Yakuza 0

An absolute classic crime drama. The good: The bubble-era vibes. I moved to Japan in the mid-90's, and despite being 10 years after the events of the game, the Kabuki-cho and Dotombori vibes in Yakuza 0 are miraculously spot-on. Though the actual Tokyo and Osaka geography is much simplified and altered, the atmosphere is absolutely what it was like in my memories. The main story. Precisely what you want from a good pulp-fiction yakuza movie. Honor, betrayal, revenge, heartbreak. I puddled up on occasion. The side stories. Mostly comic relief from the very serious main story. Horny, silly and sometimes satirical. Also entirely optional. The side activities. Want to put the main story on hold and just sell real estate or run a hostess bar? Knock yourself out. Good at Japanese board games? You can play go, Japanese chess or hanafuda. Go to the arcade and play Space Harrier or a crane game. There're batting cages, slot car racing bouts, karaoke and dance contests - the list of mini-games is frankly mind-boggling. The voice acting. They've got actual actors known for roles in Japanese yakuza films. It's all as good as it gets if you like manly gangster scenery chewing. The combat is fun and you can either button mash, or spend the time (and money) to develop strategies and a build that you like. Difficulty levels. Abilities skill trees are cool and you've got three to choose from for each character. The meh: I'm still unclear how equipment and weapon slots work, why some items I'd expect to do something seem to do nothing, what weapon degradation means and loads of other little things. I was able to get through combat with basic hand to hand skills and 'genki drinks', so it didn't matter than much, but I really was hoping to get a better handle on what stuff actually does for you. There are a few too many random fight encounters. There are a LOT of cut scenes, especially towards the end. If this bothers you, it might be a dealbreaker. The final scene/battle goes on for a very long time without an opportunity to save. As you approach the ending, make sure you have a solid 2-3 hours free, because you'll need it. The verdict: Since this game is no longer on Steam because of the remastered version, I'm pretty sure almost no one will see this review. But this is hardly an objective critique anyway. I lived in Japan for 14 years, and plan to retire there, but in the meantime I have this love letter to the Japan I knew back in the day. Yakuza 0 is a beautiful, heartfelt nostalgia bomb for me on many levels. It's a game I could spend 100s of hours in to fully take advantage of, and I'm almost sad that I felt the necessity to move through the game at a brisk pace so that I could tackle the rest of the games in the series.

The writing in Yakuza zero is genuinely mind blowing. I honestly can’t recall when was the last time I was this much invested in a story. Even with how long the game is, the narrative never ceases to amaze me. Yet, unlike many video games with a heavy emphasis on storytelling, Yakuza zero is a video game through and through. The game acknowledges that it’s a video game and goes wild with it. It has so much memorable and hilarious side content, with a fun and engaging combat system. Truly one of its kind.

Yakuza 0 is hands down one of the greatest games ever created. The gameplay and graphics are a little bit dated but everything else makes up for it. The combat is awesome and one of the best in the series at least until they changed the engine, both of the protagonists are loveable and iconic accompanied by an extremely ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ compelling storyline and there's millions of side activities you can do that can stretch the game's length to over 60 hours even. An absolute must play. 10/10