“We can’t say much more [about that] than what was shown today. But as you can imagine, 5 cities and 5 eras is a massive undertaking. We’re putting a tremendous amount of care into bringing to life these times and places we feel are rarely explored in games. It’s truly a unique experience you can’t get anywhere else.”

Aside from bringing different eras to life, Yokoyama also elaborated on the game’s combat systems, promising more details about its brutal battles in the coming few months. “We also got a frenetic look at the game’s brutal, highly dynamic combat systems – with everything from weaponry, grappling, one-versus-many fights, and environmental interactions shown off. This is an all-new level of combat design from us, and what you saw is just the tip of the iceberg with much more to be revealed soon.”

He also had a lot to say about the game’s unique musical score, revealing that we were yet to hear the ones that he was partial to. “Those music tracks really get your feet tapping, don’t they? Well, let’s just say there’s a lot more where that came from, and some of my favorite music has yet to be heard.”

Regarding potential returning characters, he was cagey about revealing anything juicy. However, he gave the impression that we’re in for quite a treat once RGG Studio starts detailing all the actors.

“Oh, I wonder who you could be referring to? We weren’t exactly subtle with some of the footage we chose for this trailer, but let’s just say that players can look forward to an all-star cast. We’re excited to reveal more at the upcoming Xbox Presents: A Special Look at Stranger Than Heaven broadcast.”

The broadcast he’s talking about is scheduled for May 6, 2026, and is sure to offer even more news about a game that we’re quite excited to play when it launches for Xbox Series X|S, PS5 and PC. It will also be available on Game Pass and Xbox for PC while supporting Play Anywhere.

Stranger Than Heaven will take players through time, with the story taking place in the years 1915, 1929, 1943, 1951, and 1965. Since these years represent massive jumps in time, it is likely that the protagonist will also change over the course of the game. The fact that we also get to explore different cities makes this even likelier.

The scenery isn’t the only thing that will be changing depending on the era and city you’re in, however. The trailer gives us a good idea of how even the simple act of walking down a street can be quite different depending on the decade. Along with this, combat, while brutal regardless of the year, will allow players to use different tools depending on the time and place. All the century-spanning mayhem in the trailer is paired with loose jazz beats, adding an extra level of chaos to the video.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has also confirmed that more details about the game will be revealed during an “Xbox Presents: A Special Look at Stranger Than Heaven” showcase on May 6th.

Stranger Than Heaven is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. While no release date has been confirmed so far, the latest trailer did indicate that it was coming out “soon”.

It will receive an “in-depth look,” which could finally provide more details on its gameplay and story. Other titles like The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will receive “new looks”, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is getting an “update.” Perhaps we’ll finally learn when the release windows for its story expansions and multiplayer, nearly 1.5 years after its original launch.

Microsoft also promises new reveals, “world premieres”, and even Game Pass announcements, so there’s plenty to look forward to. Deep dives and behind-the-scenes details will also be revealed for “select titles” on Xbox Wire, in case you want to dig even deeper into their development.

Stranger Than Heaven doesn’t have a release date, but Sega previously said it would launch during or after fiscal year 2027. Persona 4 Revival is slated for the same window, and given how it was announced during last year’s Xbox Games Showcase, what are the odds that it appears during the Partner Preview?

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn is also intriguing because Owlcat Games previously confirmed closed beta access for those who pre-purchased the Miller’s Pack for $79.99. Perhaps it will finally reveal plans for the same. As always, stay tuned for more details and live coverage this Thursday.

One review, as written by Steam user JigenDaisuke, has called the release “creatively bankrupt” due to the retcons that were made to the story of Yakuza 3. “The retcons made to the story of RGG3 with Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties are absolute abominations and an insult to the original game, the entire Kiryu saga, and any fan with even an ounce of critical sense,” they wrote. “Not to mention all the content removed in favour of reused minigames from other more recent entries (a Kiwami classic) and the recasting (another Kiwami classic).”

Another user, jack, has called out the studio for having cast Teruyuki Kagawa in the role of Goh Hamazaki, since the actor has been accused of sexual misconduct, while also criticizing the studio for having made too many changes to the story. “Sexual assault allegations from one of the cast members,” they wrote. “Changing too much stuff from the original and leaving too much out. Rushed and unpolished, frequent crashes on my system. IDK how to feel about this, but it’s not great.”

