Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

I've spent a lot of time with the Like a Dragon catalogue, and Yakuza 3 has always occupied a strange place in it - beloved for its heart, criticised for its infuriating combat. So when Kiwami 3 landed, the question wasn't whether a remake was technically possible. It was whether the soul of the original could survive the surgery. The answer, frustratingly, is: partially. On the gameplay side, this is unambiguously the best version of Yakuza 3's combat. The original was so notorious for blocking-obsessed enemy AI that fans nicknamed it "Blockuza", and that problem is genuinely fixed here. Strong enemies now operate in a hyper-armor super state rather than standing behind an invisible wall, which makes fights feel reactive rather than tedious. Kiryu also gains the Ryukyu style - an Okinawan martial arts mode where he swings scythes and shields alongside his classic Dragon brawling - which adds welcome variety even if it doesn't reach the mechanical heights of Yakuza 0 or Lost Judgment. The stat progression runs on currency rather than EXP this time, which keeps the pacing brisk. The Morning Glory orphanage content, once a mandatory story bottleneck in the original, has been redesigned as an optional management mode - farming vegetables, cooking for the kids, playing Reversi - and it's genuinely charming when it's not being forced on you. The Bad Boy Dragon side mode, where Kiryu leads an all-girls biker gang across territory battles, is exactly as gloriously unhinged as that description sounds, and one of the better side modes the series has produced in years. Dark Ties is the real wildcard. Playing as Yoshitaka Mine - cold, calculated, desperately clawing his way up the Tojo Clan hierarchy - is a tonal shift the series has never quite attempted before. His combat kit, built around the Dark Awakening gauge and an MMA-inflected boxing style with Judo throws, plays differently enough from Kiryu to feel distinct. The story of Mine's rise, his complicated relationship with Daigo, and his ties to the morally repugnant Kanda makes for genuinely interesting character work. The Hell's Arena mode in Dark Ties also delivers a Survival Hell dungeon progression that functions like a light roguelite, with run-based upgrades that carry forward into subsequent attempts. Expect somewhere between 5 and 12 hours out of Dark Ties depending on side completion, which lands it closer to the Majima Saga from Kiwami 2 than a full co-equal campaign. Here is where I have to be direct about the rough edges, because they are significant. Roughly three quarters of the original game's substories were cut, and the replacements don't fill the gap. Running time for Kiwami 3 alone lands around 20-26 hours depending on completionism, noticeably shorter than the original. More consequentially, the story rewrites alter major canon events in ways that will directly affect where any Kiwami 4 begins - and the game's in-universe justification for those changes is, to put it charitably, a shrug. The recasting of several characters, including one whose real-world conduct sparked significant public controversy, has cast a long shadow over the release and represents a genuine reputational misstep for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. The PC version runs decently with DLSS and FSR available, though occasional stutters during transitions suggest the Dragon Engine port is not entirely optimised. For series veterans who remember the original Yakuza 3 fondly, the alterations will sting. For newcomers, Kiwami 3 offers a legitimate and engaging entry point into Kiryu's story, with a recap feature that keeps things followable without prior homework.

Monika · Scout Team

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