Holy shit. God damn it they fucking did it again. Flawless fucking victory. They somehow managed to top the last game. I never thought I would give a turned based RPG 5 stars but here we are. This is also the longest yakuza game BY FAR. There was SOOOOO much shit they added. For starters, they changed the combat in such an impactful way that improves it in every single way. Allowing you to move and position your attacks so that combo strings can actually connect was like the ONE thing that the last game needed, and thats exactly what they added in this game. Being able to move around adds so much diversity in combat that keeps it from getting stale. They also managed to translate kiryu PERFECTLY into a turned based format. Making him being able to style switch is absolutely genius and makes perfect sense as a mechanic. Also for the first time, WE GO TO AMERICA !!! Hawaii is translated so perfectly into a yakuza game its actually insane. This is easily one of the most batshit insane set pieces we have had in any of the games, not to mention it looks fucking beautiful. Of course we can still go to Yokohama and Kamurocho, each of which still being absolutely jampacked with shit. The little small interactions you could have with your party members from the last game? Theres SOOOO many more of those and I fucking love them so much. I can get to know so much more about all these characters that I love. The animal crossing mode they added is pretty cool, I played with it for a little before I got caught up with other stuff. Theres like a weird pokemon mode that I didn't do SHIT for because i didnt care for it. A doordash mode that is pretty useless after the first 5 chapters. Splitting up the story into two different sections allowed for the 10 different playable characters in this game not getting mixed up or too bundled up. The new characters they added for this game are ALL hits, not one single miss. Even the villains they added were super fucking cool, specifically Danny Treijo as a dude named Dwight. ALSO SHOUTOUT YAMAI, he is easily one of the best new characters they added to the series and is def one of my favorites now. All these characters build such an amazing story. The story in this game is SOOOO good. Nothing spoiler specific but damn did it get me damn emotional. Ichiban is such an amazing character that could not be a better predecessor for Kiryu. They parallel off each other so well. Again no spoilers, but they have an interaction together late game that is easily one of my top 5 cutscenes in this series. In conclusion, I love yakuza, this game is so peak, and I hope the series continues to be peak.

What a very sweet and touching story. This is a very short game, equivalent to watching a short film. Obviously not much replayablity or like normal playability. But thats not the purpose of this game, its not trying to be something grand. It doesn't need to be anything grand. It knows it's purpose and the purpose is executed very well. You're not playing this for the gameplay you're playing this to watch a well crafted tale. Its more of an experience than a video game to play. This is more for letterboxd than backloggd. Story made me tear up tho, and it had a cute kitty.

SPOILERS AT THE VERY VERY VERY END OF THIS REVIEW:
An absolute fucking masterclass. What a fucking game man. This easily has become one of my favorite games not only in the series, but ever. Since this is like their 4th (I think) game in the new engine, this game looks god damn great. And the soundtrack in this game is great as well (which is common throughout the entire yakuza series so shocker). The fighting in this game feels SO good. They have definitely figured out how to make the fighting feel good in this engine to an absolute tea (t? idk what the right phrasing is). Both styles feel so good to switch between and use no matter the situation. Of course the spy style is better for crowd control, but it feels like such a good rush style. Brings me back to yakuza 0 and 1. The gadgets add just another layer of fun to the fighting. Its just fun to use go go gadget-rocket boots with the comically exploding cigarettes. Funny ragdolls are always welcome, and very funny when using the spider wrap grapple thing. Dragon style returns as well and feels way better than it ever did in kiwami 2 and 6. It all just feels fluid and fun to play. Like any other yakuza game, this shit is LOADED with side content even if it was reduced to 5 chapters. The castle is a cool new addition, the coliseum I didn't delve into too much but its a really solid addition. The cabaret club is uh...definitely something. The akame network was a really easy way to get money and made accessing substories so much easier to get to. Akame is a new character introduced in this game btw and I love her. She is awesome and I love her and she is 4 stars of this game alone. The other star is because of the story. Holy shit man what a way to wrap up Kiryu's story. It felt conclusive for his character and perfectly builds up the context for what happens in 7. SPOILERS AHEAD BTW

Holy shit man what an absolutely raw final chapter. Seeing all the 4 legendary yakuza gathered up like that fighting together one last time is just so raw. Seein them get shirtless everytime just makes me so damn happy. I also have never never ever ever ever cried while playing a game in my life. But that ending with kiryu holy shit. Seeing taichi grown up made me burst into tears man. Then seeing kiryu's snot filled sobbing face hurt even worse holy shit man. A buildup of like 6 games all climaxing there and what a pay off. Me sobbing as I watch that fucking ending.

END SPOILERS:

Another absolute banger from the yakuza series. Shorely this is the end of the series and it won't have another entry in the series soon. Shorely it won't emotionally break me as well. Regardless what an absolute blast this game was and cannot wait for future entries.