this is possibly one of the most "right place right time" games of the 2010s, as it launched in america at the beginning of 2017 right as a huge resurgance in japanese games began (other notable games include resi7, nier: automata, persona 5, and the excellent first year of the switch). the game's effortlessly campy nature was played up in advertising and won over a lot of people interested in a very funny and inextricably japanese open-world experience. this is all in spite of the fact that the game ran on a previous-gen engine, significantly scaled back the story and world of the previous games, and ultimately was a stopgap entry while fans waited for the end of kazuma kiryu's saga in the from-the-ground-up next-gen yakuza 6. it's an impressive feat that's only possible not only to the timeframe the game released in (in the states anyway) but also the sheer quality of the gameplay and story.
this stands as my favorite yakuza story to the point at which I've played (halfway through yakuza 5 as I write this review). the narrative shifts focus from young dojima family soldier kazuma kiryu to former soldier and cabaret manager goro majima in a cyclical fashion, where each segment of the story resembles episodes of a TV show. splitting up the story like this does wonders to improve the pacing here, which generally was a slog in previous yakuza games. the characterization is also lovely here, with a younger and brasher kiryu than in his later middle-aged appearances, and majima as a caged animal who is relatively docile as he attempts to restrain the insanity he'd be known for later in the series. many characters who appear in early yakuza games get time to shine here (kashiwagi, nishikyama, and sera all have great moments) and the villains are sketched beautifully. the game takes a page from yakuza 3 by introducing three major dojima lieutenants who you fight against repeatedly as the story continues, and the smirking omi alliance captain sagawa as majima's adversarial handler is slimy in the best way. this games is particularly dark for a yakuza story and treats its characters brutally; it's very pulpy and still suffers from some of the contrived plot points of previous games, but the justification for many of these moments is much less flimsy than in those games. it helps that each protagonist is solving an intertwined mystery from separate ends, and thus the game is able to navigate cliffhangers and reveals that extend across the protagonists very efficiently.
in terms of the gameplay, the main weak link for me here is the style system. in a major stylistic departure from yakuza 3/4/5, each protagonist has three different styles (broadly an agile style, an all-rounder style, and a brute style) to switch between at will, with a more potent style resembling previous appearances in the series only being unlocked at the end of a long side questline for each character. while this is interesting in theory, in reality what it means is that you always feel slightly underpowered, or slightly incapable of handling a given situation. the combat even here is still not deep enough that I'd want to invest a lot of time in it, and after playing later entries I gotta say I prefer having a single versatile skillset. other than that it's typical yakuza fare, still in the model of yakuza 5 where attacks have a little more weight to them and enemies are overall more aggressive.
the side storylines here have been significantly pared back from yakuza 5; while this may seem like a detriment on paper it honestly cuts a lot of fat and enhances the game in other ways. kiryu gets a menu-based yakuza 4-style real estate simulator and majima gets a cabaret club management minigame that plays a bit like a juggling-multiple-things-at-once diner dash sort of thing. unlike previous games, these questlines are focused around dominating a particular area of the map (either by purchasing real estate or gaining fans of your club) to the point where you eventually must face off with the current owner/king/head honcho of that area. in both cases there's a cabal that manages real estate/cabaret clubs in the area, and you must pick them off one by one to get to the end of the questline. defeating them usually involves a boss fight or minigame battle, and then the grind begins again to dethrone another kingpin. compared to the more linear side questlines of previous yakuza games, this beefs up the questline a bit and raises the stakes when you actually fight against one of your rivals. this was the winning formula right here for side questlines in yakuza games, and continues on into later games with subgames like clan creator in yakuza 6 and kiwami 2.
beyond the side stories, the substories here are also excellent. many of them follow roughly the same "watch a cutscene and answer prompts" or "run from place to place with fights in-between" structure from yakuza 5, with enough curveballs thrown in to keep it fresh. on top of this, there are friendships you can cultivate over the course of the game, which vary from a shy convenience store clerk to a guy who walks around jacking off in public. these friendships open up new activities and options for you over the course of the game, including new arcade games, the ability to transfer money between the playable characters and... softcore porn (this is the horniest yakuza game by far). on top of this there's a full questline involving the kids who race Pocket Circuit cars and the hapless loser who runs the circuit, which is one of the best storylines in the game by far. for the fans there's a couple of backstory substories as well, including very young versions of daigo dojima, ryuichi goda, shinji tanaka. although the amount of substories significantly tapers off as the game leads on, this game lends itself well to not binging every substory as soon as you see them (especially since substories are not visible on the map until the substory finder item is found). characters from substories also come to assist with the sidestories, which is a nice little bonus to bolster your roster of hostesses/financial advisors as the game goes on.