On the other hand, there are also quite a few positive reviews. As noted by Steam user Slifer Slacker, Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties is “a mixed bag of good and bad, not gonna lie. [sic]”

“Story-wise is divisive, I have no qualms with it,” they wrote. “It definitely took a hit with the way it’s promoted; it won’t get much flak if it were advertised as the start of a new timeline. If not, the tweaks cause a lot of problems for the next games, especially 4.90% definitely was an improvement except the epilogue, which causes lots of problems since it’s different from the OG.”

Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties was released across PC, PS5 , Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, just last week. As its name might imply, it is a remake of 2009’s Yakuza 3, bringing up to modern standards through the Dragon Engine, which was first used for Yakuza 6: Song of Life. Along with a retelling of the base story, it also features Dark Ties, which gives us a deeper look into the motivations of Yoshitaka Mine.

Interestingly, executive producer at RGG Studio Masayoshi Yokoyama has said that we won’t see any more Yakuza games with the Kiwami titles moving forward. While it doesn’t mean that we won’t see remakes of older games like Yakuza 4 or 5 down the line, he has said that they will no longer fall under the Kiwami label. This is because the studio is taking a new approach with the overarching lore of Yakuza.

“Some of the games we’re working on have already been announced, but including the ones we’ll be making going forward, I think Yakuza Kiwami 3 will be the last one, and the Kiwami line will come to an end,” said Yokoyama last week. “I don’t think it’ll continue as the Kiwami series anymore. I think a different series will begin.”

For more on Yakuza 3 and Dark Ties, check out our review.

This guide for Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is all about grinding for Training Points quickly and efficiently.

Miyazato Training Place

Hundreds of Training Points are waiting to be earned from a huge selection of challenges in the Training List. This is accessed at the Miyazato training place.

This training place has multiple tiers to rank up through, and unlocks hundreds of challenges with their associated Training Point rewards clearly mentioned right alongside.

Eventually, successive Promotion Exams become accessible, as well as more opportunities to Practice, earn, and spend Training Points on new Abilities for Kiryu to use in combat.

That is everything there is to know about earning Training Points in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties.

This guide for Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is all about grinding for money as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Antique Plate Trading

Plates abound in Yakuza, and you can find them in containers or earn them as rewards. There are also the Forbidden Plate and Forbidden Plate Kiwami to be found in the Morning Glory General Store.

Whatever your source, just take your wares over to the Pawn Shop to exchange them for all the yen you could ever spend.

Bounty Hunting

With up to 6-figure sums as rewards, these bounty hunting hit jobs might just be worth your time once you have the skill to undertake them. Difficulty plays a big part with some of the targets, but the cash rewards are commensurate with it.

Despite starting out fairly low in terms of awarded yen, Reapers are also one of the earliest methods to build up wealth in the game, and there are almost three dozen targets to hunt down.

Coliseum Battling

These multiple round fights revolve around completion speed to determine your ranking, and by extension, your payout as well. The faster you emerge victorious the better, but don’t stress out trying to achieve S-rank, as you can plainly see that the multiplier isn’t worth sweating over.

Hell’s Arena

The Dark Ties specific minigame known as Survival Hell is an opportunity to farm large amounts of yen, and does not necessarily have to be seen through to the end in order to keep your winnings.

Improving Mine’s skillset will naturally improve his survivability in this hellscape, and eventually you should be able to power through all the way.

Those are all the best ways to grind for yen as fast as possible in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties.

The post is a the latest iteration of the Xbox Excellence Awards, which was created last year to celebrate how players engaged with various releases on Xbox. The Store Rating category lists 2025 games with the best ratings on the Microsoft Store, with an added requirement of the title having at least 500 ratings. Player Engagements is about the average number of hours spent on a game by each player within the first six weeks of a game’s release. Daily Active Users celebrates titles, expansions or updates with the highest single-day active users throughout the year. And finally Units Sold is fairly self-explanatory.

Going down the lists, you’ll find many of the biggest releases of the year, from ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6, as well as award-winning RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Indie titles have also been well-represented, with games like Crime Scene Cleaner and Satisfactory making it into the lists. There also doesn’t seem to have been a singular genre to dominate the lists, since everything from sports games like EA Sports Madden NFL 26, to fantasy adventure life sims like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, and even fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics are well represented.

