Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher: Sega
Platforms: PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $59.99 USD – Available Here $119.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
The Yakuza franchise has been on quite the rise over the past decade. Initially released on the PlayStation 2, the first two games didn’t really find an audience in the West. Only with Yakuza 3 on the PlayStation 3 did the franchise start to find some footing despite being a rather odd jumping in point in Kazuma’s journey. Not only that, but at the time countless parts of the game were removed for Western release only to finally be brought back in a Yakuza 3 Remaster in 2021.
Now, with that version removed from sale from all but bundle purchases, Yakuza 3 is the latest game to be given the Kiwami treatment to upgrade the content and align the storyline with what the team has been slowly adding and adjusting since Yakuza Kiwami 1. Unfortunately for fans though, this time around Yakuza Kiwami 3 shows the first time that the franchise has dragged itself down with even the bundled Dark Ties doing little to help its case and is a worrying sign of future remakes.
Story
Kazuma Kiryu is trying to put his past behind him, as a former yakuza member and Tojo Clan chairman, he has stepped down following the events of the last game in order to take on a civilian life to raise Haruka and care for the orphans at the Morning Glory Orphanage. After paying respects at the cemetery (where recaps of Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 can be viewed), and saying goodbye to some close friends while entrusting the care of the Tojo Clan’s fresh chairman, Daigo Dojima, to Goro Majima, the pair leave to settle into their new life in Okinawa.
Unfortunately, a year later Kiryu’s peaceful life is already being threatened as the orphanage is hounded by eviction notices from the local yakuza, the Ryudo Family, who own the land. With rival patriarchs seeking to use the seaside location for their own means, Kiryu soon finds himself swept right back into the Yakuza world to protect his new home. To make matters worse, even as Morning Glory comes under threat Kiryu learns that Daigo has been shot and put into a coma while the deed to the orphanage is stolen. Despite trying to escape the life of a yakuza, Kiryu soon finds himself becoming the Dragon of Dojima once more to find out the truth behind what is happening and who is seeking to take away his new life.
In many ways the general storyline of Kiryu’s adventure remains the same as before in Yakuza Kiwami 3 and, if anything, feels a bit more streamlined. The Morning Glory sections of the storyline no longer force players off of the main plot like they did before and instead have been relegated to side-content with somewhat equal emotional impact. This is both a plus and a negative, as the original storyline saw players bouncing back and forth from the drama of the yakuza world all while raising the kids at the orphanage and the pacing felt off as a result, which is no longer the case. Unfortunately the negative is the fact that, being treated as side content makes it feel far more optional than it actually should be given how pivotal the orphanage is to Kiryu as a character, the bonds he builds with Haruka and the other orphans, as well as future events. That being said, there has been extra mini-games and bonus content added to expand the orphanage a bit that we’ll go over later.
Speaking of future events, a lot of content that was previously available in Yakuza 3 (and in the Remaster) has been removed entirely as far as story content goes. Oddly enough the sub-stories have been drastically reduced from over a hundred to barely more than thirty. Not only does this cut away some of the best substories that were in the original game, some incredibly emotional moments, some funny, but also some that actually play a role in future games. While a few of these were simple “find an object” substories, others were intricate and interesting as well as heartfelt and emotional. Some of these substories even played important roles in actually developing side characters that were part of the orphanage as well but now barely play a role. In fact, entire characters that are referenced in future entries of Yakuza, even to the point of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, have been removed from this game. This can call into question whether or not future changes and rewrites will affect future entries, especially since so much culling was done this time around.
On the flip side of the story, we have Dark Ties that is meant to be played after players have completed Yakuza Kiwami 3, though it isn’t required to do so. Dark Ties follows the fall and rise of Yoshitaka Mine within the background as a villain and explains both why he acts the way he does and how he got there. It is a rather interesting storyline for a character that didn’t get quite enough spotlight in the original release and also serves as both something of a prequel and short epilogue at the same time. Unfortunately the Dark Ties mode is rather short, clocking in at roughly six hours even if players complete all the “Good Deeds” (substories), and the ending is absolutely ridiculous. Now while we won’t spoil anything here, anyone familiar with how Yakuza 3 originally ended will find the altered ending to Yakuza Kiwami 3 and revelation of Dark Ties to be incredibly ridiculous and another sign that longtime fans might need to worry about where storylines will shift in further remakes.
Gameplay
The general flow of gameplay in Yakuza Kiwami 3 remains the same as before, though a bit faster thanks to the Dragon Engine and Kiryu’s revised main combat style. Players will wander around the city fighting random groups of thugs, taking part in mini-games that are usually optional and range from darts, baseball cages, and pool, to mahjong and the like. There are of course the arcade cabinets filled with some of the better offerings of classic Sega games in recent entries and even a GameGear that players can purchase and unlock games for as well, something that is a nice little touch.
Kiryu’s Dragon of Dojima fighting style has been upgraded even further inKiwami to be as fast moving as possible with players able to side-step and lay-down some brutal punishment on enemies in combat. There are a variety of heat moves, though the Revelations that used to unveil new heat moves have been removed from the game entirely. In this style, and another style we will mention in a moment, Kiryu can also enter an enhanced state where he deals extra damage and extends his combos into brutal finishing attacks and even unleash a “Dragon Ultimate” to close out the enhanced state and deal massive damage as well. This style makes Kiryu feel like the fastest he has ever been in a Yakuza entry and, thanks to enemies no longer blocking every single time like they did in the original, combat is far more enjoyable.
