Yakuza is unlike any other series. It has ridiculous side missions that make me laugh without fail. A serious plot that makes me deeply care about the characters. An abundance of mini-games that are an awful lot of fun. A great combat system with a variety of fighting styles. Last but not least, you can hire a chicken as a property manager for real estate. Yakuza 0, in short, has all the necessary elements to make it one of the best games of all time. Sadly, the game, and the series as a whole, has never received the popularity it deserves.
A Small But Action-Packed Setting
We’re brought to Kamurocho and Sotenbori, but in the 1980s. Being set in this era separates the experience from other Yakuza games, and from a wide range of other titles in general. One reason I love these two settings is because they’re small and dense. They’re filled with activities that can keep you going for hours, yet it only takes about a minute to get anywhere on the map.
Most games recently have decided to go down the route of offering a massive expansive map that takes hours to explore (and has a lot of empty spaces or filler), but Yakuza 0 boasts a small map packed with storytelling and mini-games instead.
Silly Substories
Yakuza is a strange series in how it deals with subplots, but that’s what makes it so great (and is the highlight of the series in my opinion). In what other game do you get to witness Michael Jackson pastiche Miracle Johnson getting attacked by zombies and needing someone to defend him? Experiencing Kiryu being called names, and discovering that the only way to stop the man from calling him these names was to win in a mini-game of pocket racing, was a revelation too.
Majima has also had ridiculous encounters, such as infiltrating a suspect group. Also at that time, Majima had to entertain a crowd so that a street performer could sneak off to the toilet. Yakuza knows how to have a laugh, which is something most games struggle to do successfully. Humor is a great way to connect the audience with a game and its characters. Yakuza tackles this perfectly, making me laugh through silly side missions with nice resolutions that are endearing. These optional yet unforgettable moments cement Yakuza as one of my favorite series of all time.
A Serious Plot Underneath It All
I’ve talked about how Yakuza can make you laugh, yet it can be deadly serious. Its main story doesn’t pull punches and isn’t afraid to be dark. We see this in the origins of the legends Kiryu and Majima.
Kiryu begins by taking collections, as the Yakuza do. However, the man who Kiryu collected from winds up dead, and it just so happens that he had the deed to a small vacant lot worth ten billion yen. Kiryu has to find the person who killed the man, while other members of the Tojo clan pursue him. Kiryu is pretty much the Kiryu players know and love, just younger. Fortunately, we get to see a glimpse of Kiryu’s relationship with Nishki, making the original/Kiwami much more heart-wrenching. Seeing that they were genuinely close and that their chemistry was plain builds up their backstory.
Majima’s beginnings were very surprising, given everything fans we knew about him. Majima is quiet and tempered in 0, a bit like Kiryu in that regard. However, fans of later titles know Majima as the Mad Dog of Shimano, a man who is dangerous and completely unpredictable. Majima’s backstory is tragic, as he was disgraced and brutally tortured. However, he is given the chance to redeem himself by the clan, and is told that if he assassinates a target, he can be free again. Just when Majima’s salvation seems to be at hand, the target ends up being a defenseless child. Majima then decides to find out why a bounty has been put on the girl’s head.
Seeing the connected plot from the different angles of Kiryu and Majima perfectly defines the differences between the Tojo clan and the two main protagonists. As Majima wishes for true freedom from the clan, Kiryu is looking for a way to be a part of the Dojima family again. The plot is amazing, full of twists and turns, making it the best Yakuza story. It’s such a shame that it’s only told in a game as underappreciated as this one.
The Truly Unique Combat
The combat in Yakuza 0 is easily my favorite in the series. Players originally got three fighting styles for both characters. The Dragon of Dojima’s options are simple: either a balanced fighting style, a fast-paced style or a slow, heavy-hitting style. Majima’s combat truly shines, though. He can utilize his average balanced fighting style, his slugger style, which incorporates a bat, or my personal pick, the breakdancing style. The unique moves of the latter, for me, encapsulate Majima’s undisciplined and unpredictable character.
The boss encounters are solid and memorable too, considering the fact that the combat doesn’t exactly suit boss fights. The Mr Shakedown battles were particularly great, as they made use of a risk-reward system. If you beat him you won loads of money, but if you lose to him, Mr Shakedown took your own. A fun and potentially very rewarding challenge.
Marvelous Mini-Games
Yakuza is well known for its expansive range of mini-games. There are 27 of them on offer in 0, and they’re as diverse as it gets. You can play darts, blackjack, pool, and shogi, then enjoy a spot of dancing and fishing, followed by my personal favorite, karaoke, which is a spectacle to behold. At least three or four mini-games will surely grasp the player’s attention, distracting them from the main storyline for (potentially) hours on end. I used to play the karaoke just to laugh at seeing Kiryu and Majima get so passionate in the process. These experiences are fun little extras that contribute even further to a game already filled with content.
The Side Hustle
Trying to become a real estate guru like Kiryu, or a cabaret owner like Majima? These aren’t exactly subplots, but they certainly aren’t main missions either. Majima owns a cabaret and needs to manage his staff. Through this we recruit them, but we also help them on their shifts by providing drinks and trying to keep the mood afloat. It sounds boring, perhaps, but I found it incredibly compulsive.
Kiryu’s real estate adventure is also a worthy distraction. Here, you must watch the profits of your locations and try to assign the right managers (the chicken is the best manager) to the right properties. Taking down the greedy land owners is a must-do for Kiryu. You also unlock a hidden fighting style behind these side hustles, adding a tangible reward to these further enjoyable timesinks. These storylines are pretty good for what they are, too, boasting that familiar Yakuza blend of comedy and seriousness.
How Is This Masterpiece Underrated?
First off, Yakuza is niche. This is the primary reason a lot of people will not play it. Yakuza is so good, that I believe consistent solid opinions is underrated. In 2020, it was revealed that the series as a whole only had around 14 million copies sold. It’s a small number for a franchise with so many installments, and good installments at that.
Yakuza 0 received absolutely no awards after its release. It came out in a year bursting with stellar games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nier Automata and Super Mario Odyssey. Its competition for recognition that year was fierce. Not that rewards necessarily mean a game is good or not, but they are a huge indicator of buzz in a wider sense. Regardless of sales or awards, Yakuza 0 is a certified masterpiece and deserves more acknowledgement and accolades.
