Here are 15 details well worth knowing about before buying Yakuza Kiwami 3 + Dark Ties on its February 11th release date.

A Ground-Up Remake of 2009’s Yakuza 3

Yakuza 3 originally released in 2009, and both the original version and its later remaster are often considered the black sheep of the franchise. Common complaints ranged from its clunky, block-heavy combat to the stilted pacing of the orphanage chapters. Kiwami 3 appears designed specifically to address those points, and then some. Built entirely within an upgraded Dragon Engine, the remake features modern HD visuals, improved animations, and entirely original modes. Cutscenes have been re-done and certain story beats have been restructured for more even pacing. On top of that, the game introduces a brand-new side story campaign in Dark Ties, which stars a fan-favorite character.

Orphanage Simulator

While the orphanage busywork was a pacing killer in the original Yakuza 3, these sections are completely overhauled to be more optional and engaging in Yakuza Kiwami 3. First, the minigames actually look feature-complete and, well, fun now. You can test Kiryu’s cooking skills in a Cooking Mama-like minigame, join the kids in a sewing battle, go fishing, and more. There’s a new bond system appropriately called ‘Daddy Rank’ too. As you complete these activities, you unlock substories for each child resulting in new cooking dishes and crafted items to sell at the market. In short, it’s a sim-like layer that contrasts the darker story to the game.

Motion Capture and Recast Voices

Helping enhance the dark tone further are some new reworked cutscenes. Now, we don’t quite know the placement of these new scenes or how the pacing will result from it all, but the overhaul signals a direct response to criticism of the original game’s uneven storytelling. Both the Japanese and English voice casts have been recast, with fresh motion capture performed by the new actors. Several characters, including Goh Hamazaki, Rikiya Shimabukuro, and Shigeru Nakahara, have been visually remodeled to resemble their new Japanese voice actors. This decision has understandably sparked some debate among longtime fans.

Bad Boy Dragon Mode

Another huge side activity that we will easily find ourselves lost in is the Bad Boy Dragon biker gang. In a similar vein as Pirate Yakuza, Kiryu leads the charge of a crew of, not pirates, but biker girls. Gameplay combines massive brawls against waves of up to 100 enemies with high-speed motorcycle segments where you capture enemy territory. You can recruit new members, upgrade bikes, and strategically organize a gang of over 20 units. The emphasis on scale and positioning should appeal especially to fans of musou-style games, adding a tactical layer to the familiar Yakuza combat loop.

Hell’s Arena

Accessible through Mine’s separate campaign, Hell’s Arena introduces multiple combat-focused modes. I’m especially intrigued by the new Survival Hell dungeon race. As the title suggests, you race through a perilous dungeon filled with traps and treasures. There’s a boss waiting for those skilled enough to survive the gauntlet, so you’ll need to pick up treasures and special survival weapons along the way to succeed against the last hurdle. Organizing a group of mercenaries helps your odds too. But the underground fight club is actually the main attraction of Hell’s Arena. These are composed of one-on-one brawls knocking out an opponent within a time limit. I’m all for a goofy tournament fighting arc, so Hell’s Arena should provide on that front.

Combat: Miyazato Dojo

Kiryu’s story unfolds primarily in sun-soaked Okinawa, And with the new territory comes new ways of fighting. Kiryu must enter the tutelage of master Miya-san at the Miyazato Dojo. It’s here where you learn the Ryukyu fighting style, which includes a whole fresh progression system and technique. Part of the journey to becoming a Ryukyu kobujutsu master is acing the exams set by Miya-san. Do this and you’ll eventually learn secret techniques that will prove useful throughout the rest of the game.

