titles, Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, made by From Software, which doesn't have any partnership with Sega.

Still, the new Yakuza game is quite a different beast than From Software's role playing games, as the title combines open world gameplay with the traditional brawling mechanics that made the Yakuza series so popular, while introducing, for the first time, guns, which are used to safely dispatch of the undead horde.

"Yakuza: Dead Souls features gunplay for the first time in the Yakuza series, where everything from pistols, machine guns and rocket launchers can be employed against your enemies. Just remember to save some ammo in case you run into something more terrifying than zombies! With all the depth and story of a Yakuza title, plus the addition of exciting shoot-outs and previously unplayable characters Ryuji Goda and Goro Majima, Yakuza: Dead Souls is worth dying for."

The game is expected to appear sometime in 2012, and Sega has revealed a variety of screenshots and a trailer for it below to make the wait more bearable.