Yakuza 5 Remastered Reminds People How The Franchise Continued To Grow And Improve

Yakuza 4 Remastered saw the franchise get back on track after Yakuza 3 Remastered was a slight misstep. Yakuza 5 Remastered continues that trend, being a quality offering that will leave Ryu Ga Gotoko fans satisfied once they’ve had their fill of Kazama Kiryu and co.

First off, Yakuza 5 Remastered looks pretty fantastic. It’s clearly a step up from Yakuza 4 Remastered and Sega were doing all they could to crank out a quality looking game. Graphics are sharp and more vibrant. There is still pop-up issues that said and while it’s quaint to see some restaurants you enter use pre-rendered backgrounds, it does take away a little from the overall presentation. But overall this is still an impressive game to look at. The cities, Kamarucho, Tsukimino, Sotenbori, Kinecho and Kamurocho, have their distinct look and feel, especially Tsukimino because its taking place during Christmas.

The UI interface has once again been tightened up. They’ve decreased the sizes of text and boxes but it’s still very readable and just as importantly allows you to see and view more. Plus it looks really slick and impressive.. There is still has that weird design choices such as only being able to select one item at a time mechanic e.g. when getting reward items from a store) and now you can’t advanced conversations with the B/Circle button meaning you can easily select an option you don’t want, making it somewhat easier to fail sub-stories/sub-missions.

This is all topped off by the fantastic music with a lot of emotional scores, as well as diverse ranges you expect from the series (playing as Haruka will expose you to some catchy bangers). Another audio triumph us that we now have speech for the majority of the important in-game scenes. It makes the story seem that much more important.

Once again we are now playing as not just Kiryu, but as three other characters; charismatic money Lender Shun Akiyama, gruff but kind-hearted Taiga Saejima, the naive but determined adopted daughter of Kiryu, Haruka Sawamura, with dreams of being a Japanese Idol and newcomer, disgraced former baseball player, the somewhat sleazy but lovable Tatsuo Shinada. Once again we have different fighting styles with Kiryu being the all-rounded powerhouse, Akiyama being speedy and technical, Saejima with strong man moves and great crowd control and Shinada with weird grappler style backed up by being a weapon master of sorts.

This sees the side-stories back. Similar to Yakuza 4 Remastered, but they are much more involved. Kiryu drives a Taxi (it makes sense in context) in not just getting fares but also providing customer service via conversations and engaging in speed racing (again, it makes sense in context,) Saejima gets to go hunting! Haruka goes through the trials and tribulations of being a Pop Idol and new character Tatsuo Shinada rediscovers his baseball groove (and makes the baseball mini-game fun!) Only Akiyama lacks one. At least he gets a dance battle against an old lady as a sub-story.

In terms of story, Shinada may seem like an odd duck, but as per Yakuza game, he ends up fitting well and its another interesting well-executed story with the usual Yakuza story beats; you kind of know what to expect but you still feel rewarded for going through it. The main story cutscenes are longer than usual but they don’t feel dragged out.

Gameplay has been refined once again. We’re now using a hybrid of Yakuza 3 Remastered and Yakuza 4 Remastered experience system; With now having to choose from Soul, Tech, Body and Heat to increase (Yakuza 3 Remastered) but instead of spending experience points, you now spend soul orbs you gain from levelling up (Yakuza 4 Remastered). While it’s somewhat restrictive compared to Yakuza 4 Remastered, it’s nowhere as bad as it was for Yakuza 3 Remastered, thanks to experience points gain being less stingy. That said, you can’t max out your level until the late game (and only if you complete a sidequest) so it can be frustrating to see your growth stall.

Speaking of levels, you now have “weapon skills” that gain levels depending on how much you use them. Not only do you do more damage the higher the level, but it’s required to use many weapons with have a level requirement. This actually encourages you to NOT avoid fights, as many places will have a weapon of some kind to build up those vital experience and unlock cooler and much more useful weapons, but to also use weapons you own constantly, even the least effective ones and not just chuck em away once you’ve done their heat actions. A nice improvement is that each character can now use all weapons. Some characters start with levels in different weapons categories.

This ties into the modding which is less of a hassle. Now you can repair and reload more than one item at a time. Now Kamiyama does everything, rather than having to run around different vendors trying to find bits and pieces. You have to unlock his wares through investment but this brings a happy medium of working towards unlocking powerful and effective equipment while not sandbagging you and making it feel restrictive as it did in Yakuza 3 remastered (and to a lesser extent, Yakuza 4 Remastered.) That said, you still have to wait till near end-game to fully take advantage of it. At least now you can fix weapons without having to go to the modding shop!

The main meat of the game, combat, is much faster. Enemies encounter happen either almost instantly or at the very least a lot more quickly (no more weird dialogue from enemies to fight you), it feels faster and the heat Actions are revamped for the better. They look more visceral and violent and there’s more of them, with weapons sometimes having more than just one Heat Action belonging to it. There’s also some new mechanics which is nice, with the Dragon Spirit making Kiryu go all Super Saiyan for a limited time, as well as activating (for him and the other playable characters) a Super Extreme move that does good damage (but it’s held back by the fact that its a pain to refill, relying on doing heat actions, meaning its best for bosses or really tough encounters)

There is some additional quality of life improvements with combat; It’s easier to avoid being thrown by enemies, they can now be targeted by weapons on the ground and you can pocket

However, we have something different. Enter Haruka Sawamura, the adopted daughter of Kiryu. For the first time, we control her in her own exciting journey and story. Does she take on guys twice her size and beat them down like fools? Well no. Instead Haruka’s scenario focuses on her rise to being a Japanese Idol in the music industry. Cue Dance battles, concert singing, handshake events and even miscellaneous side gigs like interviews, quizzes and being in a show panel. While its nice beating the crap out of thugs and smug villains, its relaxing and refreshing to see this side of the story. Of course, it being a Yakuza game, its not smooth sailing and has the usual tense, whiplash and bittersweet moments alongside the positive upbeat moments.

The substories for each characters feel a lot more involving, not just gameplay wise but story wise too. As stated in past reviews, they feel like the soul of the Ryu Ga Gotoko games and each instalment seems to improve on them and Yakuza 5 Remastered is no different. A nice handy addition is there is now markers for where they are (as well as where to go next). It may take the exploration fun out of finding them but for others, it can feel like making doing them less frustration.

Really the biggest drawbacks with Yakuza 5 Remastered are the usual pains with any Yakuza game before this one; weird design choices, some mini-games being just pure pain, save points being far apart making doing so a hassle.

But Yakuza 5 Remastered has shown that Sega can put love and care into an established franchise such as the Ryu Ga Gotoko games, trying new things, learning from past mistakes and still making sure it carries that insane charm, energy and great execution, it’s still a joy to play.


Rating 9/10