Yakuza 0 is the direct prequel to the successful Japanese video game series, Yakuza. Developed by SEGA, the open-world action-adventure beat-em-up game was originally released in Japan in March 2015 but was later released in Europe and North America on Jan. 24 of this year.
SEGA aims for the game to be an introduction for players to the series that is six iterations deep with hundreds of hours of lore. While Yakuza 0 offers an entry point for North American gamers story-wise, the game may still prove difficult for many to enjoy, given how distinctly Japanese Yakuza 0 is.
On the surface, Yakuza 0 may seem comparable to Western titles like Grand Theft Auto, but if you go into this game expecting Sleeping Dogs — an Asian-influenced GTA — then you will be disappointed. Yakuza 0 is part beat-em-up, part Japanese crime novel and part anime.
The biggest hurdle of the game is the amount of text you have to read. No cutscenes are translated into English, so you’ll be reading subtitles for each cinematic — and, boy, are there a lot of them. For a fighting game, you won’t be fighting much, because gameplay in the Yakuza series is merely a vessel to tell a story.
Here’s how your typical main mission is structured: Watch a long cutscene setting up the mission; run across town to the mission; watch another long cutscene; fight some enemies; another cutscene; fight the mission’s boss.
The story itself is an interesting tale that switches between two of the series’
primary characters and their distinct situations with the Japanese crime underworld. Each storyline takes place during the 1980’s in fictionalized versions of the Entertainment and Red Light districts of Tokyo and Osaka.
While I won’t dive deep into the Yakuza 0 story, I have enjoyed its great moments of drama, sincerity and downright awesome action sequences. In fact, the introduction to a second playable character is one of my favorite cinematics in any game.
Focusing solely on the main story line will consist of around 20 hours of gameplay. However, exploring the cities and completing side missions and mini-games will double, possibly triple the playing time, and this is where Yakuza 0 gets to show off its crazy side.
For as much as the Yakuza series is a crime drama, it is just as much a zany comedy. From helping children buy video games, to singing karaoke, to helping a living statue go to the bathroom, to talking to a gyrating man in his underwear, there are more laugh-out-loud moments than you can count, with some of the best comedic timing ever in a video game.
My personal favorite is upon scoring a “turkey” in the bowling mini-game, the staff awards you a turkey. Except the turkey is actually a live chicken, who you then name Nugget and employ as a manager at your real estate firm.
You can also run your own cabaret — managing your hostesses by leveling up their skills, choosing their outfits and doing their makeup. Oh, and don’t forget you can find new women to hire as hostesses by talking to the gyrating underwear man mentioned earlier. I told you, it’s a very Japanese game.
No other game series can handle the dichotomy of the contrasting tones that makes Yakuza so unique. In a matter of minutes, Yakuza 0 can make you laugh at its ridiculousness and feel real emotions from its serious plotline.
This is why it can be tough to explain what Yakuza really is. It’s a brawler game, but you won’t spend most of your time fighting. It’s a crime drama, but it’s goofier than any other game on the market. It’s as much soap opera as it is WWE, as it is an Adult Swim show.
Yakuza 0 is a niche game, no doubt about it. However, it being such a Japanese video game will turn away your average Western video game player. Throw on top of that the massive amounts of dialogue and cutscenes, and the barriers to entry for this game are sky high.
However, if those elements won’t bother you, Yakuza 0 is insanely charming, fun to play and worth at least a try from everyone.

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Courtesy of Sega

Yakuza 0, an open world, action-adventure video game, was released in North America on Jan. 24.