Curiously, none of the games was present in all four of the categories. At most, we got to see titles like Borderlands 4 being able to make it on to three of them: Player Engagement, Daily Active Users and Units Sold. Even ARC Raiders, which has seen quite a bit of success, is only on the Units Sold and Daily Active Users lists.

Microsoft has also emphasized that the lists represent a diverse collection of games developed by studios of varying sizes. All in all, it represents 48 unique developers based out of 13 countries, with 24 publishers having had a hand in their release. 19 of the games were self-published. “Taken as a whole, it’s an encapsulation of development on Xbox – we want gaming to reach you wherever you are, and for the teams making those games to find you from wherever they are,” wrote the company.

Full list of games:

Store Rating:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Crime Scene Cleaner
• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dreamcore
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Lies of P: Overture
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Little Nightmares III
• Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
• Minami Lane
• Mullet MadJack
• Poppy Playtime Chapter 4
• Satisfactory
• Silent Hill 2
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Player Engagement:

• Borderlands 4
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Farm Together 2
• Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles
• Helldivers 2
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• NHL 26
• Rust
• Satisfactory
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Daily Active Users:

• Arc Raiders
• Avowed
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• DOOM: The Dark Ages
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fortnite
• Forza Horizon 5
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Grounded 2
• Helldivers 2
• Marvel Rivals
• Minecraft
• NBA 2K26
• Rematch
• Roblox
• Rocket League
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

Units Sold:

• Arc Raiders
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• EA Sports Madden NFL 26
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Helldivers 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• PGA Tour 2K25
• Ready or Not
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• WWE 2K25

“Some of the games we’re working on have already been announced, but including the ones we’ll be making going forward, I think Yakuza Kiwami 3 will be the last one, and the Kiwami line will come to an end,” said Yokoyama (as caught by Reddit user Dastanovich). “I don’t think it’ll continue as the Kiwami series anymore. I think a different series will begin.”

He went on to hint at a new approach to remaking some of the older games in the Yakuza series that would potentially bring them more in line with the current storyline of the franchise.

Spoilers for Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, and Yakuza 6: A Song of Life below.

“And not something like Like a Dragon 9, but rather a new series on a different line, with a different meaning,” he said. “That might be something you’ll understand once you play Yakuza Kiwami 3. So with that in mind, I’m thinking about the future—about long-term planning, or where things are headed.”

In mentioning Yakuza Kiwami 3, Yokoyama is referring to the renewed presence of the Daidoji faction that shows up in the remake’s story. The faction only made its debut in Yakuza 6: A Song of Life, playing an important role in tying up its story and allowing Kiryu to essentially fake his death so that Haruka, her child and boyfriend, and the rest of the orphans at Morning Glory can go on to live their lives without being targeted for retribution.

The latest entry—Yakuza Kiwami 3—saw the involvement of the Daidoji faction with some changes made to the original story of Yakuza 3. This indicates that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio might be looking to reimagine the storylines of the remaining Yakuza games before the story of Yakuza 6 kicks in to have the faction play a bigger role. The Daidoji also played a major role during the events of the most recent mainline entry in the series—Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is slated for release today across PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2. The title offers a retelling of Yakuza 3’s story, as well as a brand new glimpse into the background of Yoshitaka Mine through Dark Ties. Along with modernized visuals and gameplay, it also brings in new side activities and mini-games, as well as a variety of new karaoke songs for both Kiryu and Mine.

For more details about Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, check out our review, where we gave it a score of 8 out of 10 thanks to the modern combat systems and more fresh take on the city of Ryukyu, Okinawa.

I spent quite a bit of time on Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties on the PS5. That said, most of my time with Kiryu’s part of the game was largely spent exploring Okinawa, getting to grips with his new combat style, and partaking in several new side activities. With Dark Ties, I was more tempted to focus purely on the main story itself. It is worth noting that, while they are ostensibly part of the same package, Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties are both distinct games, each with their own save slots and progression independent of the other. In fact, I’d highly recommend you to finish a playthrough of Kiryu’s story before touching Dark Ties, since, like even the game itself warns you, there will be plenty of spoilers in Mine’s part of the game. Now, since Yakuza games are known for the twists and turns their stories often take, I will not be spoiling anything from the mid-to-late-game plot.

"The story of Yakuza 3 has always been a great one. However, a major complaint of the original has often been its poor early-game pacing."

