Yakuza 5 Remastered

Playing the most current versions of these games in series order makes it tempting to say that Yakuza 5 sees the series return to form in a huge way, but of course, the form it is 'returning' to consists of a prequel and two full remakes that were released years later. The reality is that this is where the series originally took flight, shedding the rough edges, tightening up the loose ends, while continuing to embrace the gleeful maximalism that gives this world its essential character; the Yakuza I truly love, rather than merely like, was born here.

The most obvious improvement is in the structure - Yakuza 5 recognises that one of the best things about Yakuza 4 [龍が如く4 伝説を継ぐもの] was that it had four protagonists, and so it follows the pattern by now having five of them. The two best ones, Kiryu and Akiyama, essentially return unchanged. Saejima also returns, but he now comes off as a much more well-rounded character, and it feels like his combat has been rebalanced to make it less cumbersome (though it's entirely possible that I'm just used to playing as him at this point). Tanimura, however, is jettisoned; he was a decent enough character in isolation, but he wasn't particularly enjoyable to play as and wasn't necessarily a great fit for the Yakuza series, so he does not return. In his place is Haruka, a leftfield choice but a fine one - she's obviously somebody the fanbase already knows and cares about, and the opportunity to develop her into adulthood is taken with aplomb. The final protagonist, meanwhile, is pretty much bonkers, but bonkers in a very Yakuza way: Tatsuo Shinada is a former professional baseball player who was banned from the sport over a match-fixing scandal, and now writes about Nagoya's nightlife for adult magazines while wallowing in crippling debt. Given that one of the major failings of Yakuza 4 was the story becoming a bit muddled and messy as it overextended itself trying to keep so many plates spinning, you'd think adding an extra protagonist would just make things worse - but it's clear that several lessons were learned. Yakuza 5 is smart enough to stick closely to its overarching themes (namely: dreams, and how our ambitions bind us, define us, and survive us when we're gone), and in using the barely-seen Goro Majima as a fulcrum around which all five characters eventually converge, it keeps things tight and focused.

The developers have also learned that it's much better to keep each of the five characters away from each other for as long as possible, both geographically and in terms of gameplay. Yakuza 5 often feels like an episodic game originally sold in five or six separate instalments, so different are the individual chapters. If you're wondering how Haruka fights, the simple answer is that she doesn't; her section is a straight-up rhythm game, made up of dance battles and singing lessons as she tries to rise to pop stardom. Kiryu has essentially gone into hiding to make sure Haruka's yakuza links do not sink her career, and is now working as a taxi driver, complete with a whole tree of bizarrely compelling side missions dedicated to driving safely and having polite conversations with your passengers. Shinada hustles people at the batting arena, building a quest line out of one of the franchise's mainstay minigames. Saejima gets lost in the wilderness and becomes a hunter, laying traps to catch rabbits, sneaking up on deer, and fighting bears. Akiyama, who gets involved in Haruka's storyline, is the only protagonist whose section doesn't feel like its own self-contained game with its own city to explore. And that in itself is crucial - exploring these little corners of Japan is one of the great pleasures of the series, and the comforting familiarity of Kamurucho and Sotenbori is supplemented by brand new maps in Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. Add to that a final rebalancing of the combat mechanics that means Yakuza 5 offers you the freedom of choosing how you want to fight instead of railroading you into specific styles in the way that its two predecessors did, and it starts to feel like every flaw has been ironed out.

Well, almost every flaw, anyway. Every Yakuza game I've played so far has been guilty of overextending itself a bit during the final stages of its plot to some extent, and this is no different - and while it's certainly not as glaring as the ending passages of Yakuza 4 were, it still took a little of the shine off when another twist came, another antagonist mastermind revealed themselves in an apparently shocking development, and I had to Google them because I couldn't even remember who they were. It is something of a compliment to say that a game I spent 80 hours with only started to get a bit wearying as it approached the 79th of those hours, but it did still get a bit wearying all the same, which is a bit of a pity. Otherwise, magnificent. I wasn't sure as I finished it whether or not I would place it above Yakuza Kiwami 2 [龍が如く 極２], but after a couple of days of deliberation: yes, I would. This is my new favourite game in the series.

The revamped graphic engine and slightly improved combat system are nothing compared to the massive difference in scale from the previous games. Five cities, five protagonists, four epic storylines converging into one narrative, different side missions for each scenario, and, of course, countless minigames to keep you entertained for potentially hundreds of hours. Sometimes it feels like the game has even too much content: I loved to do all quests, visit all real-life Japanese stores and collect items during Kiryu’s scenario, but once I realized that alone took me over 20 hours, I started rushing through the rest of campaign.

The gameplay is a little stiff, with the combat system and random encounters getting monotonous really fast. However, I unexpectedly enjoyed Haruka’s scenario as it puts fights on hold to have us play a Japanese idol simulator kind of rhythm game.

As with the previous games, all gameplay flaws can be overlooked given the quality of the story and cutscenes. Yokoyama should write and direct a live-action film or TV series, as his work with the Yakuza series is definitely above the average of recent Japanese shows. The plot is as all over the place but constantly engaging, packed with charismatic characters and guest appearances by famous Japanese actors (who make Kiryu look a little stiff, by the way). It might be the most complex and epic plot so far in the series, but unfortunately, things turn a little weird in the last chapter, with twists that didn’t make much sense, characters who came out of nowhere, and a somewhat rushed ending, which is weird for a 60+ long game.