It’s been almost 13 years since the release of the first Yakuza game. The action-adventure game series has always been a hit in Japan, but it kept struggling to garner a large enough fanbase in the West that Sega didn’t bother with localizing most of the franchise’s titles to Western audiences. Luckily, last year’s prequel to the series called Yakuza 0 was a big enough success outside of Japan that Sega decided to release Yakuza 6 worldwide. Now, fans around the world can experience the glorious sendoff of one of gaming’s most well-written characters, Kazuma Kiryu.
Not for newcomers
Before I continue with the review, I want to make one thing clear. After reading some articles about Yakuza 6, it’s come to my attention that a lot of gaming press sell this game as a perfect entry point for newcomers to the franchise. While this is debatable in matters of gameplay, which I’ll explain later, the story of Yakuza 6 relies heavily on your knowledge of previous Yakuza titles. Sure, most of the main story in 6 is self-contained and easy enough to follow, but players will get much more out of it when they have played the previous titles. If you don’t want to get through all the games in the series before playing Yakuza 6, I then heavily suggest you at least play Yakuza 5, since this game is a direct sequel to that title.
Haruka’s mystery
The story of Yakuza 6 takes place right after the ending of Yakuza 5. A hospitalized Kyriu is approached by the police, who arrest him for his past crimes. Kyriu doesn’t put up a fight and accepts his imprisonment for three years. After his release, he discovers that his foster child Haruka has gone missing and goes out to find her. He eventually finds out that she has been hospitalized in Kamurocho after a hit and run accident. Since she’s been put in a coma, Kyriu decides to take care of her baby son and find out who has injured her and the reasoning behind it. As if that isn’t enough to keep Kyriu busy, he also has to deal with his past in the criminal underworld and witness what changes Japan has gone through during his three-year absence.
Like every other game in the series, Yakuza 6 starts with a simple premise that slowly unfolds in a crazy rollercoaster ride filled with tense drama and hilarious comedy bits. One moment you’re dealing with murderous Yakuza that are out to get you, the other you’re chasing a Roomba throughout Kamurocho because it carries something valuable. The tone of the story is expertly crafted and blends action, drama, and comedy perfectly together. The fact that this is Kazuma Kyriu’s final story that sends him off with a fantastic ending makes this an even better experience than what you can already expect of a Yakuza game. His character is, as always, well-written but this time most of the focus is entirely on him instead of a wide range of characters. Don’t worry though, your favorite characters get their moment to shine in Yakuza 6, just not as much as in Yakuza 4 or 5.
Simplified combat
The main reason some game press articles describe Yakuza 6 as a good starting point for newcomers (which again, it isn’t) is the simplified combat. Instead of giving you multiple combat styles that you separately develop, you are now given one single style that borrows moves from previous games. This makes the leveling up the system more streamlined, but less deep than earlier titles like Yakuza 0 or Kiwami. It makes sense in terms of the story, as this is Kyriu’s last game so his fighting style is an accumulation of all his experience throughout the series. However, the downside is that this makes combat more repetitive as you’re constantly fighting through gangs of thugs, yakuza, and other delinquents with the same moves. It also makes the game more unforgiving when playing on the ‘Hard’ and ‘Legend’ difficulty. Enemies attack much faster and constantly block in these modes, giving you little room to breathe since you can’t switch fighting styles to deal with different kind of situations. If you were to pick up this game, I’d suggest playing it on the ‘Normal’ difficulty.
Minigames in spades
But the Yakuza games are never only about the story or combat, they also offer loads of minigames that are scattered throughout the game’s setting. Yakuza 6 continues this tradition and is filled with simple games like karaoke to much deeper ones that could be separate video games on their own, like Clan Wars and Baseball. There are even some ‘absurd’ ones like feeding cats in a cafe or online chatting with women that are portrayed by live-action actresses. Of course, these types of games are to be expected from a Yakuza title but these may put off newcomers or casual players with their absurdity. Don’t get me wrong though, these ‘joke’ minigames are part of the reasons why I love the series and I recommend every single one in Yakuza 6 to other fans. Even all the other minigames are well-made, especially Clan Wars. In this, you recruit characters to your own clan and send them out on missions in which they have to beat up opponents in a certain amount of time. You can also fight other players’ clans in a separate PVP mode. These fights will reward you with experience, which helps in developing Kyriu’s fighting style. I spent most of my minigame time in Clan Wars and it’s clear that this is Yakuza 6’s best gameplay mode. All the other minigames are great too, but Clan Wars is the one that stands out the most.
Dragon Engine
Yakuza 6 is the first title in the series that is built entirely for the PS4 platform, which is why it was made in a new engine called the ‘Dragon Engine’. It doesn’t take long to notice that the developers don’t have much experience with the new engine. The frame rate often drops and stutters and the visuals, while improved, aren’t that much better than in Yakuza 0. Which, to be fair, is not surprising. Yakuza 0 was made with an almost 10-year old engine, so the dev team knew how to get the most out of it, unlike the new ‘Dragon Engine’. I just wished that they first made Yakuza Kiwami 2 before making 6 instead of the other way around, since the former will also utilize this new engine. Luckily, the pros of the ‘Dragon Engine’ outweigh the cons.
As earlier said, the visuals in Yakuza 6 aren’t that much better than in Yakuza 0 but that doesn’t mean there aren’t noticeable improvements. The shadows and lighting effects are much better visually designed than in previous titles, especially during scenes that take place indoors. The loading times are also much more reduced, or even completely gone. Walking from the streets into shops will no longer result in a loading screen as you now are instantly transferred inside. There are also a lot more destructible environments that further improve the enjoyment of beating up gangsters. For example, fighting someone in a convenience store will result in noodle cups and beer bottles flying around. I can continue listing up all the little improvements that are possible with the new engine, but keep things short I’ll end this part by saying that the ‘Dragon Engine’, although not flawless, is a noticeable and positive upgrade.
Conclusion
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is another great addition to the Yakuza series and ends Kyriu’s story in a satisfying way. Fans will without a doubt find more than enough enjoyment in this game, even though it’s combat system is not as good as in Yakuza 0 or Kiwami. The Dragon Engine has some flaws, but it also has a lot more improvements that should win most people over. The minigames are great as always and should keep players invested for a long time after completing the story. In short, I highly recommend Yakuza 6 to fans.
