Yakuza 0  is the latest in a long line of single-player Beat ’em ups. This series has been wildly popular in Japan, and has only recently gained mass market appeal in the United States and Europe. Yakuza 0  is a prequel to the popular series, showing how two of the main characters (Kiryu and Majima) came to be.

Yakuza 0  came to the west at the perfect time for me, after the disappointing third entry in the Mafia  series. In what seems to be a recurring theme of 2017, I was forced to look to the Japanese AA market for the games the US AAA market was not producing. In the absolute drought of exciting and non-exploitative American AAA games, 2017 became the year of Nippon, as well as the year of the indie game.

Yakuza 0 Features

• A Hard Boiled Crime Drama – The story follows Kazuma Kiryu as a junior yakuza member who finds himself in a world of trouble when a simple debt collection goes wrong and his mark winds up murdered. Meanwhile, Goro Majima is living a “normal” life as the proprieter of a cabaret club, but is doing whatever it takes to rejoin the yakuza. What that entails isn’t exactly easy
• Fight Like Hell – Kiryu and Majima can each switch between three brutal hand-to-hand combat styles on the fly to create the most fluid beatdowns ever experienced in a Yakuza game. Use Heat Actions to trigger violent special attacks, or pick up environmental objects to whale on enemies
• Two Vibrant Cities Come to Life – Kiryu and Majima will find themselves interacting with many of the colorful denizens of Tokyo and Osaka in some of the most absurdly comedic and heartwarming tales from the red light district. From helping a budding S&M dominatrix learn her profession to ensuring a street performer can make it to the bathroom in time, there are 100 incredible stories to discover. Players can go to hostess and telephone clubs for some female companionship, disco halls and pocket car races to blow of some steam, hit up the CLUB SEGA Arcades for classic 80s video games, and more!

Story & Setting

This game is, at its core, a serious Mafia story. Perhaps it isn’t on par with The Godfather,  but it is very good, and deserves to stand next to the likes of The Untouchables  or Casino.  You can expect all of the usual twists and turns, secret motivations, and shifting loyalties of a good Mafia movie in Yakuza 0,  albeit with that famous Japanese quirkiness.

Yakuza 0  is unique in that you play as two different protagonists. Kiryu, a young Yakuza who’s framed for murder, and Majima, a slightly older Yakuza who’s just come out of a “Punishment Tank” for going against the wishes of his clan. The story unfolds from a simple framing into a major situation involving different crime families in the Dojima clan. You’ll have to navigate this tricky and complex situation with all the subtlety of an angry bull as you bash your way through anyone who stands in your way.

Kiryu and Majima are simply pawns in a much larger game, but they refuse to allow themselves to become what they consider monsters in the process. They become lovable rouges, who do bad things, but also stop and take the time to help a poor little girl win a stuffed animal out of a crane game machine.

Duality is the major recurring theme of Yakuza 0.  You will jump schizophrenically from high pressure situations to light-hearted tomfoolery. One moment you’ll be racing toy cars with children and children-at-heart. The next, bullets will be whizzing past your head, or you’ll be forced to watch a graphic cutscene of a man being beaten to death in a dingy basement.

Two main protagonists with different fighting styles, different motives, different issues, and different ethics hammer this theme home. The duality of Man is constantly brought up as part of the overarching theme of duality, but never examined in depth. As is typical of these Japanese games, deep concepts are brought to bear, but you are left to consider them and their ramifications on the story (and YOUR story) on your own.

Personally, I believe this method of broaching complex topics is superior because of the personal reflection it inspires.  I believe something which is able to discuss this subject matter is undoubtedly a piece of art. The schizoid gameplay is also welcome when the main story becomes too oppressive, which will likely happen at certain points, especially if you’re drawn in by the story as I was.

Gameplay

Yakuza 0  has mastered an art that every party guest would be wise to learn. It manages to stay long enough to leave an impression, but not so long as to make you sick of it. This is true not only of the game itself, but of every gameplay mechanic in the game. Every time I began to feel weary of a mechanic, the game introduced another to take its place and reignite my interest in the many repetitive fights.

Because fighting an ever increasing number of goons with a few different movesets is the only real gameplay of the mainline story outside of a number of boss fights, this variety is VERY important. “Tired of smashing a man’s face into the pavement with the heel of your shoe?” the game asks. “Here’s a new fighting style, go ahead and wallop someone over the head with a moped.” It says. “Oh, you’ve KO’d thirty men with the scooter and it’s lost its appeal? Here’s a shotgun.”.

These mechanics are consistently doled out, and a significant part of the less challenging fights with minions are spent looking for new special moves to use on the boss enemies you will encounter. Then, when the story reaches the climax, you’re put through the gauntlet. All of the fighting styles, special moves, and weapons you’ve mastered come into play in one challenging final level.

I can not sing the praises of the finale enough. Many games, in my opinion, suffer from weak endings, but this is not the case for Yakuza 0.  I won’t spoil anything, but the standard difficulty is perfect. I finished both of the final fights with only a sliver of health remaining. They went down to the wire, and I was amazed at how perfectly these fights were designed. Perhaps some trickery was done behind the scenes in order to achieve this result. Maybe the difficulty scaled with my remaining health, or something similar.

But I say wholeheartedly and without deception; it does not matter. The intensity of the final two fights is something I have not found in many games. My hands were soaked with sweat throughout each of them, and I constantly felt as if the challenge was insurmountable, but I managed to pull through on the first try for both fights.