Combat: Ryukyu Style Explained

But what exactly is Ryukyu fighting? It’s essentially Kiryu’s new weapon-based fighting style for the game. There’s 8 Okinawan weapons featured in this style. These are shield (tinbe), spear (rochin), tekko (knuckledusters), tonfas, nunchaku, and even a wooden oar. These aren’t just pieces of equipment though, they’re baked into a dedicated system. Weapons can be swapped on the fly using hotkeys, allowing players to chain attacks seamlessly in a way reminiscent of Sea Dog Style. This fluidity stands in stark contrast to the slower, more defensive combat of the original Yakuza 3.

Merging of the Two Fighting Styles

You won’t just be weaving between weapon types, but fighting styles in general. The familiar Dragon of Dojima fighting style can be swapped seamlessly with the new Okinawan Ryukyu style. Dragon style has been enhanced with new finishers and loads of additional environmental destruction elements that you can use to your disposal against foes. To unleash the new finishers, you must charge up and activate Dragon Boost, a new powered-up state for Kiryu that essentially turns him Super Saiyan. Everything from ground-breaking pile drivers and long-distance throws are enhanced during a Dragon Boost.

Loads of Combat Techniques

Of course, merging between these two fleshed out combat styles brings with it a ton of variability. By combining two fully realized fighting styles, Yakuza Kiwami 3 boasts what the developer has described as the largest library of attack techniques in the franchise’s history. The sheer variety encourages experimentation and makes combat encounters far more dynamic than before.

New Minigames

Of course, not everything in the original Yakuza 3 has been preserved for the remake. A number of minigames have been removed, but in return, many more take their place. You’ve got your established minigames like karaoke, batting cages, billiards, darts, and various arcade games like UFO Catcher. The big additions are the orphanage minigames and dedicated photography quest. Mine has his own set of minigames to have fun with too. Mine’s campaign introduces Kanda’s Damage Control, where you act as Kanda’s PR agent. Kanda’s Damage Control is structured by an overarching ‘Good Deeds’ story, civilian side quests, and a checklist of accomplishments within the ‘Damage Control Challenge’.

A New Story Expansion

Dark Ties is a full story expansion centered on Yoshitaka Mine, one of Yakuza 3’s most compelling antagonists. Not only can you play as Mine, which has been a pipe dream for fans for years, but you explore his past through an even seedier underground district of the Kamurucho. It’s going to be fascinating to watch his descent into the criminal world and see from his point of view before his meeting with Kiryu in Yakuza 3 proper.

From Short Film to Game

Mine’s popularity prompted the studio to expand what was originally envisioned as a short film into a fully playable side game. The developer has been on record citing Mine as a top 5 favorite character in the series. This campaign is described as one of the darkest stories in the franchise to date, deliberately contrasting Kiryu’s more hopeful story in Yakuza 3.

Mine’s Unique Combat Style

In fact, Mine’s story is so dark that his combat style needed to be called ‘Dark Awakening’. Well, maybe there’s a different reason for the name, like high-risk/high-reward precision strikes so emblematic of Mine’s style. The swift aerial strikes stand out the most with this fighting style, but the Dark Awakening State push him into overdrive with extraordinary speed and precision. Mine’s fighting reminds me of a dragoon/ninja, and I couldn’t be more stoked to try it out.

Start Selection

Upon launching the game, you can choose whether to begin with Kiryu’s main story or jump directly into Dark Ties. This flexibility allows returning fans to experience the new content immediately, while newcomers can save it as a companion piece after completing the core narrative.

Dark Ties Spans 8-11 hours

Based on developer comments and hands-on previews, Dark Ties is expected to run between 8 and 11 hours, depending on side content engagement. Its scope is comparable to The Kaito Files and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, which offered similarly focused, standalone narratives. According to a developer interview cited by Sportskeeda, Dark Ties is roughly the same length as Like a Dragon: Gaiden, positioning it as a substantial expansion rather than a brief add-on.

