I’m no stranger to Yakuza 0. I played the game about 2 years ago, and while I remember liking it, I also felt like I was missing something. Now, if you were to ask me what exactly that was, I couldn’t answer you. it’s been such a long time, and I forgot a lot of my original experience with the game. Though definitely part of it was due to me taking a massive break in the middle of the game. But as I’ve been wanting to go through the whole Yakuza series, I thought it would make perfect sense to replay Yakuza 0. Not only as a refresher, but to see if I could find whatever was I missed the first time I played the game. And I’d like to say that I did.
Honestly, where do I start when talking about Yakuza 0? This game is absolutely massive. There’s so much you can do, so many side quests and optional content, and that’s not even accounting for how great the main story and combat are. I bring up my difficulty to figure out what to start with to emphasize how strong this game is. Usually with games I have a general idea of how I structure these reviews, but Yakuza 0 has me stuck, uncertain of what to start with.
I suppose if anything, the most important thing to start with is the game’s actual combat. And believe me it is fun. Depending on what chapter you play, you’ll play as Kazuma Kiryu or Goro Majima, and both of them have their own unique playstyles in combat. Both of them have 3 unique fighting styles they can utilize, and all of them really fit in to their character and personality. Kiryu’s fighting styles are heavier, and you can feel the weight in all of his attacks. Majima on the other hand is more agile, and light, though of course his attacks do less damage than Kiryu’s. Particularly, I ended up using the Brawler Style with Kiryu, and the Breaker Style with Majima. I really like that you’re able to upgrade and gain new skills for these styles, though I definitely prioritized upgrading Health most of all, as I found that to be the most important thing. But how can I go this far into talking about the combat without mentioning the Heat Actions? Heat Actions are some of the coolest things in the game, and I love how you get different ones depending on multiple factors. Such as the location of the enemies, if the enemy is on the ground, what object you’re holding, what action the enemy is doing. All of these can impact what Heat Action you get, and it’s really cool seeing every animation. Mechanically, it’s just a powerful move, but the presentation makes Heat Actions just so damn cool.
Fighting regular enemies depends from situation to situation. I really like how they can randomly appear on the street, and you just stumble upon enemies. While it can definitely be a little inconvenient if I’m a hurry, it’s also pretty easy to just avoid them. In more scripted sequences, fighting regular enemies can be really fun, especially if its in one of those moments where you’re running through a location, and enemies appear as you do. I love how in specific areas, the props placed in the room get all knocked around by the combat, which is really fun to watch. If I have anything negative to say about the game’s combat, I hate the enemies with guns. I don’t know if this is just a skill issue on my part, but the enemies with guns are just really annoying.
Probably the best parts of the game for me are the boss fights. That’s when the spectacle goes all the way to 11. 1 one 1 fights are just really cool to me in general, and the settings they’re placed in are amazing. The boss fights are built up amazingly, and actually getting to fight each boss feels amazing. I think each boss fight gets better and better as the game continues. The last few bosses in the game are just, genuinely peak, and since I don’t want to spoil anything, I’ll keep myself from talking much more about it.
And of course in a similar vein, I’ll keep myself from talking too much about the story of the game as well. Though be assured, I absolutely loved it. The more I played the game, the more I thought “Kazuma Kiryu is so cool”, but obviously there’s more to the game than just that. This might just be me, but in the main story, I don’t think there are any poorly written characters. They’re all amazing to me, and seeing how they impact the story throughout the game is amazing. I love seeing how both Kiryu and Majima grow throughout the game, and seeing them interact with characters who want to help or hinder them is amazing as well. There’s a lot more I wish I could say about Yakuza 0’s story, but I don’t want to spoil any of it, so I’ll leave it there.
As I had mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of Side Content found within Yakuza 0. But I didn’t really do much of it, I’ll admit. From all I had done, which of course is the main story alongside some side content, I ended up only getting about 13% completion at the end of the game. And I’ll be completely honest, I’m content with what all I was able to do. I really have to compliment Yakuza 0 for how much side content the game has, but I cant see myself doing it all. I mean, I never touched the Real Estate or the Cabaret modes during the entire time I played. And the reason why is because I imagine I would get burnt out by it. It’s already daunting seeing that 23 hours amassed only 13 percent completion, and I don’t have as much free time as I used to, so I don’t want to spend all my available time on Yakuza 0. I did do a lot of the Karaoke and Disco though, as I found those to be fun and short breaks during the game. Yet again while it’s really nice that there’s so much side content to be found in Yakuza 0, I can’t see myself doing it all.
