Yakuza 0 Review

The reason this became the entry point for a fifteen year old series is that it is the only one that explains itself from scratch. Kiryu and Majima are young, powerless and being used, and following them toward the same square metre of Kamurocho land teaches you exactly who these people were before the franchise made them legends. The Majima half in Sotenbori is the revelation, since watching a cabaret club manager be slowly forced into becoming the Mad Dog gives a character who had been a punchline a spine.

Combat offers three switchable styles each, money literally explodes out of enemies in a bubble economy joke that never stops being funny, and the substories are the best in the series. The tonal whiplash is extreme and will lose people: a torture scene sits ten minutes from a quest about a boy who needs help buying an adult magazine. Random street encounters interrupt constantly, and the final boss gauntlet drags. Superb regardless.