PC Specs

On the lower end, Yakuza Kiwami 3 remains fairly accessible for modern PCs. First, you’ll need to save up 58 GB of space for memory. The minimum requirements require an Intel Core i3-8100 or AMD Ryzen 3 2300X paired with 8 GB of RAM and a GPU of either a GTX 1650, Radeon RX 6400. Higher-end setups require the beefier Intel Core i5-8700K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600X, alongside 16 GB of RAM, and GPU of RTX 3060, Radeon RX 7600.

Interestingly, however, that could change soon. During the most recent episode of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio TV, Like a Dragon series director Masayoshi Yokoyama revealed that the studio will be holding auditions for the series’ next game soon, and though he didn’t provide details on what that next game will be, he did say it’s not going to be Like a Dragon Kiwami 3.

Interestingly, however, he also went on to say that though that’s not something that’s on the horizon just yet, a Kiwami 3 is something that RGG Studio is “definitely” going to develop. When will that happen? “Sooner or later,” Yokoyama says.

“I’m just going to say, I think we’ll do a Kiwami 3 at some point. I think we’ll definitely do it sooner or later,” he said (via Gematsu).

How long it’ll be before we get to see a full-fledged remake of Yakuza 3 remains to be seen, but RGG Studio clearly wants to keep up a healthy cadence of Like a Dragon releases, and remakes of, say, all Yakuza titles that released prior to the Dragon Engine era could full out that calendar nicely.

Parliament Of Serbia in Belgrade – Half-Life 2

City 17’s European-inspired architecture and aesthetics are fairly easy to recognize, though the Overwatch Nexus is perhaps the closest to being based on an actual building. As the main building for the Overwatch forces, the Nexus was formerly a political building before the Combine invaded. It turns out that it’s actually inspired by the Parliament of Serbia in Belgrade. The similarities between the two buildings, from their general structure to the opening archway are noteworthy, though the signature dome isn’t as defined on the Nexus. Though it’s not outright confirmed in-game, browsing through the texture files reveals the word “parliament” which further hints at the inspiration.

Thus, Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 were remastered and launched for the PS4 last year; and now, to complete Kiryu’s story for the new audience the franchise found on platforms beyond PC, those games have also launched on Xbox and PC, finally allowing players on those systems to experience almost the entirety of the Yakuza saga on their platform of choice.

The Xbox and PC versions are pretty much the same deal as the PS4 remasters that were launched almost twelve months ago. All three games have been given minor facelifts, localization has been redone to remove some problematic or objectionable content, cut content has been restored, but all of that aside, these games are pretty much left untouched. There aren’t any new content or narrative changes or introductions like in the Kiwami games, and even in spite of graphical facelifts, these games look like a fair step back from Yakuza 7 or Kiwami 2 – because, obviously, they are.

"Thanks to the series’ rather simple but clean art style, as well as the fact that most Yakuza games are decidedly mid-budget affairs, if that, these three games, after their remastering, don’t look too far off from something like Yakuza 0."

Thanks to the series’ rather simple but clean art style, as well as the fact that most Yakuza games are decidedly mid-budget affairs, if that, these three games, after their remastering, don’t look too far off from something like Yakuza 0. Yakuza 3, which is the oldest of the package, is the one that stands out the most, largely because of how relatively empty its environments look, how stiff the animations are, and how straight and angular its architecture can be. Yakuza 4 looks like a significant step up over 3, and by the time we hit Yakuza 5, you could mistake it for Yakuza 0 running at lower graphical settings, at least at a glance. Graphically, these games won’t take too long to adjust to if you’re coming to them for the first time after having played the modern titles.

However, ultimately, Yakuza fans rarely play these games for their production values. Yakuza’s fandom has always come down to the games’ fantastic characters, soap opera style over the top crime drama stories, great locations that cater to a unique form of virtual tourism for fans of Japanese culture, their heartwarming sidequests and addictive minigames, and, until Yakuza 7, their unique brawler meets action RPG style gameplay.

