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Yakuza Kiwami 3 is the newest release in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon game series, a series about fighting, crime, the Japanese underworld, karaoke, go-kart racing, mahjong, claw machines, and running a biker gang. If these all seem random and out of place, that’s because they are. Kiwami 3 is the third and final of the Kiwami games, a series that started back in 2016 with Yakuza Kiwami, a remake of the original Yakuza game from 2005 that added content missing from the original U.S. version. The second Kiwami game followed soon after in 2017, and then there was a nearly nine-year break before Kiwami 3. Kiwami 3 comes nearly 17 years after the release of the original Yakuza 3.
The game follows a pretty normal plot for a Yakuza game. Two heads of the yakuza are shot by the same man, and the main character, Kiryu Kazuma, must find out who did it and who stole the deed to the orphanage he runs so he can continue to run it as a civilian. During his investigation, he learns that the man who shot both Daigo Dojima and Shigeru Nakahara looks identical to his late adoptive father, Shintaro Kazama. Kiryu must now figure out who shot them, why they did it, and why they stole the deed to his land. His main leads are two politicians who want to build something on the land.
The plot may sound serious, and it is. It includes elements of murder mystery, government conspiracy, kidnapping, and crime. However, the gameplay reflects almost none of this. Kiryu gets into fights while walking to places around Tokyo and Okinawa and can play many minigames such as Mahjong, Shogi, Darts, Baseball, Cooking, Sewing, helping his kids with homework, and, best of all, Karaoke. The minigames are very fun but have almost nothing to do with the main story. The only exceptions are the ones at Morning Glory (Kiryu’s orphanage), which include more story content.
With everything combined, Yakuza Kiwami 3 would be a very good game if it weren’t for the original Yakuza 3. While I haven’t played the original, it was considered an alright Yakuza game, and some fans were looking forward to Kiwami 3 being a close remaster. However, when more information was released — such as the trimming of substories from 100 to 31 and the removal of a few minigames — people felt less thrilled, though they were still looking forward to the included DLC, Dark Ties. When it was released, Dark Ties, which was advertised as a full DLC, was less than three hours long and poorly optimized. RGG Studios later informed players that it was originally planned as a viewable video or movie that would come with the game.
Along with this, Kiwami 3 changed multiple parts of the story, including adding a biker gang minigame that players are required to complete and changing the overall ending of Yakuza 3. This made some fans feel like Kiwami 3 is an erasure of the original. Despite liking Kiwami 3, I agree with that sentiment, especially since RGG Studios removed the original Yakuza 3 from storefronts, making it impossible to buy on Xbox, PlayStation, and Steam. It is still available on GOG, but new fans have no option to play the original on console unless they buy the Yakuza Complete Series, a bundle that costs over $120.
Kiwami 3, even with its negatives, is still a good game. It might feel similar to newer Yakuza games, like Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, but it is still a good game, and I recommend it.
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