Despite starting on the mean streets of Tokyo in the 90s, Yakuza has become a sensation all around the world over the past few years. The series is as popular as a boozy Friday night down your local karaoke joint. It’s as touching as a heart-to-heart with your best mate, over the beaten body of a double-crossing crime boss. It’s got as much cinematic clout as anything Martin Scorsese has crapped out over the past few decades.
Yakuza, then, is essential. I don’t think you can call yourself a serious Enjoyer Of Games™ if you haven’t at least tried out the series. You’ll come for the timeless streets of Kamurocho, and you’ll stay for the madcap side missions involving dominatrixes, adult babies, and fledgling gang members that just need a little help with their personal style. You’ll be enticed by the crunchy, ultraviolet combat, and stick around for the often-better-than-cinema cutscenes that show mighty clan leaders at their lowest ebb. You’ll come to try it, and stay for a long time. Promise.
This week, we saw that Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 are making their rapturous return to Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. The trio of games – the start of the series, at least chronologically – were removed from Game Pass for various reasons towards the end of last year. This left the rest of the saga – that’s Yakuza 3, 4, 5, 6, and Like A Dragon – sitting there, twiddling their collective thumbs, an end without a beginning. People would ask “where do I start with Yakuza, then?” after hearing me pop off about how good Like A Dragon’s weird pivot to turn-based RPG is. And what was I to do, tell them to buy Yakuza 0? Pfft, good luck.
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