All of that’s available here, delivering unto fans exactly what they want, with Yakuza 5, especially, representing the zenith of the formula with five distinct playable protagonists, each with their own moveset and playstyle, and five locations within it. Its story, though suffering somewhat from having to justify the contrivances necessary to get Kiryu involved in the Japanese criminal underworld again, is pretty damn fun to follow, and it has arguably the most distinct and impressive production values in the series to date, with a very unique and downplayed cinematography and storytelling style that still manages to hold true to the over the top spirit of the franchise.

"Yakuza 4, naturally, occupies the middle space. It’s not quite as modern or fluid feeling as Yakuza 5, but it’s a significant improvement over Yakuza 3, and feels closer to the former than the latter in all honesty."

Yakuza 5, which is also running on the same engine as Yakuza 0 and Kiwami, also feels the most satisfying to play, with the combat packing a visceral punch and the animations fluid and brutal.

Yakuza 3 lies on the other end of the spectrum. In terms of narrative setup, while it occupies an important niche in the series’ history, actually playing it can be an exercise in frustration. Even back when it first launched, Yakuza 3 felt a bit behind the times, and today, especially, its extremely stiff combat and awkward controls lead to extremely jerky and unsatisfying combat, which, coupled with the distinctly low budget animations for things such as the Heat finisher moves, deflates the whole experience significantly. Yakuza fans will probably still enjoy Yakuza 3, and want to see it through to the end, especially since it’s a leaner experience than most other games in the series, and its narrative significance – but honestly, this is the one game in the package that would have been better off getting the Kiwami treatment.

Yakuza 4, naturally, occupies the middle space. It’s not quite as modern or fluid feeling as Yakuza 5, but it’s a significant improvement over Yakuza 3, and feels closer to the former than the latter in all honesty. Combat, while still not quite matching the standards of 5, still manages to flesh out four distinct characters, all of which play differently, and controls are a mercifully needed upgrade over 3 as well.

Unlike Yakuza 3, the environments here also feel far more organic and densely populated, which goes a long way in selling what is arguably the series’ strongest selling point, which is its sense of place and virtual tourism.

"While for completion’s sake, dedicated fans will probably want to play through the entire series, if you are not quite sure you have the patience to go through three fairly long and similar games, Yakuza 5 is the one you should focus on."

While for completion’s sake, dedicated fans will probably want to play through the entire series, if you are not quite sure you have the patience to go through three fairly long and similar games, Yakuza 5 is the one you should focus on. It has the best story, the best combat, a frankly ridiculous amount of content, and it also feels modern enough to lack a lot of the jank that is otherwise endemic to the older games in the franchise.

The good news is that the three games are also available individually – so if you only want to play, say, Yakuza 4, and not the other two, you’re not locked into having to spend money on two other games you’re not interested in playing as well. While Sega has made many questionable decisions in its handling of the Yakuza franchise in the west, this at least is a pretty smart decision, which makes any of these three games far easier to recommend than they would have been otherwise.

In the end, if you have never played Yakuza, and want to start out, I would recommend none of these three games as your first one – Yakuza 0 or Like A Dragon are much better entry points (and much better games overall, in general). However, for fans who have been waiting to see all of Kiryu Kazuma’s story, Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 Remastered do a fine enough job of making these long overlooked installments accessible and available to a wider, modern audience.

This game was reviewed on Xbox One.

Along with updated lifetime sales numbers for Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, Sega Sammy also revealed that the Yakuza series hit 14 million sales in its lifetime. The company noted that the series was “highly evaluated by overseas users.” However, Sega feels that it’s still a niche series meant for a select market of players.

Thus, the current strategy going forward is to release for multiple platforms and services worldwide, with the PC platform playing a big part. This can be seen in the release of Yakuza: Like a Dragon which launched earlier this month for Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One and PC. Whether we can expect future titles to follow suit remains to be seen.

For that matter, it’s unknown whether Yakuza 3 to 5 and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life will be coming to PC or Xbox platforms in the near future. Ryu ga Gotoku Studio will host a livestream event on December 8th with announcements for “future developments” so we could receive more details there. Stay tuned in the meantime and check out our review of Yakuza: Like a Dragon here.

