Yakuza Remaster.

Earlier today, Sega confirmed that Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 will come to PS4 as remasters. According to the latest Famitsu article, each one is rendered in 1080p and upgraded to 60 FPS. Earlier this month, we covered Yakuza 0 and included a preview of Yakuza Kiwami 2 with it. Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 released only on the PS3. Thus, this is the perfect time for Sega to re-release the series. Introducing its new fans, from 2017 onwards, will prove crucial to the series’ success.

The series began its biggest stride in 2017. Yakuza 0 was a hit, selling over 100k units at launch in the west, and maintaining an 85 on Metacritic. This prompted Sega to release Yakuza Kiwami in the west later that year. Originally released in 2005, on PS2, as Yakuza, the Kiwami version was a full-blown remake. Utilizing the engine and assets of Yakuza 0, it offered new story elements. Moreover, it was completely redone game from the ground up. The success of Kiwami further prompted Sega to release Yakuza Kiwami 2, a remake of the second game. This remade title comes to the U.S. later this summer.

Is Yakuza worth getting into?

Having played Shenmue for Dreamcast, I never got to play much of it. My disc crapped out on the Dreamcast. Despite my love for the open-world interactions in a city with an arcade and tons of side-quests and street fights, fate just wouldn’t have it. When I saw Sega advertising the Yakuza series on my Facebook feed, I simply asked them how it was. The Yakuza Games page kindly replied to me that it has elements similar to Shenmue, which prompted me to check it out online. The preview video I watched included a preview of the gameplay and mini-games featured in the title.

Buying the game myself, I enjoyed over 100 hours of storytelling and finishing side-quests, culminating up to a massively difficult superboss fight. Yakuza 0 was nominated for a Golden Joystick for PlayStation game of the year. For a 2017 game, this included the likes of NieR: Automata, Persona 5, and Horizon: Zero Dawn. Despite its heavy competition, I thoroughly enjoyed the title on its own merits, heavily praising the storytelling and all the elements brought forth into the game. It took an open mind to get into a game that looked heavily realistic and crime-based. What I got instead was excellent writing, over-the-top fighting action, and side-quests that ranged from training a dominatrix to ordering pizza to help someone get a visa. It was a perfect harmony of dire, serious, and occasionally downright clever and funny.

A bright future.

The series is enjoying a stride of life never seen before. While the original game sold well on PS2, Yakuza’s history includes cult-hit status. Sega’s strong marketing on social network platforms likely have much to do with spreading the word for the series to succeed. One might also think this is due to series creator, Toshihiro Nagoshi, being promoted to Sega’s Chief Creative Officer in 2012. As far as I’m concerned, the series is on a roll. Sega’s promoting the series in a way they rarely promote their games. Considering the number of Sega series, like Streets of Rage and Shinobi, which have come and gone, they’re doing an exceptional job with promotion for this particular series. Even the Sonic series, their mascot product, has its strides, largely due to series’ notoriety with quality in the past.

With that said, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is the series’ latest part of success. Maintaining an 82 on Metacritic, it also marks the supposed end of the series. With that said, hopefully the upcoming remasters will prompt new players to try out the series. Keep in mind that 3, 4, and 5 are coming out as Yakuza remaster titles. These are not Kiwami remakes. Therefore, expect much of the same action from the original PS3 titles, just upgraded heavily in terms of visuals.

Thank you for reading our Yakuza Remaster preview. Are you looking forward to any particular title? Are you new to the series and considering trying it out? Let us know in the comments below!