as per usual, many of the minigames here return from previous games with few changes, including bowling, karaoke, the batting cage, fishing, darts, pool, and a wide selection of gambling games. the arcade here has been completely overhauled with four emulated sega arcade classics, and they honestly sucked up a lot of my time working through the side content, especially outrun and space harrier (though fantasy zone is quite good as well!). the disco minigame is an interesting rhythm minigame, where your aim is to make as many steps in a grid as possible before reaching a square with the next note on it in time, though the control is a bit stiff. the pocket circuit racing game is more of a simulation game with little actual gameplay, where the focus is on building a car that can take on the track while you watch (and occasionally steady the car by mashing circle). I found this pretty fun until the later races where I resorted to using a guide instead of fiddling with builds, as the mechanics are pretty opaque. the cat fighting minigame is the worst of the bunch by combining rock-paper-scissors with button mashing and gambling... it feels like a chore and a waste of money to play this game to be frank. finally there is the telephone club, which is a cute minigame and unlocks new substories in the form of dates for kiryu to go on. if anything betrays kiryu's young age in this game, it's definitely how insanely horny he gets simply by listening to people on the phone...
beyond the insane amount of content already mentioned, there is even more stuff to do around sotenbori and kamurocho, somehow. there's the aforementioned adult video shop containing actual softcore porn, and as far as I'm aware all of the models show up as random characters in the game as well. the coliseum makes a reappearance, though it's no more interesting than any incarnation of the coliseum in yakuza. mentors return, with each character getting one for each of their styles. while kiryu's are pretty par for the course, majima's are a little more fun thanks to his more deranged moveset, specifically the dance battles in his breaker form that require him to beat the shit out of his bizarrely ugly dance partners to make money. kiryu's most fun are probably his debt collection missions, tho these require doing very boring practice missions involving attacking mannequins with crates worth varying amounts of points. as kamiyama works does not exist yet, weapon creation is done via chinese restaurant black market front Dragon & Tiger, with a new system that involves sending agents out to various parts of the world to obtain rare materials and weapons. I don't find much use for the high-power weapons so I didn't dive into this mode much. finally, there's roaming Mr. Shakedown boss fights involving gigantic musclemen seeking to rob you. you really have to go out of your way to initiate one of these battles, but the rewards are often signifcant if you do, as you win everything in his wallet if you do, often to the tune of millions or billions of yen. on the flipside, you lose all your money if you lose, and as he packs a punch it can be easy to be taken off-guard and instantly lose several hours worth of cash... definitely the most angry I got at this game. thankfully you can win the money back the next time you fight him, and by mid-game these fights should not be particularly difficult if you're paying attention.
what ties everything together is money... money is absolutely everything in this game. there is no EXP here, so all abilities are purchased via cash, making gaining as much of it as possible a necessity to progress. thankfully this also decouples EXP collection from battles and substories, as you can now grind for cash in effectively any manner you choose. easily the best way is kiryu's real estate management sidestory, which yields a significant amount of cash on each cycle of facility management. there's an addictive gameplay loop here of getting a whole damn stack of bands from your investments, dropping it on more real estate around you, and then messing around with side content while you wait for your investments to cash out again. once random encounters aren't worth it anymore, you can even throw cash at your enemies to distract them, something other yakuza games could have sorely used. this is what really makes this game so addicting, far more so than other yakuza games: there's proper incentives for you to do every single bit of side content you can find and constantly jump between them. you can't bumrush an entire side story at once anymore, and so budgeting time to do certain things before returning to the side stories feels like a necessity here, and I simply could not stop playing. I wish other yakuza games were able to approach this same level of integration between all the mechanics, with substories yielding people to help with your side stories, side stories generating cash to fuel ability purchases (among other things), mentor missions unlocking new parts of your tech tree, and minigames opening up new substories or giving completion points... which I've glossed over up to this point but also have a significant impact on your moveset and items. the unfortunately named CP can be gained by any number of accomplishments either in battle, minigames, eating, sidestories, substories, etc. and can be cashed in for infinite sprinting, better armor, and perks in the side story minigames. this mechanic originaed in yakuza ishin as far as I'm aware and is such a great addition to the series for encouraging exploring every single thing the game has to offer.