Characters Modeled After Real Actors

Getting the likenesses right for a group of bad-asses like the Yakuza cast isn’t easy. However, it’s interesting to note how many of the characters are modeled after and voiced by well-known Japanese actors. Takeshi Kitano, for instance, serves as the template and voice for Toru in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Meanwhile, Riki Takeuchi lends his face and voice to Daiki Awano in Yakuza 0.

The Witness

Upon finishing the numerous puzzles of Jonathan Blow’s The Witness, gaining one epiphany after another, you stumble upon a realization. As it turns out, the beginning held a secret puzzle that could led to the game’s so-called “true ending”. This eventually led to…a live-action video of someone undergoing dialysis before going outside? Yeah, we don’t quite get it.

Yakuza Kiwami 2, the remake of Yakuza 2, is now out in the West, the fourth Yakuza game to launch within the last year and a half. And just like Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza 6, it’s absolutely excellent- perhaps even more so than all of them. More than anything, these recent releases have seen a boost in popularity for this franchise outside of Japan, and it seems Sega are becoming very aware of that fact.

In Japan, remastered editions of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 are also releasing between this year and the next. Until now, we’ve had no information regarding whether these remasters would make it to the West, but a recent official Sega survey suggests that they’re definitely considering bringing over these games, maybe even along with some spin-offs, at some point to markets outside of Japan.

The official survey asks questions regarding how interested users would be in buying remasters of Yakuza games, new games in the series, and other games created by the team, such as Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, which, in fact, is bound to launch outside of Japan not long from now. The survey also asks a question about spin-off titles such as Yakuza: Ishin! and Yakuza: Kenzan! which were never released in the West. The very fact that Sega is asking these questions means there is a chance that we’ll be getting to see more Yakuza games (and more) releasing in the West in the future.

Sega’s definitely been working on expanding Yakuza’s audiences in the last few months. Outside of a string excellent releases, they’ve also released Yakuza 0 on PC. A PC release for Yakuza Kiwami is also in the pipeline, and recent reports suggest one for Yakuza 6: The Song of Life might be too. In the meantime, you can enjoy Yakuza Kiwami 2, as it’s now out for the PS4 across the world.

The Media Create video game hardware and software sales charts in Japan for last week – the week ahead of Obon, a festive shopping season that is sure to see sales rise – are now available. They’re mostly uneventful, with the biggest new release being a remaster of Yakuza 3 for PS4, and hardware mostly holding steady.

Which means, yes, Nintendo Switch came in first with over 50,000 units sold, while PS4 was second place. With 22,000 units sold, the PS4 actually had its strongest week in a while last week. The 3DS came in at under 11,000 units sold, and therefore, rounded out the top three. On the software side of things, Yakuza 3 tops charts, albeit has an underperforming opening, while the Switch version of Okami opened at 11th place, selling about as many units as the PS4 version did last year. Switch games continue to exhibit great sales, with Splatoon 2 hanging out near the top of the charts, and Breath of the Wild outselling Super Mario Odyssey, as you may expect at this point.

Next week’s sales charts, which will cover Obon, should prove to be interesting. Find the whole breakdown below.

