The upcoming spin-off sport Yakuza 3 Gaiden: Darkish Ties was initially simply going to be a video till Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio determined to make it a full sport.
The developer introduced final week that it’s engaged on Yakuza Kiwami 3, a contemporary remake of the motion journey sport Yakuza 3 which was initially launched on PS3 in 2009.
Nevertheless, it additionally introduced that it will likely be accompanied by Darkish Ties, a separate and fully new spin-off journey starring antagonist Yoshitaka Mine.
In response to the studio, gamers will be capable to select between Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Yakuza 3 Gaiden: Darkish Ties upon booting the software program.
In an interview with Famitsu (by way of Automaton), the sport’s director Ryosuke Horii defined that the unique plan was that Darkish Ties was going to be a non-interactive video bundled with Yakuza Kiwami 3, which might inform Mine’s story to present gamers extra perception into the character.
Nevertheless, realising that gamers may wish to take management of Mine, the studio realised that “if we have been to inform his story, it will be finest to make him playable”, Horii mentioned (by way of machine translation).
“We thought that will enhance participant satisfaction, and it was a topic that we needed to attempt as effectively,” he defined. “We additionally thought ‘if we miss this chance, we gained’t have one other probability’, so we determined to go in that path.”
Collection producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto added that despite the fact that Mine solely seems in Yakuza 3 and doesn’t characteristic in any of the opposite major Yakuza / Like a Dragon entries, he “at all times ranks within the high 5 of the sequence’ favorite characters” amongst followers, so this inspired the choice to make him playable.
Asserting the sport final week, studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama mentioned Darkish Ties will “inform the unique story of Mine, who’s the antagonist standing in the way in which of Kiryu within the authentic Yakuza 3, and it’s about how he begins to step into the underworld, the place schemes and bonds unfold”.
“So that you’re going to be taking part in as Mine, as beforehand said, and the setting goes to be Kamurocho, Tokyo,” he added. “And naturally there’s going to be loads of totally different play spots, and we’ve ready loads. So you may concentrate on loads of the aspect content material, which focuses on his bond with Kanda.”
Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Yakuza 3 Gaiden: Darkish Ties will launch as a bundle on February 12, 2026, on PS5, Xbox Collection X/S, Swap 2, PS4 and PC by way of Steam.
