Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

An ambitious remake that not only succeeds in addressing many of the original fans’ longstanding grievances, but also reveals a clear determination to pursue its own creative vision. While certain newly added scenes suffer from a lack of sufficient explanation, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties ultimately transcends the label of a mere remake. Instead, it stands as a pivotal work—one that offers meaningful insight into the future direction of the Like a Dragon series.

It’s hard not to feel conflicted about Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, because while it plays smoother and looks cleaner, many of its story changes and cut content weaken what originally worked. The remake still has solid moments, especially with Dad Kiryu, but combat, pacing, and Dark Ties often feel shallow or stretched out. It’s not a bad time, just a messy step forward that doesn’t fully honor what makes the Yakuza series work.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a largely successful makeover of Yakuza 3. It finds fun new ways for Kiryu to engage with the orphans in his care, which both livens up the original game’s most boring bits and also made me more deeply invested in the sharper end of its story. Combat has been transformed from a street-fighting struggle to a dynamic delight, and this slice of Okinawa presents a welcome seachange from the series’ more overused city settings. However, the Dark Ties add-on seems like a bit of a missed opportunity since its slight new story is dragged down by some truly tiresome padding, and it’s only partially redeemed by its moreish roguelike mode. On balance, Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is another enjoyable blend of hard-boiled drama and sidestory silliness, but as a package it’s not quite as well-rounded as the series’ more accomplished entries.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a solid action-packed package that impressed me with its cathartic, overhauled combat. Performance is consistent, the fleshed-out Morning Glory content is addictive, and the Dark Ties episode offers a comprehensive look into the motivations of antagonist Yoshitaka Mine. However, some underwhelming side content, graphical quirks, and questionable narrative changes stop this entry from hitting the heights of other titles in this phenomenal franchise.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is not the remake we were all hoping for. While it's undeniable that the game makes a number of substantial improvements to the combat system, and will surely be a very enjoyable experience for all new fans, RGG Studio seems to have failed to understand its own work. Rather than generating excitement for the future of the series, this title raises a number of questions, and the idea of ​​Yakuza Kiwami 4 doesn't sound appealing, at least not right now. However, I hope the developers take this as a lesson, and that the next time we see Kiryu or Ichiban, it will be in an experience that truly honors the series, because if these games have made anything clear, it's that second chances do happen, but you have to know how to make the most of them.

If you have never played Yakuza 3 before and want to experience it for yourself then Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties is probably the way to go now. It feels modern and the newly added things and story beats fit perfectly fine into the game for the most part. Unfortunately the games engine starts to really show its cracks by now and the amount of reused “new” content is starting to reach a critical point.

There is a lot of fun to be had with Yakuza Kiwami 3. But the cracks are really starting to show with this series, and it feels stale in a lot of areas. On its own, Kiwami 3 is lot less fun than other entries in this series, despite some good new management games here. As a remake, however, it certainly isn't good enough to justify the original being delisted and for this to now be the definitive version of Yakuza 3.

While I wish I could recommend Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, there's too many odd choices and caveats here to list. While it's always been a black sheep, the identity that feeds its reputation feels lost in this remaking, and it's new content additions feel out of place and in some cases, undermine what came before it.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a stripped-down, artificially stretched product that serves as an example of how even a universally acclaimed classic can be ruined.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 + Dark Ties makes plenty of necessary improvements, but some of the changes make it hard to recommend over the original.

After hitting the credits to both portions of the game, I felt like the Yakuza series is currently at an impasse. Unnecessary story changes, questionable and problematic casting choices, visual homogenization, and uneven content changes plague the latest remake. This means that, in the grand scheme of things, there's a noticeable fatigue in re-experiencing minigames and more shallow renditions of the activities that made the series' resurgence so captivating with Yakuza 0. Getting to the end, in a way, took me back to the beginning, remembering Kiryu's walk in the cemetery. The scene symbolizes the culmination of a specific time and place for the series--one that's currently unable to shake off its phantoms.

The remake treatment of one of Yakuza’s more underrated entries gets marks for its story, world and fan service to the great Kazuma Kiryu, but all of that praise and credit only comes from the original Yakuza 3. What’s within Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a regression in the timeline, as it resets and retcons crucial parts of the world and greater with its new story. Additionally, unoriginal and reskinned minigames that become a bore, along with the messy politics of disastrous recastings, simply make this an inferior version. The dark horse of the series didn’t get its time in the sun here, and that’s a damn shame.

I am struggling to fully reconcile my feelings about Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. I have nostalgia for the original game, even if it’s not rated highly within the series. However, while I enjoyed some of the changes made, such as the side content with the Morning Glory Orphans and the silly Okinawa Girl Gang, those rose coloured glasses come off when I realized that the story feels quite messy, content from the original has been removed for questionable reasons, and everything in the game feels bloated. Coupled with following some of the worst characters in the series, it’s hard for me to say with confidence that this is the definitive version of the game, because it’s honestly a substantial step backwards.