These last two years have been great for Japanese games. Persona 5, Monster Hunter World, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom, and many more have been successes in the west and now we can add another game into that mix. The English version of Yakuza 6: The Song of Storm has finally been released and has been successful for western audiences. The Yakuza series is well established franchise with a total of 7 games in its library, excluding the remake of Yakuza 1. It follows the protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, through his journey of being a yakuza for the Tojo Clan to his eventual retirement. Yakuza 6 is the last installment of Kiryu’s story as the next Yakuza game will feature a new protagonist. I have finished Yakuza 6 recently and the story was phenomenal. I have to warn you, though, the Yakuza series is a narrative driven game so if you are more into gameplay than story then Yakuza 6 might not be for you. Yakuza 6 has very long cut-scenes but those cut-scenes make the game so great and addicting as you would want to continue to see what comes next after each cliffhanger. Like literally, each story cut-scene ends in an agonizing cliffhanger which makes you spend an extra 4 hours on the game. The cast of characters are very lovable and interesting and combat is great if you level up Kiryu right, but the game is not an open-world. It has closed-off levels but that didn’t bother me in the slightest. I recommend this game as a definite play if you want a story full of drama and intense action.
The Game Connoisseur 