Call me Daddy: "Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties" tested

Rainer Etzweiler

9.2.2026

Translation: machine translated

Pictures: Rainer Etzweiler

Okinawa idyll, yakuza intrigues and an orphanage called "Morning Glory" - "Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties" has strong moments, but suffers from lame side quests and questionable decisions.

I'm back in Kamurucho. My first steps in the fictional Tokyo neighbourhood feel a bit like coming home. I know where to find the arcade hall, on which street I can sell my scrap to the pawnbroker and where the hippest bars are hidden (Champion District). Kamurucho is more than just the setting for most «Yakuza» games: the location is just as much a character as the protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, making it perhaps the most defining element in Sega's long-running adventure series.

However, my trip to the metropolis is short-lived for now: Kiryu is on a farewell tour. After everything that has happened in the previous three parts (a 60-minute summary will bring you up to date), the ex-gangster «Fuck that Shit» decides to relocate to Ryukyu on Okinawa.

Okinawa is Japan's southernmost prefecture. The medium-sized island is around 600 kilometres from the mainland and Kiryu hopes to make a fresh start here. Together with his adopted daughter Haruka, he runs an orphanage on the beach called «Morning Glory».

By the way,«Morning Glory» is slang for this term, which is why I giggle like an eight-year-old every time I hear the name. Maybe that slipped through the developers' fingers at the time, but judging by how horny the «Yakuza» games traditionally are, I wouldn't bet on it.

«What's the story, morning glory»

Kiryu's quiet island life is over before it even begins. Various interest groups want the piece of land on which the Morning Glory orphanage (still funny) stands. It soon becomes clear that the players behind it are connected to his old life. Shortly afterwards, «Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties» reverts to the same plot elements that dominated parts 0 - 2: politics, power struggles within various yakuza families and plenty of drama.

Competently told, but ultimately business as usual.

The orphanage provides a welcome counterpoint to this. A completely new game mode was added for the remake. Game director Ryosuke Horii describes «Life at Morning Glory», as it is called, as the emotional core of «Kiwami 3». And he is right about that.

The RGG Studio delivers nothing less than a life sim here. I can plant vegetables, buy various farm animals and pets, fish, cook, play board games with my charges or help them with their homework.

Mostly this takes the form of a microgame à la «Wario Ware». The skill tests rarely last longer than a minute and are still a fun pastime even after the twelfth repetition.

The better Kiryu looks after the needs of the orphanage and the kids, the higher his «Daddy Rank». The Daddy Rank is my new favourite gauge. From now on, I only want to play games that give me a Daddy Rank.

The Japanese «GTA»?

When the series came to the West around 20 years ago, one tester said that «Yakuza» was the Far Eastern equivalent of «Grand Theft Auto». Everyone then wrote it off, which is why the persistent misconception that the crime drama plays like Rockstar's blockbuster persists to this day.

That's rubbish.

Both games are about organised crime and the setting is a big city. But that's about it for the similarities.

The long-running franchise is its own thing. The closest comparison is «Shenmue», but even that is pretty reductive. «Yakuza» is a semi-open-world action RPG. The world is comparatively small, but filled to the brim with life, atmosphere and a lavish number of side quests.

When Kiryu isn't listening to the rambling monologues of his friends and enemies, he's punching others in the mouth. This takes the form of an arcade-heavy brawler. You can cover, dodge and fall back on a comprehensive selection of combos, which can be expanded using the skill tree.

RGG Studio has completely overhauled the combat system for the remake. I put the original version of «Yakuza 3» aside in frustration after a few hours because I was so annoyed by the constantly blocking enemies. Here, the whistle-blowing works without any problems.

This is not least due to the new fighting style that Kiryu has been given. The Ryukyu style draws on traditional Okinawan ... okinawid ... oniki ... fuck it: weapons from Okinawa. These include nunchucks and the eku, which is actually a boat oar. The expanded arsenal feels good and brings variety.

Two cities, endless problems

The aforementioned side quests, called «Substories», are more than just a way to earn extra cash and a handful of experience points. The tasks, which are mostly given to me by the inhabitants of Kamurucho, or Ryukyu, are self-contained, often completely absurd skits that compensate for the otherwise rather gloomy plot.

At least that was the case until now. In «Kiwami 3», the little stories are surprisingly shallow. What's more, nine out of ten end with me beating someone up, which makes things even more monotonous.

This is in stark contrast to the previous and subsequent instalments. In «Yakuza Zero», I showed a dominatrix how to punish her clients and managed to win a chicken at bowling, who went on to be the manager of my property side hustle. And no, I didn't have a stroke writing that sentence. In Kamurucho, that's just a regular Tuesday.