Yakuza Kiwami 3 picks up the story right where Yakuza 2 left off. Daigo Dojima has taken up the position of the chairman of the Tojo Clan. The whole clan is still recovering from the events of Yakuza 2, and especially from the damage caused by the Go-Ryu Clan led by Ryuji Goda and the Korean Jingweon Mafia. Kiryu, however, has decided that enough is enough, and leaves behind the yakuza life to run the Morning Glory orphanage in Okinawa; far away from the crime-ridden alleys of Kamurocho.

While the first few months at the orphanage go by relatively smoothly, with Kiryu growing into his new role as the father figure for the children, he is invariably drawn back into the underworld thanks to a strange real-estate dispute. The affable head of the local Ryudo family, Shigeru Nakahara, owns the land on which Morning Glory was built, and is being pressured by forces beyond his control to sell it off. At the same time, Daigo is also facing pressure from several members of the Tojo Clan to partake in this real-estate deal. Things come to a head when both Nakahara and Daigo are shot as part of this deal, and Kiryu must trade in his cozy tropical outfit for his trademark suit as he’s pulled into a web of Tojo power plays and forces well beyond Okinawa.

The story of Yakuza 3 has always been a great one. However, a major complaint of the original has often been its poor early-game pacing. Quite a bit of time is spent simply living life in Okinawa before the story truly kicks off. Once it gets going, though, it also happens to be one of the more convoluted plots in the series, and ultimately ends up involving even forces from the governments of Japan and the US. Kiwami 3 doesn’t really help much with the pacing issues if you’re simply focused on mainlining the story. It does, on the other hand, offer a lot more side activities that help you feel some true ownership over Morning Glory, which in turn helps to raise the stakes of the story for the player. Staying true to series tradition, the more serious elements of the plot are balanced by the substories, which often add a healthy amount of absurdism, comedy and sincerity to counterbalance the otherwise convoluted and grim main story.

Dark Ties, being a new addition, is an interesting beast in its own right. In the original, Mine’s rise feels abrupt to the player and Dark Ties reframes that climb by letting you inhabit the steps he took to earn his position, we actually get to experience just how he achieved this with our own eyes. It offers plenty of fun moments, especially when Tsuyoshi Kanda is involved. However, ultimately, this expansion on the story doesn’t really end up adding too much to the overall plot. What made Mine a fun antagonist to begin with was his personality, and the mystique of how he even got to his position in the main story only added to his “cool” factor. While Dark Ties thankfully doesn’t take much away from this, I don’t really think it was particularly necessary either. Ultimately, it’s just “more plot” for after you’re done with the main Yakuza Kiwami 3 campaign.

"The story of Yakuza 3 has always been a great one. However, a major complaint of the original has often been its poor early-game pacing."

The traditional gameplay loop of Yakuza is well-preserved in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. You’re often going to find yourself roaming around Okinawa or Kamurocho, either heading to the next main story mission or stopping in the middle to partake in side activities like substories, arcade games or karaoke. Some of these might end up with you having taken quite a bit of damage, which means that you’ll want to find a restaurant to heal up before deciding on your next activity of choice. Of course, most gameplay will be taken up by combat, since you will also end up being accosted by thugs in either of the cities.

The combat system has been revamped quite well, and long-time fans of the series will recognize the evolution in Kiryu’s gameplay from Yakuza 6 to Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name to Yakuza Kiwami 3. The Dragon of Dojima has never felt better to play, and while he may no longer be at his peak, having entered into his 40s, he can still hold his own in just about any fight. Along with his usual combat style, Kiryu now also has a weapons-based one that makes use of traditional Okinawan weapons. This new style offers plenty of utility, since your combos decide just what weapons you’ll be using to attack. Ryukyu Style leans into traditional Okinawan weaponry, giving Kiryu a more technical, weapon-forward moveset that complements the revamped Dragon of Dojima style. I personally quite enjoyed using the bleed-inducing combos as well as the guard breaking moves offered by the new style. The former helped whittle down massive boss health bars, while the latter provided some reprieve against enemies who just love to block all your attacks.