The new style added into the game is called Ryukyu style and is based off of Okinawan fighting styles but is also rather odd. This fighting style sees Kiryu wielding an entire array of melee weapons each tied to a different face button press or hold, including wielding a shield that can block most attacks or even parry and counter-attack. The weapons include sais, a spinning chain, nunchucks, tonfas, and more with certain combinations of weapons being able to trigger bleed effect on enemies or stunning them entirely. There is even a thrust punch to break through enemy guards to make it even easier to break through the previous block heavy enemies. Players can swap between styles mid-combat and there is no detriment to using either style, though it does feel like Ryukyu is a bit more overpowered.
Kiryu learns various skills and abilities through either spending money and “investing in himself” to increase his health and damage dealt or spending “training points” earned by completing various tasks. This includes the random objectives in every Yakuza title like eating at various places, defeating a certain number of enemies, etc. Two smaller new mini-game elements from recent games have also been reworked and added into this one in the form of the photo-hunt mechanic where players can take photos of specific locations around town to obtain special phone cosmetics, which in turn provide small boosts to Kiryu, and “LaLaLa Loveland” phone-friends that basically let’s players become friends with random NPCs walking around town and obtaining a few extra bonuses the more friends they get. Some of the profiles for characters are rather funny, especially once players unlock all of their details by coming across the same character multiple times.
Now earlier we mentioned that the orphanage has been placed as more of a side-activity than before and that is true but it also sees the addition of a number of mini-games to interact with the kids and raise Kiryu’s “Daddy Rank.” These include a rather ridiculous looking cooking minigame that is fun, a bug catching one, a difficult but unique sewing machine game, and more. This also includes things like growing a garden and more, making it feel more natural at times even if it does mean that, should players choose, the orphanage can be almost completely abandoned rather than weaved into the story.
The Hostess mini-game and anything related to the hostesses have been removed entirely from Yakuza 3 Kiwami and in their place is now “Bad Boy Dragon” which is essentially the pirate crew from Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. This mode sees Kiryu take charge of a girl gang of bikers that is on the verge of being wiped out and try to bring them to the top of the Okinawan street scene through gang combat and team brawls. This essentially boils down to Kiryu needing to recruit potential “baddies” from the streets, be it through simply coming across them or completing substories related to them, and assigning them to the gang while also leveling them up or giving them “badges” to increase their level cap. These big brawls are impressive looking and being able to create a ridiculous team with multiple squads and a special attack is always a delight but it feels like recycled content at this point, especially since so many of the mechanics feel the same.
Swapping focus to Dark Ties we see a far more simplified version of things as Mine has far less to do overall but can still partake in various side-content such as “Good Deeds” and other random mini-games. Mine only has one combat style focused around boxing with dodging and weaving attacks as well as some devastating heat moves of his own. The combat is as simplistic as it gets but it is fast and fluid even if there isn’t a whole lot of variety here since anything not story related revolves around doing odd things to help improve Kanda’s reputation, since he takes all the credit for things Mine does. It also features an Underground Fight Club that is a roguelike-lite dungeon mode where players will fight through a randomized dungeon, picking up weapons and upgrades as they go with extra allies able to join Mine the further they advance. This is a nice little addition but something that can feel a bit like padding.
Audio & Visuals
Yakuza Kiwami 3 has seen some significant graphical improvements thanks to its shift to the Dragon Engine with many character models and the cities of both Kamurocho and Okinawa looking quite detailed while Kiryu himself has plenty of customization options and unique looking Baddies. It is also nice to note that the combat for both Kiryu and Mine in Dark Ties flows incredibly well and features some absolutely brutal looking Heat moves. Unfortunately that is where the praise happens to end as Yakuza Kiwami 3 also features some significantly washed-out looking scenes, stiff facial animations, and poor lighting during some of the more dramatic cinematics.
Now to make things worse, in an attempt to try and appeal to newer fans, a handful of characters that play significant roles in the game have been altered entirely to match the famous actors replacing them. One of these happens to be Rikiya, a young yakuza that serves a strong role in the Okinawan side of the storyline, who now has been given a remodel that doesn’t match his partnered character Mikio at all nor does his voice work match the way Rikiya is presented in any way as a character. The other is the recasting and redesign of Hamazaki, one of the major villains. While we won’t spoil just how important he is here, it is worth noting that his characterization has also been shifted dramatically to fit his new appearance nevermind the fact that the actor he is based off of, Teruyuki Kagawa, is as controversial as they come.
Those who play the English dub won’t have to worry too much about the changed roles as this is the first time that the game has ever been offered with English voicework but longtime fans that played the original Japanese voicework will find that the roles aren’t handled the best even there. As for the English dub itself, the voice work is fitting but lacks emotion at times, especially with Mine. The soundtrack features a great collection of background music once again as well as a “playlist” of songs that players can have running at any time that players can find songs from other Sega titles to include in their playlist as they run around the cities.
Overall
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a strange entry in the franchise and not in a good way. The original Yakuza 3 had its flaws and Kiwami does fix some of these issues but adds numerous others atop of it. As a direct remake it strips away a large amount of content from the original while adding only a bit of new content that is recycled from other entries while Dark Ties itself feels more like an add-on than a true experience on its own. Newcomers to the franchise won’t find this to be much of an issue and there is still a lot of fun to be had with the game’s fast-paced brawling with Kiryu’s two fighting styles as well as Mine’s, but this is perhaps the first entry in a long time to bring into question just where the Yakuza series might be going and it is unfortunately not on the most stable path.
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