This kind of madness is missing «Kiwami 3», with a few exceptions. Only rarely does the earlier creativity shine through. For example, when Kiryu is chosen as the leader of a girl biker gang. Or when his dog steals his dirty notebook.

But maybe that makes the additional campaign better?

Change of perspective

«Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties» is more than just a remake - the title already gives that away: «Dark Ties» is the name of a completely new game mode in which you experience Yoshitaka Mine's criminal career.

Mine is the main antagonist of «Kiwami 3» and an excellent villain. He has style, principles and is the smartest person in the room at all times. His rise in the Yakuza ranks happens under the wing of Tsuyoshi Kanda, a side nemesis of Kiryu and undoubtedly the most obnoxious «Yakuza» character ever. In both Kiryu and Mine's storyline, Kanda is established as a rapist in the first scene.

Mine's storyline is centred on the collaboration with Kanda. The most important component of this is a subgame called «Kanda Damage Control». Here you complete various missions to clear Kanda's name. There's a roguelike dungeon (very awesome), bounty hunting (moderately awesome) and brain-dead fetch quests (the most boring since the vanilla version of «World of Warcraft»).

The latter are a waste of time: Kamurucho's inhabitants apparently can't even cross the road themselves and demand that I bring them bento boxes, coffee or sake. Or they want me to find cats. Three times, just in different colours.

The rather dull content is not my biggest problem with Mine's campaign,

Does it have to be?

Maybe I'm oversensitive, but I find «PR for a rapist» difficult as a central game element. Especially in the context of the voice actor controversy that accompanied the release of «Yakuza Kiwami 3».

I won't go into details here, but the short version is that Goh Hamazaki, another of Kiryu's opponents, is voiced by Teruyuki Kagawa. Kagawa lost almost all of his presenting and acting jobs in 2022 after it was revealed that he had both sexually and physically assaulted two women.

RGG Studio held on to Kagawa, even though years earlier they had kicked out a voice actor for a far less serious offence (drug use).

Sexual violence appears as a plot device in several «Yakuza» games. Strictly speaking, it is the prelude to Kiryu's story, but its implementation has never been as clumsy as in «Kiwami 3».

RGG Studios on the wrong track?

You're welcome to argue that Kanda/Kagawa «are ego problems» - fair enough. However, the blunders of RGG Studios and publisher Sega have recently become more frequent: «Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth» locked the New Game+ mode behind a paywall, the remastered version of «Yakuza 3» is only available in a bundle (for around 100 francs) after the release of «Kiwami 3» and the recastings of popular characters have recently squandered a lot of goodwill with fans.

In October 2021, Toshihiro Nagoshi, the creator of the series, left Sega to open his own studio. Although very good «Yakuza» and «Like a Dragon» games were still released afterwards, it feels like some of the magic was lost with his departure.

Is «Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties» still a good game?

In the 35 hours or so that I played through both campaigns, I often had fun. Both Kiryu and Mine are strong protagonists. Both stories captivated me, even if they don't do anything fundamentally new.

«Life at Morning Glory» is also a very cute expansion and I liked the dungeon crawls too.

But: The substories lack bite and charm, the potential of the new location is only utilised to a limited extent and «Dark Ties» is not much more than a «Yakuza Light». If Mine wasn't so entertaining, the additional mode would hardly have a reason to exist.

I also miss the balance. One reason why the «Yakuza» series is one of my favourite franchises is the mix of drama and humour. The latter clearly comes up short here.

«Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties» is available from 12 February - for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2. I tested the PS5 Pro version, which was provided to me by Sega.

In a nutshell

Stumbled, but didn't fall

I'm cursing our 5-point system a bit right now. "Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties" is a classic 7/10 game. The framework is solid, the story gripping and the side content generous.

But what good are 100 side quests if 90% of them are deadly boring? Why isn't Okinawa better utilised? Why does "Dark Ties" feel more centred on Kanda than on Minecraft? In the end, this leaves me a little disappointed and wondering whether RGG Studios will get back on track.

I hope so.

Pro

• Kamurucho remains fascinating
• two stories with Kiryu and Mine
• Fast combat system
• the Morning Glory orphanage
• Daddy Rank

Contra

• unagitated soundtrack
• lame substories
• questionable casting
• rather short for a "Yakuza" game with around 35 hours of playtime

Video games

Sega Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

PS5

1

Rainer Etzweiler

Freelance Editor

rainer@rockstar.ch

In the early 90s, my older brother gave me his NES with The Legend of Zelda on it. It was the start of an obsession that continues to this day.

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