other than a few minor quibbles (among those mentioned above, the game also has significant screen tearing on ps4 from my experience), this is absolutely my favorite yakuza game up to now, and will probably not be dethroned in the future to be completely honest. the way all the content is intertwined in this entry makes this not only one of the best in the series but one of my favorite games period and an amazing way to hop into the series. it helps that this game is $5 on steam constantly... there's no reason not to get it and try it out.
this stands as my favorite yakuza story to the point at which I've played (halfway through yakuza 5 as I write this review). the narrative shifts focus from young dojima family soldier kazuma kiryu to former soldier and cabaret manager goro majima in a cyclical fashion, where each segment of the story resembles episodes of a TV show. splitting up the story like this does wonders to improve the pacing here, which generally was a slog in previous yakuza games. the characterization is also lovely here, with a younger and brasher kiryu than in his later middle-aged appearances, and majima as a caged animal who is relatively docile as he attempts to restrain the insanity he'd be known for later in the series. many characters who appear in early yakuza games get time to shine here (kashiwagi, nishikyama, and sera all have great moments) and the villains are sketched beautifully. the game takes a page from yakuza 3 by introducing three major dojima lieutenants who you fight against repeatedly as the story continues, and the smirking omi alliance captain sagawa as majima's adversarial handler is slimy in the best way. this games is particularly dark for a yakuza story and treats its characters brutally; it's very pulpy and still suffers from some of the contrived plot points of previous games, but the justification for many of these moments is much less flimsy than in those games. it helps that each protagonist is solving an intertwined mystery from separate ends, and thus the game is able to navigate cliffhangers and reveals that extend across the protagonists very efficiently.
in terms of the gameplay, the main weak link for me here is the style system. in a major stylistic departure from yakuza 3/4/5, each protagonist has three different styles (broadly an agile style, an all-rounder style, and a brute style) to switch between at will, with a more potent style resembling previous appearances in the series only being unlocked at the end of a long side questline for each character. while this is interesting in theory, in reality what it means is that you always feel slightly underpowered, or slightly incapable of handling a given situation. the combat even here is still not deep enough that I'd want to invest a lot of time in it, and after playing later entries I gotta say I prefer having a single versatile skillset. other than that it's typical yakuza fare, still in the model of yakuza 5 where attacks have a little more weight to them and enemies are overall more aggressive.
the side storylines here have been significantly pared back from yakuza 5; while this may seem like a detriment on paper it honestly cuts a lot of fat and enhances the game in other ways. kiryu gets a menu-based yakuza 4-style real estate simulator and majima gets a cabaret club management minigame that plays a bit like a juggling-multiple-things-at-once diner dash sort of thing. unlike previous games, these questlines are focused around dominating a particular area of the map (either by purchasing real estate or gaining fans of your club) to the point where you eventually must face off with the current owner/king/head honcho of that area. in both cases there's a cabal that manages real estate/cabaret clubs in the area, and you must pick them off one by one to get to the end of the questline. defeating them usually involves a boss fight or minigame battle, and then the grind begins again to dethrone another kingpin. compared to the more linear side questlines of previous yakuza games, this beefs up the questline a bit and raises the stakes when you actually fight against one of your rivals. this was the winning formula right here for side questlines in yakuza games, and continues on into later games with subgames like clan creator in yakuza 6 and kiwami 2.
beyond the side stories, the substories here are also excellent. many of them follow roughly the same "watch a cutscene and answer prompts" or "run from place to place with fights in-between" structure from yakuza 5, with enough curveballs thrown in to keep it fresh. on top of this, there are friendships you can cultivate over the course of the game, which vary from a shy convenience store clerk to a guy who walks around jacking off in public. these friendships open up new activities and options for you over the course of the game, including new arcade games, the ability to transfer money between the playable characters and... softcore porn (this is the horniest yakuza game by far). on top of this there's a full questline involving the kids who race Pocket Circuit cars and the hapless loser who runs the circuit, which is one of the best storylines in the game by far. for the fans there's a couple of backstory substories as well, including very young versions of daigo dojima, ryuichi goda, shinji tanaka. although the amount of substories significantly tapers off as the game leads on, this game lends itself well to not binging every substory as soon as you see them (especially since substories are not visible on the map until the substory finder item is found). characters from substories also come to assist with the sidestories, which is a nice little bonus to bolster your roster of hostesses/financial advisors as the game goes on.
