Yakuza 0 is a game I've felt a Lot of difficult emotions about. It's a game surrounded by contradictions, horribly offensive content, and great retcons that would retroactively make the older games worse, and all in all I love it. I love this game so fucking much, can I be real with you? It's a game that is known for gay subtext, having healthy masculinity, and anti-conservative thought online, especially 0 and Kiwami 1, but actually playing the game teaches you that is by no means the case, people simply overlook the bad for whatever reason. Yakuza as a series is written by numerous, numerous writers, with few hands outside of the cast ever holding onto the wheel for all too long. That's why you have contrasting depictions of the same thing, some times even the same game, such as the fact you can help a man in 0 as Kiryu who doesn't know if he's attracted to women any more meet a crossdresser whom he falls immediately in love with, tempering some of his horny bastard ways, only for in the same game a trans woman to constantly be misgendered and for Kiryu to forgo an unspoken 'no fighting women' role to whip them to shit.

We open by cutting back to years back and witnessing our two protagonists, Kiryu and Majima, in contexts we'd never expect of them. Kiryu, a pacifict with a violent streak, opens by no-context killing a man in cold blood. Majima, our crazy best friend, is taking hits to his pride and acting so very kind and regular it can't help but set us off. I don't want to sound like a complainer. I don't want to sound like a huge fucking gatekeeper, but I mean what I'm about to say: playing 0 first is a dangerously popular choice nowadays, partly responsible for the way people overlook it's vile content nowadays, and it makes for a worse off experience for the players. Sure, these are good hooks, but the deeper context is completely missing if this is your first time seeing either of them. Plus, I got a thing against Kiwami 2....we'll get to that in my later review, lol. Anyway, I love Yakuza 0 for this. The main plot, overall, has some of the best hooks of the series, combined with a switch up in location and all these new play styles- Yakuza 1-5 feel like you're exploring one world in different ways, and 0 feels like a whole new world.

Stopping the plot talk, I wanna talk a bit about some awkward story progression, and how 0 changes the series' presentation. Most interestingly are these little moments where we cut away to 'stills' with some artistic renderings and some simple voice acting overall stylishly placed words. These are made to replicate the look of 'hard-coded subtitle' placement on the old v-cinema yakuza flicks and exploitation dramas the games take inspiration from. And while the rest of the series is missing this, these being a replacement for high-exposition no voice acting cutscenes, they are a much needed inclusion I'd love to see them use more going forward, somehow someway. They're aesthetically brilliant, while also tame enough to not be overstimulating or tryhard. And to boot, the simple images are striking, rather than the bland cinematography the series can sometimes possess. Not all of it's....better, though? Conversations flow better for sure, I think the reason people fall off when they hit Yakuza 3 is because it's got a lot worse of a flow, but this is particularly easy to read and get into. But the game's full of weird tonal shifts, otherwise reserved for substories, now present in our main plot. They tie the beginning of side-activities to the main plot, but don't force you to continue, giving away to awkward pacing. Not to mention these weird cuts between 4-minute long stylish, greatly produced cutscenes to these no-voice-acting side content jokey short moments right after you killed one of your best friends or something. Yakuza 0 is the best paced Yakuza when these moments aren't happening, but when they are....well, there's a reason this review is 9/10 instead of 10/10.

Now how about the new Kamurocho? Well- the old Kamurocho, but new to you. All these new locations, plus an old town Sotenbori which, while not as well constructed, is full of fun characters to meet! There's a disco, there's new substories, and you get canon explanations for the fall of a lot of these businesses! One thing's missing, though: our beloved Millenium Tower.

