Yeah, yeah, this one's everyone's favorite. I know. It's the game that got most people into the series, it's the game that gets memed the most, etc.

Here's the thing; I don't care. I love this game for what makes it special to me.

When I played it back when it first released on Steam in 2018-19 after a friend recommended it to me, I wasn't in a very good spot. As contrived as it sounds, this game genuinely changed my life forever. The story - mainly the themes of setting your own standards, to live your own way and not becoming complacent with how the world is, to keep fighting and adapting no matter what - hit me in a spot where I was struggling with the exact feeling. I probably wouldn't be the same person without this game. I really can't help but love it because it was part of a process that helped me figure out... well, me. It isn't the only one of it's kind, but it was the first of many. I am absolutely biased.

And while I love the humor these games have, it is right up my alley a grand majority of the time, it isn't the selling point for me. These stories, these characters, this world is what I come here for. Other people can word it much better than I can, but the balance of the melodrama, the absurd, and the mundane all blend together to make an important feeling - that being, life.

Yakuza as a whole feels like it understands this to an insane degree, and throughout the series I can't say that it has ever faded. The slower moments, the funny moments, the emotional moments, all of them are treated with equal importance because just like our own lives, they all reflect back on us and form who we are. It's so deeply human from top-to-bottom, because it understands the importance of everything... and says to keep fighting for it. You must live, even through the boring, even through the crazy, even through the painful - because you can change so much around you for the better. Care, conviction, bonds. All of it will help you. To live is to not run away.

This game is everything is just everything I love about Yakuza as a series. An Essence, if you will. Maybe I'm just too much of a meathead, maybe I worded this like shit, maybe I'm stupid. I don't know, but art like this resonates with me like no other - genuinely the only other games I can think of like this are mostly other Yakuza games (namely 1, 5 and 7), with only a few other games like TWEWY and Undertale sewn into that list.

I don't care about some irony-poisoned dorks who played the game for an hour, dropped it, watched a youtuber play the substories and then parrot "it's the best game ever made because it's so wacky!", this isn't my favorite game in the series because of that chicken screenshot that circled the internet (I didn't use social media like that and still dont) , it's my favorite game in the series, and of all time, because of how much it personally means to me.

One of my favorite games out there. I only played the first ten minutes and I was hooked. I love the dramatic story it tells combined with its silly fun gameplay. Heat actions feel cool and it also feels satisfying how much damage it does.
Another strong aspect in the Yakuza games are the characters. I really like how well written they are. You become attached pretty quick and you feel the pain other characters feel when one dies. But what makes this game special for me is that it's my first. The Godfather is one of my favorite movies out there and this game nailed that vibe so well. But how it tells it's story is also a neat trait. It combined two different perspectives that at first holds no relation with one another, but sets up the story so well that when one ends in a cliffhanger, you'll be begging to know more about what happened to that character.
Last thing. The side content can be overwhelming, but if you can take things in your own pace, it can be a good time. I remember spending hours on the Cabaret minigame, karaoke along and the dancing one too. They're a nice change of pace after some of the heavier or serious moments the game has to offer. Plus the side stories are just good for building up Kiryu/Majima's character.
Anyways, enough of me rambling. Try the game out if you're curious, it's a swell time.

Genuinely one of the most well-written, impactful, nail biting experiences on the face of the earth. Every single corner of this game absolutely BLEEDS style and fun, between the gameplay letting you decimate crowds of yakuza with naught but your fists to the INTENSE techno OST that keeps your blood pumping a mile a minute as you wail on people like nobody's business, the gameplay is needless to say, amazing. But the positives don't stop there. The story is genuinely nail-biting, with so, so many poignant emotional moments that it'd give even the most hard people feel a twinge of sorrow deep down. The side content is extremely fun and very rewarding as well, between karaoke, pool, darts, stock car racing, business, dancing... I have put over 300 hours into this game for a good reason. It is mind blowing.

This game is batshit insane and I love it. I saw a man getting beat up by some thugs on the street. So in-turn I ran up to them with a park bench and completely eviscerated them by smashing their heads in with the park bench. Afterwards I saw someone named the WALKING ERECTION and he harassed me for nudes of random women. I then went to my local ramen shop and ate the entire menu, walked outside and got mugged for all of my money by a guy named Mr.Shakedown. I then went home and did the same thing in Yakuza.