as per usual, many of the minigames here return from previous games with few changes, including bowling, karaoke, the batting cage, fishing, darts, pool, and a wide selection of gambling games. the arcade here has been completely overhauled with four emulated sega arcade classics, and they honestly sucked up a lot of my time working through the side content, especially outrun and space harrier (though fantasy zone is quite good as well!). the disco minigame is an interesting rhythm minigame, where your aim is to make as many steps in a grid as possible before reaching a square with the next note on it in time, though the control is a bit stiff. the pocket circuit racing game is more of a simulation game with little actual gameplay, where the focus is on building a car that can take on the track while you watch (and occasionally steady the car by mashing circle). I found this pretty fun until the later races where I resorted to using a guide instead of fiddling with builds, as the mechanics are pretty opaque. the cat fighting minigame is the worst of the bunch by combining rock-paper-scissors with button mashing and gambling... it feels like a chore and a waste of money to play this game to be frank. finally there is the telephone club, which is a cute minigame and unlocks new substories in the form of dates for kiryu to go on. if anything betrays kiryu's young age in this game, it's definitely how insanely horny he gets simply by listening to people on the phone...
beyond the insane amount of content already mentioned, there is even more stuff to do around sotenbori and kamurocho, somehow. there's the aforementioned adult video shop containing actual softcore porn, and as far as I'm aware all of the models show up as random characters in the game as well. the coliseum makes a reappearance, though it's no more interesting than any incarnation of the coliseum in yakuza. mentors return, with each character getting one for each of their styles. while kiryu's are pretty par for the course, majima's are a little more fun thanks to his more deranged moveset, specifically the dance battles in his breaker form that require him to beat the shit out of his bizarrely ugly dance partners to make money. kiryu's most fun are probably his debt collection missions, tho these require doing very boring practice missions involving attacking mannequins with crates worth varying amounts of points. as kamiyama works does not exist yet, weapon creation is done via chinese restaurant black market front Dragon & Tiger, with a new system that involves sending agents out to various parts of the world to obtain rare materials and weapons. I don't find much use for the high-power weapons so I didn't dive into this mode much. finally, there's roaming Mr. Shakedown boss fights involving gigantic musclemen seeking to rob you. you really have to go out of your way to initiate one of these battles, but the rewards are often signifcant if you do, as you win everything in his wallet if you do, often to the tune of millions or billions of yen. on the flipside, you lose all your money if you lose, and as he packs a punch it can be easy to be taken off-guard and instantly lose several hours worth of cash... definitely the most angry I got at this game. thankfully you can win the money back the next time you fight him, and by mid-game these fights should not be particularly difficult if you're paying attention.
what ties everything together is money... money is absolutely everything in this game. there is no EXP here, so all abilities are purchased via cash, making gaining as much of it as possible a necessity to progress. thankfully this also decouples EXP collection from battles and substories, as you can now grind for cash in effectively any manner you choose. easily the best way is kiryu's real estate management sidestory, which yields a significant amount of cash on each cycle of facility management. there's an addictive gameplay loop here of getting a whole damn stack of bands from your investments, dropping it on more real estate around you, and then messing around with side content while you wait for your investments to cash out again. once random encounters aren't worth it anymore, you can even throw cash at your enemies to distract them, something other yakuza games could have sorely used. this is what really makes this game so addicting, far more so than other yakuza games: there's proper incentives for you to do every single bit of side content you can find and constantly jump between them. you can't bumrush an entire side story at once anymore, and so budgeting time to do certain things before returning to the side stories feels like a necessity here, and I simply could not stop playing. I wish other yakuza games were able to approach this same level of integration between all the mechanics, with substories yielding people to help with your side stories, side stories generating cash to fuel ability purchases (among other things), mentor missions unlocking new parts of your tech tree, and minigames opening up new substories or giving completion points... which I've glossed over up to this point but also have a significant impact on your moveset and items. the unfortunately named CP can be gained by any number of accomplishments either in battle, minigames, eating, sidestories, substories, etc. and can be cashed in for infinite sprinting, better armor, and perks in the side story minigames. this mechanic originaed in yakuza ishin as far as I'm aware and is such a great addition to the series for encouraging exploring every single thing the game has to offer.
other than a few minor quibbles (among those mentioned above, the game also has significant screen tearing on ps4 from my experience), this is absolutely my favorite yakuza game up to now, and will probably not be dethroned in the future to be completely honest. the way all the content is intertwined in this entry makes this not only one of the best in the series but one of my favorite games period and an amazing way to hop into the series. it helps that this game is $5 on steam constantly... there's no reason not to get it and try it out.