The combat in general feels like a major upgrade over the original Yakuza 3, which often suffered from prolonged fights because of just how impenetrable enemies’ defenses would often be. While they never suffered from bloated health pools, even the most low-levelled thug had the propensity of just endlessly blocking your attacks until you eventually got lucky. Kiwami 3 not only doesn’t have this happening nearly as often, but also gives you more tools to deal with blocking enemies, like the aforementioned guard break in the Ryukyu style. You can, of course, switch between the Dragon of Dojima: Kiwami and Ryukyu styles at will, which makes the combat flow even better. My time with the game was spent on its Professional difficulty setting the highest one available when you start a fresh game and none of the fights ended up feeling unfair. There were some annoying encounters, especially when gun-toting enemies were involved, but they still ended up being reasonable to deal with thanks to the new indicator letting you know when you’re about to get shot.

"The combat in general feels like a major upgrade over the original Yakuza 3, which often suffered from prolonged fights because of just how impenetrable enemies’ defenses would often be."

No discussion about Yakuza games is complete without discussing its substories, and both Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties don’t disappoint in this regard. There are plenty of things to do throughout Okinawa and Kamurocho, and as I previously mentioned, the substories often add some much-needed levity to the story. The mini-games don’t really get deep, and while there are certainly rewards for playing them, these aren’t aspects of the game you have to touch in order to progress. Along with the classic slate of arcade games, the new ones added as part of running Morning Glory are at least fun enough to play a couple of times, even if you ultimately decide to never return to them.

The Morning Glory activities even have their own progression system, where doing chores around the orphanage and partaking in the children’s substories will result in Daddy Rank increases. Many of these activities involve mini-games of their own, be it games of Dragon Reversi essentially just reskinned Reversi or fishing and sewing. Through these, you can craft brand new items that can then be sold at the Morning Glory Market. The money you make here can then be used to make further improvements to the orphanage, helping further improve the lives of the children. While a fun experience by itself, all of the Morning Glory activities are ultimately optional, and aside from the first time you have to engage with them, can be safely ignored if you would prefer to get on to the main story. Training Points and money earned here can also be used to further fuel Kiryu’s own progression. It also helps make Morning Glory feel much more like a real, lived-in space.

Another major side activity involves joining a biker gang. After running into a group of characters Kiryu can join their group in their efforts to ensure that the rival gangs encroaching on Okinawa don’t ruin the town of Ryukyu. While also largely divorced from the main story of Yakuza Kiwami 3, the Bad Boy Dragon activities, as they are called in-game, are quite a bit of fun thanks to the colorful cast of characters you get to engage with. You can even partake in massive brawls against more than a hundred enemies at the same time. These no-holds-barred battles will have you riding through the battlefield on your own (customizable) bike as you go from fight to fight, using every tool at your disposal. Bad Boy Dragon also goes a bit deeper by allowing you to manage finer details of the NPCs, from their flags and outfits to their motorcycles, and even their squad setup.

"The Morning Glory activities even have their own progression system, where doing chores around the orphanage and partaking in the children’s substories will result in Daddy Rank increases."

On the more emotional side of things, Yakuza Kiwami 3 has no shortage of moments that can get you misty-eyed, whether you’re simply spending time at Morning Glory or stumbling into one of the game’s smaller, unexpectedly heartfelt side stories. Yakuza Kiwami 3 manages to strike a fine balance between the comedic and the heartfelt substories, and few ever end up feeling like simply being filler material to pad out playtime.

The character progression in Yakuza Kiwami 3 is largely tied to your money, and a new currency Training Points tied to how many side activities you partake in. Due to this, trying every single activity at least once is quite beneficial. Not only will it often reward you with more money, it will also definitely give you more Training Points to go further down the techniques tree where you can learn new moves for both of your combat styles. While money gives you some early-game techniques, it eventually only becomes useful for raising your health and damage stats. Training Points, on the other hand, is important if you want to do more than just spam the light and heavy attacks a few times, with the skill tree’s offerings ranging from new Heat actions and combo finishers, to entirely new moves. Despite this, however, there’s never any need to grind out either money or Training Points short of wanting to 100% the game.

Dark Ties, on the other hand, is a more focused experience. You’re not going to stumble into substories or new activities while roaming around. Rather, they are all tied into the Kanda Damage Control system, where Mine essentially runs a PR campaign to improve Tsuyoshi Kanda’s public image in the community. Substories and activities through this aren’t particularly deep either, and the main goal of the entire system is to unlock Drink Links through which you can learn more about both Kanda and Mine as they work their way up the Nishikiyama family ranks.

