RGG wants to reframe the clunkiest Yakuza game

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake might be the flashiest example of video game remakes trying to incorporate a franchise’s legacy, but Ryu Ga Gotoku’s Yakuza Kiwami 3 is shaping up to be the best-executed so far. Polygon had the chance to play several sections of the upcoming game and its Dark Ties prequel-slash-expansion, set for launch on Feb. 12, as part of a digital preview event. Dark Ties and its quest-based structure feel a little tacked onto the main course here — which they are. But RGG effectively invokes Kiryu’s story from later in the series to reframe some of the original game’s slower, more meandering segments — and it’s a promising change so far.

Folks used to half-jokingly call Yakuza 3 the Orphanage Simulator. Yakuza Kiwami 3 is the “Kiryu’s daily life in Okinawa” simulator, at least in part. The new additions we’ve seen so far all have something to do with soaking up the ambiance of Okinawa, like walking through a fish market or helping develop a local bar’s reputation. Or teaming up with a bunch of wannabe delinquents to keep the real thugs from ruining their hometown in Kiwami 3‘s new Bad Boy Dragon side mode. It’s wholesome and even a bit cozy, despite occasionally getting too self-referential. The first substory I ran into in the free-roam segment saw Kiryu help TV superstar Akko-san (played by real-life singer Wada Akiko) see the sights of Okinawa, and it ends with a chance to ask her to sing Baka Mitai, which is basically the series’ unofficial anthem at this point.

The orphanage segment also benefits from feeling more purposeful than it did in the original release. RGG added new minigames that help ease you into Kiryu’s role as surrogate dad, such as doing homework and learning how to sew for the kids. It’s incredibly sweet, but it’s also where RGG seems to be quietly recontextualizing the story. Sure, there’s the main plot, presumably with all its original silliness and head-scratch-inducing twists intact, still to come. But what RGG really seems to want from Kiwami 3 is a soapy tragedy about a man who finally gets what he wants in life. But only for a little while.

Which sounds heavy for a preview where I spent about 50 minutes doing domestic tasks like making dinner for orphans, playing a sewing machine minigame, raising Kiryu’s Daddy Rank (an actual thing, not just my term), and putting stickers on a phone. Tonal inconsistency is hardly a new thing for Yakuza, but in this case, it seems like it might serve a purpose beyond just being quirky. Odd as it seems, that mundanity seems to be the point of many of Yakuza 3‘s new additions. Okinawa isn’t just a slow prologue before the real story starts. It’s Kiryu’s life as he wants it. That takes on added emotional weight in light of how the series progresses after this point, and it seems like RGG is relying on that knowledge to help give these segments meaning they never could’ve had before Infinite Wealth.

Dark Ties sees you play as Yoshitaka Mine, a Tojo Clan bigwig, before the events of Yakuza 3, in a mode called Kanda Damage Control. It’s like the structure of The Man Who Erased His Name with the coliseum battles of Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Dark Ties is quest-based, where Mine susses out problems in Kamurocho and applies his special talents (violence and being nosy) to solve them and build up his reputation. The goal, I assume, is to address a common criticism from the original Yakuza 3, that Mine was too unsympathetic as a character. And the slice I played certainly gives more insight into who he is and, by extension, why he turned out the way he did. Whether Mine’s punches pack the same emotion as Joryu’s in The Man Who Erased His Name remains to be seen, though.

Image: Ryu Ga otoku Studio/Sega via Polygon

The other half of Dark Ties is a series of coliseum battles where you fight alongside a bunch of mercenaries for hire. It’s almost identical to the coliseum segments of Pirate Yakuza, but Mine’s combo-heavy fighting style kept it interesting. Mine’s combat style reminds me of a fighting-game character even more than Kiryu or Majima, a feeling that intensifies in his burst mode. All his combos go out the window then, as every skill input changes in a way meant to simulate “fighting by instinct.” Much as I enjoyed having Kiryu use a stick to beat the shit out of misogynists and thugs with his new Ryukyu fighting style, it still felt pretty much like fighting as Kiryu in every other Yakuza game. Mine’s style feels fresher and more exciting, at least in the small slice I played. The idea of matching a character’s fighting style more closely to their personality is something I’m surprised RGG hasn’t done before now, but it’s refreshing to see here.

While I’m still not totally convinced how essential Dark Ties is to the equation, I’m excited to see more of the ways that the main storyline leans into the quiet, slice of life moments that Kiryu looks back on with such fondness later in life. This series has only gotten better over time when it comes to taking big emotional swings with its characters, and there’s going to be plenty of drama for fans to savor when the shit finally hits the fan in Okinawa.