Now that I’ve properly replayed Yakuza 0, I can definitely say I found what I missed when I first played the game. What that is I still don’t know, but my appreciation for this game has only risen. There’s already so much to Yakuza 0 by itself, but knowing I have 7 more Yakuza games to play, that in itself is daunting. I’ll have to see what the other Yakuza games are like, but Yakuza 0 still is a great first impression for this series. Yakuza 0 is an amazing game all around, and I’m really glad I found got around to replaying it.
Honestly, where do I start when talking about Yakuza 0? This game is absolutely massive. There’s so much you can do, so many side quests and optional content, and that’s not even accounting for how great the main story and combat are. I bring up my difficulty to figure out what to start with to emphasize how strong this game is. Usually with games I have a general idea of how I structure these reviews, but Yakuza 0 has me stuck, uncertain of what to start with.
I suppose if anything, the most important thing to start with is the game’s actual combat. And believe me it is fun. Depending on what chapter you play, you’ll play as Kazuma Kiryu or Goro Majima, and both of them have their own unique playstyles in combat. Both of them have 3 unique fighting styles they can utilize, and all of them really fit in to their character and personality. Kiryu’s fighting styles are heavier, and you can feel the weight in all of his attacks. Majima on the other hand is more agile, and light, though of course his attacks do less damage than Kiryu’s. Particularly, I ended up using the Brawler Style with Kiryu, and the Breaker Style with Majima. I really like that you’re able to upgrade and gain new skills for these styles, though I definitely prioritized upgrading Health most of all, as I found that to be the most important thing. But how can I go this far into talking about the combat without mentioning the Heat Actions? Heat Actions are some of the coolest things in the game, and I love how you get different ones depending on multiple factors. Such as the location of the enemies, if the enemy is on the ground, what object you’re holding, what action the enemy is doing. All of these can impact what Heat Action you get, and it’s really cool seeing every animation. Mechanically, it’s just a powerful move, but the presentation makes Heat Actions just so damn cool.
Fighting regular enemies depends from situation to situation. I really like how they can randomly appear on the street, and you just stumble upon enemies. While it can definitely be a little inconvenient if I’m a hurry, it’s also pretty easy to just avoid them. In more scripted sequences, fighting regular enemies can be really fun, especially if its in one of those moments where you’re running through a location, and enemies appear as you do. I love how in specific areas, the props placed in the room get all knocked around by the combat, which is really fun to watch. If I have anything negative to say about the game’s combat, I hate the enemies with guns. I don’t know if this is just a skill issue on my part, but the enemies with guns are just really annoying.
Probably the best parts of the game for me are the boss fights. That’s when the spectacle goes all the way to 11. 1 one 1 fights are just really cool to me in general, and the settings they’re placed in are amazing. The boss fights are built up amazingly, and actually getting to fight each boss feels amazing. I think each boss fight gets better and better as the game continues. The last few bosses in the game are just, genuinely peak, and since I don’t want to spoil anything, I’ll keep myself from talking much more about it.
And of course in a similar vein, I’ll keep myself from talking too much about the story of the game as well. Though be assured, I absolutely loved it. The more I played the game, the more I thought “Kazuma Kiryu is so cool”, but obviously there’s more to the game than just that. This might just be me, but in the main story, I don’t think there are any poorly written characters. They’re all amazing to me, and seeing how they impact the story throughout the game is amazing. I love seeing how both Kiryu and Majima grow throughout the game, and seeing them interact with characters who want to help or hinder them is amazing as well. There’s a lot more I wish I could say about Yakuza 0’s story, but I don’t want to spoil any of it, so I’ll leave it there.
As I had mentioned earlier, there’s a lot of Side Content found within Yakuza 0. But I didn’t really do much of it, I’ll admit. From all I had done, which of course is the main story alongside some side content, I ended up only getting about 13% completion at the end of the game. And I’ll be completely honest, I’m content with what all I was able to do. I really have to compliment Yakuza 0 for how much side content the game has, but I cant see myself doing it all. I mean, I never touched the Real Estate or the Cabaret modes during the entire time I played. And the reason why is because I imagine I would get burnt out by it. It’s already daunting seeing that 23 hours amassed only 13 percent completion, and I don’t have as much free time as I used to, so I don’t want to spend all my available time on Yakuza 0. I did do a lot of the Karaoke and Disco though, as I found those to be fun and short breaks during the game. Yet again while it’s really nice that there’s so much side content to be found in Yakuza 0, I can’t see myself doing it all.
Now that I’ve properly replayed Yakuza 0, I can definitely say I found what I missed when I first played the game. What that is I still don’t know, but my appreciation for this game has only risen. There’s already so much to Yakuza 0 by itself, but knowing I have 7 more Yakuza games to play, that in itself is daunting. I’ll have to see what the other Yakuza games are like, but Yakuza 0 still is a great first impression for this series. Yakuza 0 is an amazing game all around, and I’m really glad I found got around to replaying it.