Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties Final Hands-On
Yakuza Kiwami 3, the remake of Yakuza 3, and Yakuza Dark Ties, a new included side story revolving around Yakuza 3’s protagonist, Yoshitaka Mine, are set to launch in a couple of weeks. Although we recently went hands-on with it a few weeks ago, we can confirm that we’ve been playing through the review build of the game.
We’ll have our full review ready for embargo day, but for now, here’s a taste of what you can expect out of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties.
This final preview is spoiler-free
Yakuza 3 Remake Brings Out a New Side of Kiryu and Mine
There’s much to look forward to with Yakuza Kiwami 3, the remake of Yakuza 3, with modernized visuals running on the Dragon Engine, improved combat, and a bounty of new content. Though many would arguably call it the black sheep of the franchise, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (RGG) sets its sights on changing that with this new reimaging of the 2009 classic, by offering some pretty big new additions that weren’t in the original, while also delivering a brand-new experience to help fill in the narrative gaps surrounding Yoshitaka Mine’s tragic story.
So what are these new experiences? Well, for Yakuza Kiwami 3, there are two new major additions: Life at Morning Glory and Bad Boy Dragon. These aren’t just some new form of mini-games, as both activities have a story for you to play through. For Bad Boy Dragon, you enlist as a leader of a local biker gang called the Haisai Girls gang, who have a mission to protect the residents of Okinawa from rival biker gangs. Scattered around Okinawa are potential members that you can enlist, all of whom have had unfortunate encounters with hostile gangs.
Once you’ve gotten enough members for your gang, you can participate in massive rumbles where you quite literally ride a motorcycle and storm a rival gang’s base with other members of your gang. It’s pretty cool to watch unfold, and even more fun to experience these large brawls. There’s a progression system, upgrades, and other unique features to the mode, and as I mentioned, even a story.
Then there’s Life at Morning Glory. Life at Morning Glory focuses entirely on the orphanage that we see throughout the Yakuza franchise. For me, this is probably the best new addition, not just to Yakuza 3 but to the franchise as a whole. Sure, it’s a collection of mini-games that can eventually get repetitive, but this new activity offers a real look at what we, as players, have been protecting throughout the franchise.
Like Bad Boy Dragon, there’s a whole story you can progress through, with the focus all being about Kiryu’s relationship with the kids. As you spend more time with them, progressing and completing objectives and mini-games, Kiryu’s Daddy Rank increases, as well as his bond with each child. Eventually, you’ll unlock short cutscenes with each kid that further expand on the game’s lore, and of course, Kiryu’s relation with them.
This activity steps back from the action and lets you really enjoy a slice of life that Kiryu has come to cherish. For me, it’s always been one of the franchise’s most important aspects, but it never really gets explored. Given how central the orphanage is to the story of Kiwami 3, I’m glad to see RGG expand it and offer perhaps one of the most meaningful experiences in the game. It’s definitely something I don’t recommend skipping out, especially for those who played Infinite Wealth and wanted more heart-tugging moments. In retrospect, it makes that side of Infinite Wealth even more impactful as you grow your bond with each kid in Kiwami 3.
There are quite a few good laughs to be had here, too.
Elsewhere, you have your usual sub-stories populated around the world, along with some new mini-games and retro-video games to play when you want to take a break from beating up thugs on the street.
Dark Ties, the new spin-off game (included with Kiwami 3), also features two exclusive activities: “Hell’s Arena” and “Kanda Damage Control.”
In Hell’s Arena, you fight your way through a dungeon-like maze, beating up fierce opponents. It’s essentially a survival mode, and your goal is to make it through the maze, reach the end, and take down the big boss of the arena.
Then there’s Kanda Damage Control. Here you go around the city, helping people with whatever tasks they have (known as Good Deeds and Helping the Little People) in order to improve Kanda’s public reputation. Of course, Kanda won’t actually be doing any of the good deeds himself, as he’s too busy hitting up all the soaplands with his newfound wealth of money and respect (all of which, thanks to Mine).
Good Deeds are comparable to sub-stories from the main game, each with its own little story to tell. Helping the Little People are short tasks, usually involving you delivering a requested item, beating up some people, or hitting a specific milestone in a mini-game, like darts, and getting three bullseyes in a single game.
In a lot of ways, Kanda Damage Control is to Mine what Life at Morning Glory is to Kiryu. It’s an experience (well, it’s a lot of the progression for Dark Ties) that’s meant to bring out a side of the character we’ve yet to see. Of course, Dark Ties’ story in general was designed for that very reason, but Kanda Damage Control really leans into one aspect of the plot of the game that helps build it up even more. It’s funny because Mine, as a character, wasn’t really in Yakuza 3 much, which remains the case in Kiwami 3. But his brief moments were all that were needed for him to become a fan favorite; it’s just that many wished he had more character development.
Dark Ties addresses that, and I think a lot of fans are going to be happy with how his story and the relationship he forms in this new adventure. It’s a side of Mine we all wished we got to see, and RGG delivers it in their usual high-stakes drama, filled with laughs and emotional moments that hit surprisingly hard.
Heart of a Dragon
For those who played through the demo, I wanted to point out that the actual game isn’t as easy as it is in the demo. I think the demo gave us too much of a mid-point in terms of stats, even though it isn’t very far into the game. Kiryu, in my opinion, is severely overpowered, and the demo doesn’t do the game justice by showing how challenging it can be.
Granted, I’m not some S-tier player who’s juggling their enemies around like they’re nothing, but the base game did feel a lot more challenging than the demo did, to the point that I found myself struggling even with some of the grunt enemies at times. I want to say they made the demo journalist-level easy, given how leveled-up Kiryu was.
There’s more of a challenge in the actual game, with enemies blocking more frequently than in the demo. No, Blockuza 3 is not back, unless you really want it to be by ignoring all the mechanics to combat it. Enemies block a lot, but it’s so easy to counter them with Kiryu’s revamped Dragon of Dojima fighting style, and the new one, Ryukyu style, that it’s a non-issue.
The combat is a massive improvement over Yakuza 3’s, as it’s faster, more fluid, and has greater impact with each strike.
Now, will it revolutionize the franchise by setting a new status quo for its brawling action? No, but I’m a simple man. You give me a Yakuza game, and some people to beat up, and I’m a happy man. Could it be better? Definitely, but in the end, it’s still a fun way to experience Yakuza 3.
For Dark Ties, we get to play as Mine, who has his own fighting style. In many ways, it reminds me of a mix of Kiryu’s and Majima’s fighting styles from Yakuza 0, as he’s both hard-hitting and moves quickly. He’s even capable of jumping off enemies to fly through the air and strike another. Upgrading his abilities does improve his moveset, though I do wish we could get more varied combos, and that he could pick up objects off the ground to use as weapons. That latter to me is such an odd omission.
He also has a devil trigger called Dark Awakening, which puts him into a state where his damage is upped, and he can unleash even more attacks.
Overall, Mine plays very well, though I do wish he had more depth to his combat.
We’re in This Together, Aniki
As I continue to make progress through the main game and Dark Ties, I feel pretty good about the remake so far. Don’t get me wrong, there are some issues, such as the visual lighting in some places, new character models/casting, and some of the English dubbing (and not to mention delisting the original Yakuza 3), which we’ll touch on more in our review before release.
But overall, I do like what RGG Studios has built here with both Kiwami 3 and Dark Ties, and I think fans are going to be pleasently surprised by the new content. Let’s just hope the rest of the game holds up, but so far, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties are looking like some must-play Yakuza experiences for both new players and old-time fans.
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