It is officially time for all Yakuza fans to rejoice. The remainder of the primary games in the series are getting remastered for PlayStation 4. Those games being Yakuza 3, 4 and 5. This means that all 7 Yakuza games will at some point be all on one system, giving hours of entertainment. For those who have played these games before, you will be able to see them all in a whole new way. Those that have not can finally experience the whole series the way it was meant to be.
So far the only games available on this generation are Yakuza Kiwami, 0 and 6. Kiwami is a remake of the first game of the series, 0 is a prequel and of course, 6 is the latest game. Kiwami 2 is coming out in December which is the second game so revamped versions of 3, 4, and 5 might have been implied but never declared.
Yakuza 3 is set to release in August, 4 in the fall and 5 in the spring of next year. Those are the release dates in Japan. No dates for Western release have been revealed yet or even confirmed. However, with how popular the series has become with Western audiences, it seems reasonable to think that the games will be coming over sometime after the initial re-release.
For those that are completely new to the world of Yakuza, allow me to give you a very vague summary. I won’t be spoiling anything, I promise. You play as Kiryu, who is a gangster in the seedy underworld of Japan. Most of your time though, you will be running around playing a whole manner of ridiculous mini-games like karaoke and having a chicken manage your real-estate business. You heard me. The games are amazingly fun and quirky and the open world feels alive. The colours are bright and ever-changing while the combat just as insane as the rest of the game. And that is what makes it all the more fun.
If you have yet to play a Yakuza game thus far, don’t despair. You can get Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Zero right now on the PlayStation 4. If you are accustomed to the series already, you can also get Yakuza 6 and make the rest of us jealous.