Yakuza 0

Yakuza 0 is fantastic place to start a love affair with Kamurocho's finest, and what's more, it's one of the best entries in the series to date.

Yakuza 0 was a highly rated masterpiece for its time. It’s complex and deeply engaging narrative set an unprecedented level for non-fantasy storytelling and its gameplay was balanced with nuance between the over the top and the gritty. Today, three years after Western release on Xbox One, Yakuza 0 still translates well as an engaging and fun experience, particularly for those who love a good story.

Yakuza 0 was brilliant when it released on PS4, was even better when released on PC, and remains brilliant now that it’s on Xbox One. If you’ve never played a Yakuza game before, this is the ideal place to jump in, and the budget price along with its inclusion in Xbox Game Pass means the barrier to entry is low. Yakuza 0 is addictive, zany, compelling, funny… I could go on for a very long time. All you need to know is that you should play it. So do it. Now.

On their own, each of the above could make for a decent game, but combined they make a whole which brings home the feeling of what the Yakuza series is. Sprinkle that with incredible voice acting and a rocking soundtrack that really kicks it into high gear during fight scenes and you have the perfect entry to the Yakuza series on PC for anyone who is curious about it.

If you missed out on the Yakuza series thus far, for whatever reason, now is probably the best time to jump onto the bandwagon. Yakuza 0 is a little dramatic, a lot of weird, and a ton of fun. There is no better time to give it a shot than the present.

Yakuza 0's PC rendition is a quality port with an impressive amount of scability for various setups. It's definitely a game carried by the strength of its writing and unique story presentation. The brawler-rpg hybrid mechanics might take a slight back-seat to the plot as unique narrative setup, but the strong characterization does provide a lot of intangible emotional weight to many of the combat situations as well, elevating that flashy Heat Action beyond just a button press and oftentimes into a cathartic emotional release.