The Yakuza series has been around for quite some time. The first game dates back to the later years of the Playstation 2, and the 7th main game in the series recently released in Japan and is set to come to the West soon. All the regular releases, plus the spinoffs, prequel, and slowly releasing remakes and upcoming remasters make Yakuza one of the most actively developed video games series to date. [iYakuza 6[/i] was developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega for Sony's Playstation 4. It was originally released in 2016 in Japan. A worldwide release followed two years later in 2018. This long running series has quickly been gaining popularity in the West, which has mostly been propelled by the prequel Yakuza 0. Sega's been spacing out the timing of their Yakuza releases, so the market does not become overwhelmed by constant releases as the West gets caught up with the main story on top of the remakes.



Yakuza 6 stars long time Yakuza hero, Kazuma Kiryu, and follows him as he becomes embroiled in another deep Japanese mafioso storyline split between Kamurocho in Tokyo and Onomichi in Hiroshima. The main characters have been aging over the years of the releases of the Yakuza games, with Kazuma now in his mid 40s. Kiryu has spent three years in prison between Yakuza 5 and 6, and finds that life has moved on in his absence. Haruka was a little girl in the first Yakuza, and in Yakuza 6, she is the mother of an infant boy named Haruto. Kazuma learns all of this and begins to seek out Haruto's father after Haruka is the victim of a hit and run accident and sent to the hospital in a coma.


The game follows the same, classic mechanical design. This includes the densely packed open world exploration, as well as its action-based, street brawling combat system. Yakuza 6 is unique as it marks the final game in the classic action brawler battle style, since Yakuza 7 has moved to a turn-based combat system. As Kazuma wanders the streets, he finds plenty of random groups of men looking for a fight. He's able to temporarily escape the chaos of the streets of Kamurocho and Onomichi by running across various activities to distract him. The major instances are the game's substories and related side quests scattered around the cities. A minor form of these substories is also introduced in the game. Kazuma can get notifications through the Troublr app on his phone. People watch out for troublemakers on the streets and report it through Troublr in hopes that the great vigilante will sweep the streets clean.

As usual, tons of mini games and extra features are thrown around the two areas of Kamurocho and Onomichi. As Kazuma wanders the streets, he finds all kinds of realistic attractions on every street. He can shop at convenience stores, clothing stores, pawn shops, as well as eat at restaurants and drink at bars. Inside the bars Kazuma also finds familiar games like pool and darts. There are other attractions such as the Sega arcades, which features the four full classic Sega arcade games: Fantasy Zone, Space Harrier, Hang On!, and Out Run. Two additonal games also are featured in Puyo Puyo and Virtua Fighter 6, both of which are in their full arcade release forms! There are also plenty of mini games, which are and will likely remain unique to Yakuza 6.

Kazuma is introduced to a bloody ideological and turf war between a corrupted street vigilante group and its noble splinter gang. Kazuma takes on an advisory role, managing who marches on the street to fight, when they march, and where they go. In Onomichi, Kiryu can help a local fisherman with his catch by playing an on-rails, arcade shooting game where Kazuma can make some extra money spearfishing. In Kamurocho and Onomichi, Kazuma can meet cats and befriend them through the power of canned food to help staff up Kamurocho's newest cat cafe. One other major side show is the secret to how Kazuma can stay in shape as he gets older. He ends up getting a membership at a local RIZAP gym where he can pump iron and get a well rounded workout, as well as expert dietary advice.


The graphics and aesthetic of Yakuza 6 still look good, even with the two year gap between the Japanese and international releases. Despite how good the graphics look, there are also plenty of times where nearby textures and entities will suddenly pop into view just in front of, or sometimes even behind, Kiryu.

The soundtrack was composed by a myriad of different people working internally within Sega, and the final product rocks hard. Yakuza 6 is proclaimed to have the best soundtrack in the entire series and it really is that good! It's the kind of music that makes the player want to stop playing for a few moments to dance, bang their head, or just listen to the intense battle tracks.

Yakuza 6 has plenty to offer both the new and veteran player. The game feels like the meatiest Yakuza game made to date, almost like they were planning to take some parts of the series in a new direction and threw absolutely everything at one last classic game. Tons of side content keeps players busy and entertained. All the activities provide plenty of fun in various forms. The truth is that Yakuza games feel like there's no limit to what can be added and this game makes a fine addition to this long running series and adds to the slowly swelling PS4 Yakuza library. The best part of Yakuza's popularity and stream of releases is that the games start getting cheaper really fast. Yakuza 6 is only a two year old game in the West and it can already be found for around $20 brand new. These low prices make the various Yakuza games currently some of the best values in the entire gaming industry. Anybody that finds themselves a fan of one game should try and snatch them all up.

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