As annually passes, extra gamers (notably within the West) uncover the Yakuza sequence for the primary time.
For individuals who keep it up by way of Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2, nevertheless – no imply feat contemplating how prolonged every sport is – there’s a moderately jarring second in relation to Yakuza 3.
Very similar to anybody who decides to observe Star Wars in chronological order from Episode I, if you hit the fourth episode – be that A New Hope or Yakuza 3 – issues out of the blue look far much less polished than the three earlier than it.
The explanation for that’s clear. Yakuza 3 was initially launched again in 2009, whereas prequel Yakuza 0 was really the sixth sport, launched in 2015. As for Yakuza and Yakuza 2, the Kiwami variations have been remakes launched in 2016 and 2017 respectively, which means anybody enjoying Yakuza 0, Kiwami and Kiwami 2 today will see a transparent drop in high quality when shifting onto Yakuza 3, 4 and 5.
That modifications on February 12 when Yakuza 3 lastly will get the Kiwami remedy, giving it a full remake which brings it extra consistent with trendy expectations of how the sequence ought to look.
This new-look model of Yakuza 3 is not going to solely have enormously improved visuals, it’ll additionally add new cutscenes to increase the sport’s story and a brand new group battle mode the place you group up with the Ryukyu Gal Gang of feminine bikers and attempt to construct the final word biker gang.
This extends to the addition of recent preventing types. In addition to the Dragon of Dojima: Kiwami brawling fashion – which Sega says may have “the biggest variety of assault methods within the sequence’ historical past – there’s additionally the brand new Ryuku Model, which is a weapon-based motion fashion making use of eight various kinds of weapons.
All this mixed ought to imply Yakuza Kiwami 3 is the definitive model of the sport, and had developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio left it there it will have probably loved its probably excessive Metacritic rating and a few wholesome gross sales. As an alternative, it’s determined to go one higher with the addition of Darkish Ties, a wholly new second story.
Darkish Ties follows Yoshitaka Mine, one of many predominant villains from Yakuza 3, this time within the function of protagonist. It’s a prequel which explores Mine’s origin story and explains what occurs within the build-up to the occasions of Yakuza 3.
In addition to a separate ‘Darkish Awakening’ preventing fashion for Mine (which ought to guarantee Darkish Ties feels greater than only a set of additional missions), Darkish Ties additionally consists of an underground battle membership referred to as Hell’s Enviornment, the place gamers battle below completely different rulesets, and tackle an underground dungeon in its Survival Hell mode.
In keeping with director Ryosuke Horii, Darkish Ties was initially going to be a non-interactive video bundled with Yakuza Kiwami 3, which might have given extra perception into Mine’s character however in a strictly hands-off, cinematic method. Which might have been nice, however most likely solely to a subset of followers who could be nice with watching what would have amounted to a particularly prolonged cutscene.
As an alternative, Horii determined to make the story playable, explaining to Famitsu again in September that the studio thought “if we miss this chance, we gained’t have one other likelihood”. It’s a call that may probably increase Yakuza Kiwami 3’s attraction additional – it’s more likely to win over gamers who might have already overwhelmed the unique Yakuza 3 and didn’t have the urge for food for a remake, however would completely be interested by a wholly new story.
The enjoyment of the Yakuza video games is that followers of the sequence know precisely what to anticipate, and whereas Yakuza Kiwami 3 will give the 17-year-old PS3 title a much-needed glow-up to make it look visually completely different, deep down it’ll nonetheless ship the identical good mixture of fight, plot and people trademark side-missions and mini-games which have earned the sequence its ever-growing fanbase. As such, it’s as near a certain factor as you will get in 2026.
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