SOFTWARE

01./00. [PS4] Yakuza 3 <ADV> (Sega) {2018.08.09} (¥3.990) – 26.047 / NEW 
02./05. [NSW] Splatoon 2 # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2017.07.21} (¥5.980) – 21.630 / 2.532.658 (+3%)
03./04. [NSW] Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! <ACT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.07.19} (¥6.100) – 21.020 / 140.911 (-3%)
04./00. [PS4] Fire Pro Wrestling: World # <SPT> (Spike Chunsoft) {2018.08.09} (¥5.800) – 20.218 / NEW 
05./03. [3DS] WarioWare Gold <ETC> (Nintendo) {2018.08.02} (¥4.980) – 19.183 / 50.201 (-38%)
06./07. [NSW] Mario Kart 8 Deluxe <RCE> (Nintendo) {2017.04.28} (¥5.980) – 17.795 / 1.688.546 (+13%)
07./09. [NSW] Minecraft <ADV> (Microsoft Game Studios) {2018.06.21} (¥3.600) – 17.003 / 186.221 (+13%)
08./08. [NSW] Mario Tennis Aces <SPT> (Nintendo) {2018.06.22} (¥5.980) – 16.456 / 297.138 (+6%)
09./02. [NSW] Pro Baseball Famista Evolution <SPT> (Bandai Namco Games) {2018.08.02} (¥6.100) – 15.671 / 58.517 (-63%)
10./00. [PS4] Bullet Girls: Phantasia <ACT> (D3Publisher) {2018.08.09} (¥7.980) – 14.396 / NEW 
11./00. [NSW] Okami HD # <ADV> (Capcom) {2018.08.09} (¥2.990) – 14.089 / NEW 
12./06. [NSW] Octopath Traveler <RPG> (Square Enix) {2018.07.13} (¥6.800) – 11.390 / 175.625 (-38%)
13./15. [NSW] Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker <ADV> (Nintendo) {2018.07.13} (¥3.980) – 10.875 / 90.123 (+38%)
14./01. [3DS] Etrian Odyssey Nexus <RPG> (Atlus) {2018.08.02} (¥6.480) – 9.914 / 81.860 (-86%)
15./00. [NSW] Layton’s Mystery Journey: Katrielle and the Millionaire’s Conspiracy DX <ADV> (Level 5) {2018.08.09} (¥5.980) – 9.704 / NEW 
16./14. [NSW] The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild # <ADV> (Nintendo) {2017.03.03} (¥6.980) – 8.300 / 1.074.639 (+5%)
17./16. [NSW] Kirby Star Allies <ACT> (Nintendo) {2018.03.16} (¥5.980) – 7.657 / 587.496 (+9%)
18./17. [3DS] Pokemon Ultra Sun / Ultra Moon <RPG> (Pokemon Co.) {2017.11.17} (¥4.980) – 6.451 / 1.695.264 (+4%)
19./00. [PSV] Bullet Girls: Phantasia <ACT> (D3Publisher) {2018.08.09} (¥6.980) – 6.441 / NEW 
20./18. [NSW] Super Mario Odyssey # <ACT> (Nintendo) {2017.10.27} (¥5.980) – 6.016 / 1.788.814 (+16%)

HARDWARE

• Switch – 50,143 (50,799)
• PlayStation 4 – 16,982 (13,113)
• New 2DS LL – 7,628 (9,015)
• PlayStation 4 Pro – 5,044 (5,889)
• PlayStation Vita – 3,507 (3,339)
• New 3DS LL – 2,784 (3,010)
• 2DS – 498 (561)
• Xbox One X – 43 (53)
• Xbox One – 31 (21)

Thanks, 4Gamer!

We had learnt back in May that Yakuza 3 was being remastered for the PS4. Since then, we have been able to see some screenshots which showcased what the game would like as well. Now, some new gameplay videos have been released, which showcase the game in action.

The gameplay was actually showcased as part of a livestream. In the first video, we get to see the protagonist going around Okinawa, exploring the city, and even engaging in battle with some enemies. The second video showcases the golf minigame, and if you’re familiar with the series at all,  you would know how integral minigames are to the Yakuza experience. We also get to hear about how smooth the game feels running at 60 frames per second, but we don’t really get to see that in these videos for ourselves, since the livestream was recorded at 30 FPS.

Anyway, it will be a treat to play this game at 60 FPS when it finally releases on August 9- in Japan, at the very least. Sadly, a Western release for the game hasn’t been announced as of now. You can check out both videos, along with a video of the entire livestream below.

https://youtu.be/z8zQLnkA2dE