Before I even started playing, I was disappointed in Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku studios that they didn't cast Goh Hamazaki, played by Teruyuki Kagawa, who had previously confessed to sexually assaulting a woman by force.
Neither company even addressed the issue, but continued to use the character to market the game. This despite being fully aware of the uproar it caused among fans who were rightfully calling for Kagawa's removal.
What's even harder to swallow is that Sega and RGG Studios have previously recast actors accused of illegal activity, so it's incomprehensible why no action was taken for this latest release. The Kagawa thing and Sega's silence on the matter dampened my experience of an otherwise relatively good remake.
The Boys Are Back In Town
It was very fulfilling to step back into Kiryu's shoes when both he and the Tojo Clan were in their prime in Yakuza Kiwami 3. We're back in his old gray suit, kicking ass with his old moves, seeing our old group of friends and comrades, and walking through those old familiar streets of Kamurocho. It was so good.
Not everyone shares this sentiment, but I much prefer the action combat in the Yakuza series, which is why I always enjoy returning to them. Some say it's too buttoned up, but that's exactly why I like it. I want the fast crash, smash, bang, here's the action on the bike. While I appreciate the turn-based combat in recent Like a Dragon titles, it feels a lot slower, and when you encounter a battle every few minutes in the streets, you just want to fight your way through them and be on your way.
But Kiwami 3 doesn't just give us the action fights we all love. It is also full of new additions and improvements. The Ryukyu style is a new one that allows Kiryu to fight with Okinawan martial arts that use different weapons. It's pretty fun, but to be honest, I'm a bit of a basic nerd when it comes to combat, so I mostly stuck with the old Dragon of Dojima style.
We also have two big pieces of side content for Kiwami 3. The Morning Glory content has been supplemented with new minigames and cutscenes, with Kiryu having a Daddy Rank as he helps the kids with homework, chores, and generally takes care of them. Since the game revolves around Kiryu running Morning Glory and having to fend off those trying to shut it down, it was good to have more connections with the kids outside of Haruka.
There is also Bad Boy Dragon content where Kiryu joins the Haisai Girls biker gang. This sort of fills the same role as your crew in Pirate Yakuza, where you can recruit and unlock new characters to add to your team and then embark on various combat challenges. For modern players, it's a familiar format with a fresh perspective, while for veterans, it's a quirky addition with its own side story that fits surprisingly well into the storyline.
I'm really crazy about the customization options that have become the norm in recent Yakuza titles, and of course I just dressed up Kiryu as Majima. But I can appreciate the range even if I choose the same old thing every time. The phone accessories were also a fun touch. New collectibles provide added stats, buffs, or features that serve a purpose beyond the fun of decorating my phone with, you guessed it, Majima-themed decorations.
Other recent additions to the series that offer distraction or quality-of-life features are also making a comeback. There's Street Surfer to help you get around faster, Photo Rally is back and a buddy mechanic has been added where you make friends with random people on the streets – although here it's tied to your mobile phone.
The downside of getting all these shiny new distractions is that we lost a lot of sub-story in Kiwami 3. While you could argue that many of the old subplots were just fluffy filler, some are noticeable losses, such as the hostess content.
I was surprised by how emotional I felt playing Yakuza Kiwami 3, and I don't mean just because it made me nostalgic. Despite knowing what was going to happen and when, these tough moments hit me just as hard as when I first played Yakuza 3.
No doubt part of it was that we can now watch all those bittersweet, heartbreaking and overjoyed moments with shiny new graphics and dialogue, but the main reason is that RGG Studio has always known how to tell an incredibly powerful story that hits all the right notes, and Yakuza 3 still stands as one of those great stories.
As many demo players have noted, some areas in Yakuza Kiwami 3 felt like someone cranked up the saturation to 11, and it didn't seem to fix any menu jitters. It's not constant by any means, as it only really happened in specific areas of Downtown Ryukyu during the day, and Sega already made a statement that it would be fixed at launch. However, aside from that, I noticed a few graphic dots, such as Date smoking an invisible cigarette. Yakuza Kiwami 3 probably needed a bit more polishing before it hit our screens.
Other than that, the game looks damn good. The Kiwami overhaul lost some details that were a shame, such as Kirya's room in Morning Glory not having a photo of him Sayama or a drawing of Haruka on the wall, and the game loses a bit of heart by removing them.