"You’re not going to stumble into substories or new activities while roaming around. Rather, they are all tied into the Kanda Damage Control system"

When it comes to the main story missions, both Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties don’t really stray too far from what the series has typically been. You’ll often have long, drawn-out conversations before getting into a series of fights, with the missions ultimately culminating into a boss fight that often marks the end of a chapter. It never really feels repetitive or boring, however, since both Kiryu and Mine are quite fun to control during fights, and the writing is incredibly strong, making just about every scene at the very least interesting, if not downright entertaining.

The story of Dark Ties is quite a bit more subdued than Kiwami 3. Aside from the loud, brash Kanda, every character in Mine’s story feels more reserved and sinister. Interestingly, despite being a much shorter experience than the main campaign, Dark Ties also ends up feeling like it has similar pacing issues to Kiryu’s adventure. The start is incredibly slow, and you’ll do little more than getting into fights between long cutscenes for quite some time. Thankfully it does eventually open up, giving you more options to explore Kamurocho and maybe hang out at the arcade.

Dark Ties does feature one interesting side activity that purely focuses on Mine’s combat prowess: the Fight Club. While it’s largely what you might expect, with a series of escalating fights, the Survival Hell mode of the Fight Club kicks things up a notch by presenting fights with different conditions. This mode even ties into Mine’s character progression, since rewards can include new moves as well as money that can be used to further push the character’s capabilities.

"The story of Dark Ties is quite a bit more subdued than Kiwami 3."

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties feels like a technically competent game. The visuals are fantastic, making full use of the PS5 hardware and RGG Studio’s own experience with its in-house Dragon Engine. Both Kamurocho and Okinawa look breathtaking, especially at certain times of the day when the lighting is just right. Frame rates are also fantastic, and I never experienced a single slowdown or even hiccup throughout my time with the game. Developing Yakuza games has essentially become a precise science for the studio, since I also couldn’t find any issues with animations, either during combat or the story-heavy cutscenes. Continuing the trend, audio is also fantastically done, and the Japanese voice acting is some of the best I’ve heard from the series outside of Ichiban’s adventures in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Be it quiet fury or tender moments, Kiryu’s voice actor Takaya Kuroda has once more done a phenomenal job, and the same could be said for every cast member.

Ultimately, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a phenomenal game, and a great way to experience the story for the first time without having to deal with the original’s more archaic elements. It also makes for a great way to start the Yakuza franchise for series newcomers, since it offers optional recaps of previous entries’ stories. However, I would still argue that Yakuza 0 is a much better game to start with in that regard. Thanks to its strong writing and gameplay, it’s basically a no-brainer for fans of story-centric games and fast-paced brawlers.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a side-story set after the events of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Having come out in February 2025, it has been a full year since its release, which makes it an ideal candidate for the Premium tier. The more expensive Ultimate tier—priced at $29.99 per month—features more than 400 titles and promises day one releases of several titles (including first-party offerings and new Call of Duty titles).

As a follow-up to Infinite Wealth, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii uses the same primary setting of Honolulu. In fact, leading up to its release, chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto had confirmed that it would feature the entire island as previously experienced in the earlier entry.

The story of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii revolves around Goro Majima waking up on the beach of Rich Island with no memory of who he is, and in a state of near-death. Setting forth on a quest to regain his memories, Majima meets several new characters—friends and foes—as he gets embroiled in a strange conspiracy involving modern day pirates.

Unlike Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth—which featured Ichiban Kasuga as their primary protagonist—Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii goes back to the real-time action combat that the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise is known for. If you want to learn more, check out our review.

In the meantime, Sega and RGG Studio have also recently released a brand new trailer for Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties, this time focusing on its Steam release. Among the features showcased are support for Steam’s Trading Cards, graphical options including Frame Generation, upscaling, uncapped frame rates, and ultrawide monitor support. The trailer also confirmed that it’s Steam Deck Verified.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties will be coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2. Players can get a taste for the remake thanks to the official demo, which includes playable sections for both Kazuma Kiryu and Yoshitaka Mine. Kiryu’s part of the demo revolves around Ryukyu, Okinawa, while Mine’s part takes us back to Kamurocho. In combat, the demo includes the Dragon of Dojima: Kiwami and weapon-oriented Ryukyu styles for Kiryu, and the shoot-boxing style for Mine.

For more details about Yakuza Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties, here are 15 key facts that you should know. Also check out details about the day-one patch, which will address lighting issues and “other quality concerns”, as well as some of the new side-activities, like LaLaLa Loveland and karaoke tracks.