Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is the third instalment in the Kiwami series, roughly translating to ultimate, peak or extreme, denoting it to be the definitive version of past Yakuza games. Kiwami 3, in particular, is the first PlayStation 3 era remake of the third entry into the Yakuza series.
Despite some concern online, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a good-looking game, matching the visual fidelity of both Yakuza 0 and the prior Kiwami releases. The biggest point of contention, at least, as far as visuals are concerned, is primarily due to lighting and a bump in contrast, something that lends itself well to the bright and vivid beaches of Okinawa, but has the adverse side-effect of sometimes looking a bit over-exposed or saturated.
As Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a full remake, some concessions are par for the course. Thankfully, despite fan consternation, the changes are made up for with the inclusion of some new content, not including the Dark Ties campaign. One omission or change is the Revelations system from the PS3 original, which now ditches Kiryu’s blog, replacing it with a pseudo social-media gimmick. The new social media aspect of the game has players connect with random NPCs on the streets of both Kamurochō and Owkinawa to exchange and grow their roster of connections.
The more connections the player accrues, the more unlocks can be had. Taking photos of key locations throughout the game world also sees a return, netting players with similar rewards from the original game. In essence, despite the lack of the blog, the rewards and game mechanics from the Revelations system seem to be mostly intact.
To make up for the silly and often outlandish blog posts, Kiwami 3 introduces a much more robust and fleshed-out set of side activities, including a revamped Morning Glory, the orphanage in which Kiryu resides. The orphanage now features a suite of lite farming sim elements, including a cooking minigame, a farm for Kiryu to tend to, including taking care of livestock, on top of the ability to build up your relationship with the foster children within the orphanage, not dissimilar to Like a Dragon: Ishin!.
“Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a good-looking game, matching the visual fidelity of both Yakuza 0 and the prior Kiwami releases.”
New, or at least new for the Kiwami remakes, are a slew of arcade classics and retro SEGA titles, such as Magical Truck Adventure, a bizarre but fun game where you control two children on a time-travelling trolley. Other games include a host of unlockable SEGA Game Gear titles, including classics like Sonic and Tails and even Pac-Man. The inclusion of the real-world games, on top of an impressive set of in-game clothing and cosmetics players can unlock for Kiryu, gives Kiwami 3 a solid sense of time and place, elevating it above previous entries.
Another significant addition to Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is the brand-new Girl Gang management system and sub story. Shortly after arriving in Okinawa, players will find themselves embroiled with a group of delinquent upstarts, wanting to expand their presence in the tropical town, which in-game translates to managing and recruiting girls (and eventually guys) and leading them to victory via a series of gauntlet-style battles. These turf-war-style fights also employ the use of a motorbike, adding a fun diversion to the tried-and-tested formula of the base experience.
Both the girl-gang encounters and some of the larger story battles highlight one of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties’ more technical strengths, that being, the sheer amount of enemies on screen, which now rivals that of games like the Dynasty Warriors series, making for some truly over-the-top fights.
The Dark Ties portion of Yakuza Kiwami 3 consists of a 7-10 hour standalone story that acts as a prequel of sorts to Kiryu’s campaign, fleshing out Yoshitaka Mine’s back story, one of the main antagonizing forces of the game proper. The Dark Ties campaign also addresses some changes to the ending of Yakuza 3, something I won’t spoil, but players wanting to get a broader picture of the narrative are encouraged to complete Mine’s story.
“Another significant addition to Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is the brand-new Girl Gang management system and sub story.”
In terms of gameplay differences, Dark Ties has players work up the ranks within the Tojo Clan, something that mostly consists of working under Tsuyoshi Kanda. Story missions in Dark Ties are split between your typical going from point A to point B to beat up goons, in addition to mandatory side content that falls under a special sub-section of the game called Kanda Damage Control. This subsection of the game boils down to doing side quests in order to bolster Kanda’s reputation, ultimately getting you closer to your true goal of getting to the top of the Tojo Clan.
Ultimately, with the added new content and fleshed-out sub-stories, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties can be considered the definitive version of the game, eclipsing the PlayStation 3 original. Unfortunately, there is a certain irony with a title like Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, specifically the latter part, referring to the brand-new secondary campaign, an element that has the unfortunate side effect of reminding audiences of the real-life baggage the PlayStation 3 remake carries.
Of course, what I’m referring to is the inclusion of some real-life talent who have lent their faces to be modelled in-game. Like the inclusion of some real playable SEGA games, the inclusion of real-life actors works well for the series, lending it the look and feel of a movie, rather than a video game. Sadly, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ refusal to retire Teruyuki Kagawa, who has been outted for several SA-related crimes, sours the entire experience, leaving a bad taste in the mouth, one made worse by the recent news that alleges the studio is promoting Kagawa’s notoriety for the upcoming release.
At the end of the day, removed from real-life politics and decisions made by the studio, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is solid and continues to deliver the definitive way to experience the Yakuza series for modern audiences. It’s ultimately up to the player to decide if they want to support it; however, something that can be difficult, as the original release of Yakuza 3 is now relegated to the expensive Yakuza Collection bundle release.
