I am utterly floored by how well Yakuza 5 seems to be received by the general fanbase. I’m wondering if most of the appeal of this game comes from its side content, because its main campaign has been the weakest by far out of all of the mainline Yakuza titles I’ve played up until this point. It’s a slow and disjointed campaign that isn’t very fun to play through and has extremely questionable and forced writing decisions. Like Yakuza 4, Yakuza 5 is divided up into sections with each section starring a different protagonist.

Kiryu’s section was fun to play through, however I have major issues with his place in the story and the circumstances that led to him leaving his kids and moving to Fukuoka. After declaring that he wouldn’t run away from his issues and problems anymore, he’s convinced by Park, this outsider who barely knows anything about Haruka that Kiryu being there for his kids somehow prevents them from being able to achieve their dreams. Her explanation for why is just totally asinine, yet Kiryu buys it hook, line and sinker and continues to just run away from his issues again despite the ending of 4. It’s an extremely frustrating direction to take the character and left a very sour taste in my mouth.

Saejima’s section is extremely dull both in terms of the gameplay and the narrative. I understand that he broke out of prison early in the previous game, but did so much of his story really need to take place inside of another prison? Did we really need to spend two chapters running around a prison yard that looks exactly like the one from Yakuza 4 only covered in snow now, talking to the same 4 people over and over again? Everything about this section feels incredibly contrived, it was like they needed an excuse to get Saejima out of Kamurochou and into a winter environment so they could experiment with the boring hunting segment.

Haruka and Akiyama’s section is even worse. As I mentioned during Kiryu’s section, the story setup for Haruka’s role in the story is incredibly frustrating, and I wasn’t at all convinced that being an idol is what Haruka herself actually wants in life. Haruka’s entire motivation for being an idol feels forced upon her by Park, who is very clearly trying to live vicariously through Haruka, and the fact that she drove Kiryu away and broke up their family in order to achieve this goal is absurdly selfish. Yet the game doesn’t treat it like a bad thing at all. Worst of all, they treat her like she’s in the right! It’s so stupid that I had very negative feelings going into Haruka’s section. I already knew about the idol stuff and the rhythm gameplay going into it, and while that type of gameplay is not to my tastes, I figured I could tolerate it if there was a good story behind it. However the poor story setup soured my mood so much that it made me dislike the idol/rhythm stuff even more than I would have otherwise. I was desperate to get through Haruka’s section as fast as I could because I just didn’t care about it at all. The story was shallow and I just wanted to move along. I’m so thankful you don’t spend this whole section as Haruka and that Akiyama was there to make it bearable. It just sucks that he had to share an entire section with Haruka because I really enjoy his character and find him really fun to play as.

Series newcomer Shinada’s section was actually rather decent. His combat is a little awkward to get used to at first, but after some upgrades and some time practicing with him, it becomes second nature like the other characters, and I was actually invested in his story unlike any of the previous characters’ sections, likely because his story is largely self-contained and has little to do with any of the previously established characters or story events. He’s a charming and fun guy.

The finale segment is Yakuza 5’s biggest highlight. It’s a mostly well-paced ending with some solid emotional beats, but the final boss very much overstays its welcome and was a huge chore to fight because it had so much health.

I didn’t do much side content in Yakuza 5, and like I said, I’m wondering if the side content is where most of this game’s appeal comes from. I definitely do not see much appeal in this game’s main campaign at all. It feels like a step backwards and relies on contrived setups to get the characters involved in the plot and where they need to be. Maybe coming back to this game and doing the side content in Premium Adventure will change my mind on it a bit in the future, but as it stands right now, this has been my least favorite Yakuza game so far. It’s still a solid title overall, but so much of the main campaign feels like an overly long waste of time.