Dark ties
Yoshitaka Mine is a fan favorite, so it really seemed like a no-brainer that giving him his own little spin-off would be a fan favorite. It certainly was for me. I loved this throwback to when he was this slick Yakuza criminal, but I also liked the “bad guy” perspective with less of a moral compass than we're used to seeing in our Yakuza protagonists.
There's a good deed quest (read: substory) where a guy stabs a serial killer and mine does nothing to stop him. Sure, after the guy decides not to, Mine gives him the old “don't throw away your life” speech, but he was perfectly willing to let the guy kill someone in front of him. Kiryu and Ichiban would never do that, but hey, we all love a bad boy, really.
His fighting style also seemed a bit darker, not that Kiryu ever held back from violence in hot action anyway. My style is more emo, almost like Persona, with bound hearts and how he takes his rage out on the poor bastards who cross his path. I loved it.
It was interesting to see Mine's rise through the yakuza ranks, but I kept expecting a real emotional storytelling moment that never really came. While I thought Kanda's whole karma excuse was a great way to get Mine to do the game mechanics we're used to doing (namely: helping people), there were a few times where Mine felt too loyal to Kanda. It was more than just using him to get ahead, which didn't quite fit with what we know about the two, so it was a little jarring.
In Japan, Dark Ties is subtitled Gaiden, so I expected a bit more meat from that as well, more like a Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name. It's sad that Dark Ties only has three chapters, and while it had some enjoyable content and promising ideas, we could have done with more depth in both the narrative and the content available.
I beat it in 3.5 hours.
A few more chapters could have allowed for more stakes that would have made me feel more emotionally connected to Mineo's story. And while I liked that the golden orb hunt from recent titles was back and Hell's Arena was fun, we needed to do more. Single song karaoke felt like a cop out. Overall, Dark Ties is short but sweet. It's a bit of fun and a new look, but it could have done more.
What do we really want from a Kiwami remake?
In general, we expect the remake to build on the original and improve it to the point where it becomes the new default way to experience the game going forward. Remakes are a great way to keep some of the best games available to fans old and new, bringing them into the modern era not only in looks and mechanics, but also allowing us to play them without setting up an old SCART TV.
I'm not dusting off my PlayStation 2 to play Yakuza; I only play Yakuza Kiwami. And I definitely don't recommend newbies to get the original version – why would you when there's a brand new and improved version? I think evolution is a natural part of remaking a game, and from the first two Kiwami titles we knew roughly what to expect from Kiwami 3: new side content, more character depth, and a few changes.
I was ready to accept this change. I could have overlooked Rikiya's skin overhaul and reluctantly accepted that we wouldn't be getting the much-loved reveal system. In fact, I've always embraced small, silly story changes over the course of the series, like raising side characters from the dead to serve as bartenders. It seemed harmless, really. But there was always a line I didn't want RGG to cross, and disappointingly, Yakuza Kiwami 3 skirted right past it and then some.
Yakuza 3's ending was retconned, and while this review won't spoil the ending, the retcon didn't sit well with me as a long-time fan because I struggle to come to terms with the idea of being emotionally invested in the narrative of a series that can change something so fundamental on a whim. However, I am well aware that for new players or fans who care less about the overall story of the series, this change means nothing and does not detract from an otherwise good game.
Overall, Yakuza Kiwami 3 is the best way to experience Yakuza 3 right now, especially since this retcon will likely be established canon by now. There's no denying that it's improved on the original in many ways, not only giving it a much-needed facelift and tinkering under the hood to make the experience smoother, but adding a whole host of new content to whet our appetites. While I lament some of the losses during the creative overhaul and am noticeably unhappy with one major change, I can't deny that the positives far outweigh the negatives.
- Released
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February 11, 2026
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ / Blood, Intense violence, Sexual themes, Crude language, Alcohol consumption, In-game purchases
- Developers
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Studio Ryu Ga Gotoku
- The storytelling is as powerful and emotional as it was in 2010.
- The new content additions fit well with the story and offer fun distractions and new story arcs.
- Much appreciated brilliance in visuals, sound and gameplay.
- Majima.
- A few graphical glitches.
- I miss some cropped content and removed details.
- The ending retcon will be hard for longtime fans to swallow.
- Dark Ties could have been developed more.