All things considered, it's weird to see and say it: Kiryu is the less interesting of the two protags we jump around between. His major side story, Real Estate, is a lot less interesting than Majima's, his moveset is classic Kiryu and less unique than the entirely new playable character, and it doesn't really inform anything crazy about Kiryu the character. It's an 80s adventure with our main boy Kazuma Kiryu, basically an alternate universe story with how little you learn that you couldn't already infer from prior games. Kiryu's dumped into the world of real estate during the boom of Japan's interior industries, and is roped into being a real estate mogul once his yakuza family disowns him. The real estate king, Tachibana, opens up to Kiryu about their shared Weird Pasts, and Kiryu scuffles with his assistant Jun Oda. This trifecta is a fun combo of characters to be the center of a story, especially with how much the other two play things so unpredictably. It retreads some plot ground of Yakuza 1 specifically, the Dojima family disowning Kiryu, etc, etc. But this time without our fav character of all time, Haruka, to act as support. He just barley has Nishiki either to help him, coloring the friendship from before their final bout in. There's even a cute little nod to Y1's light gun shooter portion, too! As much as I'd complain about it in 6 and Kiwami 2, you love seeing Kiryu be forced to find a new found family cuz you're as dumb of a bitch as I am. Every once in a while you have to stop to be forced to take part in the series'.....we'll say subpar minigames, though, which is a shame. Sorry for first-timers coming in who are gonna have to learn about the JCC minigame!

Majima, though, is the spectacle. What's up with him on the cover, you're wondering? What the fuck happened you ask, the second you see him masking those neurodivergencies. Well, Majima has just always been Like That, thankfully. No big backstory, just he spent too long hiding who he 'was' and here he learns how to love people and shit and express himself. From a blind woman he has to protect, to the breakdancers he respects on the streets of Sotenbori, and the old Chinese immigrant couple that he keeps hush-hush about on their illegal dealings, Majima gains some real ass relationships here. Majima is being roped into the Cabaret nightlife scene, much in the same way Kiryu is being wrapped into real estate, and it comes complete with a very engaging minigame. It's half dress-up game, half tycoon game, it's pretty damn fun as someone who doesn't like either of those genres honestly! And Majima plays like a fucking beast, too, when you don't play him for too long.

Every one's got their own little minigames and all the unique ones are lovely. Starting with Majima's extremely in-depth illegal weapon deals tycoon game, where you send different agents to bring you weapons you wanna use. Really fuels Majima's more weapon/gimmick based playstyle, too, and emphasizes in some ways the physical strength of Kiryu when you aren't playing as him. Majima is not as strong as Kiryu. You know this if you play the other games prior, of course, but actually being able to play as both really emphasizes how different they are, and that Kiryu's victories weren't just because you the player were him. Playing as Majima is, for a character action RPG, pretty fucking boring and linear, but I think his overall variety makes up for it in spades. Majima's got the little cabaret game, too, telling you the tale of jealousy in the clubbing business....with some sexist tropes to boot but yeah, it's a lot less problematic than Kiryu's side of things. All the hostesses' have their own side-stories, which I wish didn't end with them all fawning over Majima, but they're all oddly interesting given how this series usually treats female side-characters. it's got the most inspired shit going on in any of the minigames in the series. This compliment extends to Real Estate, too. And then Majima's got his own storyline in the disco minigame....a minigame that pains me to no end, but an enjoyable one. He's also got our favorite guy, Mr. Libido, the only good sex jokes the series has under it's wing! Well, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, there's a few good jokes in this game's substories, but that's really only an honor 0 gets to hold.

Across both characters, we meet a rather vague, not too characterized guy named Mr. Shakedown. We meet several guys named Mr. Shakedown. About 4. They're all pretty boring characters, and they all fight identically, and you don't want to fight them. But they're fun. They're easy money once you get their moveset down, too. They return in Kiwami to much less effect, and it retrospect this makes me realize how much of Kiwami is pointlessly recycled from 0 rather than with thematic purpose. Likely because, y'know, they had to make Dragon Engine in the meantime, so I won't harsh the vibe too much.

In conclusion, having 100%ed the game, or at least finished that lil in game completion menu, I'm proud to say it still remains one of the better entries in the series. It's got a touch of really bad, reactionary politics to it, which sucks, but as an 80s specific spectacle it offers simultaneously a great introductory experience to the setting/time-period for those lacking the history, and a great set of jokes to those familiar with it. Few things that explore a piece of Real History and Science can manage sitting on that line comfortably, so it's pretty damn cool the last thing I've seen that does is this silly action game where every time you punch someone a billion dollars fly across the screen.