''Yakuza 6: The Song of Life'' is an

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...

video game developed by

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is a video game developer housed within the Japanese video game company Sega as part of its division. It is known for developing the games in the ''Yakuza'' series, which the studio is named after, since '' Yakuza 5''. The studio's origins can ...

and published by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

for

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

. The game is the seventh main entry in the ''

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...

'' series and the final main game to feature

Kazuma Kiryu is a fictional character and the protagonist of Sega's action-adventure beat'em'up Japanese role-playing game series ''Yakuza''. He is popularly known as due to the tattoo of a dragon on his back and him originally being a fearsome member of t ...

as the primary protagonist, and was released in Japan in December 2016. The English version was released in Southeast Asia in March 2018, and worldwide the following month. Versions for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

were released in March 2021. The game was followed up by ''

Yakuza Kiwami 2 ''Yakuza Kiwami 2'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It is a remake of the 2006 video game '' Yakuza 2'' for the PlayStation 2, and is the ''Yakuza'' series' second remake title following ...

'', a remake of

the second game ''The Second Game'' (Romanian: ''Al doilea joc'') is a 2014 Romanian documentary film directed by Corneliu Porumboiu. The film integrally depicts the Dinamo — Steaua football derby played on 3 December 1988; the game is commented on by Porumb ...

, and by '' Yakuza: Like a Dragon'', the next chronological installment, released in 2020.

Gameplay

''Yakuza 6'' is an

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

set in an open world environment and played from a

third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

. It is similar to that of other ''Yakuza'' titles with exploration mixed with arcade style

beat 'em up The beat 'em up (also known as brawler and, in some markets, beat 'em all) is a video game genre featuring hand-to-hand combat against a large number of opponents. Traditional beat 'em ups take place in scrolling, two-dimensional (2D) levels, ...

combat with ragdoll physics. ''Yakuza 6'' was the first game in the series to use the new ''Dragon Engine''

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...

(later used in ''

'', '' Yakuza: Like a Dragon'' and the spin-off ''

Judgment Judgement (or US spelling judgment) is also known as ''adjudication'', which means the evaluation of evidence to decision-making, make a decision. Judgement is also the ability to make considered decisions. The term has at least five distinct u ...

''), which overhauls the presentation and combat mechanics compared to past games. It also features an advanced variant of ''

Yakuza 5 is an action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game is the fifth main entry in the ''Yakuza'' series. The game was released in December 2012 in Japan, and localized for North ...

s Dragon Spirit Mode, called Extreme Heat Mode, where Kiryu becomes resistant to knockback as long as his Heat remains, and his combo finishers can turn into Heat actions that take out immense amounts of health. Additionally, as is also later used in ''Yakuza Kiwami 2'', the game categorizes

experience points An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...

into different types and the player can grant themselves various upgrades by using experience of the correct type; experience points can also be earned by eating at restaurants, though doing this raises the hunger gauge which limits how much food the player can eat and reduces itself with time. Unlike ''

Yakuza 4 is an action-adventure game developed and released by Sega for the PlayStation 3. The game was introduced on July 24, 2009. A promotional video was presented at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, The sequel to ''Yakuza 3'', it was released on March 18, ...

'', ''Yakuza 5'' and ''

Yakuza 0 ''Yakuza 0'' is an action-adventure game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It is the sixth main entry in the '' Yakuza series'' and a prequel to the original game. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in J ...

'', ''Yakuza 6'' does not feature any playable characters besides Kiryu himself. Additionally, unlike ''0'' and ''

Yakuza Kiwami ''Yakuza Kiwami'' is an action-adventure video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. It is a remake of ''Yakuza'', the first game in the '' Yakuza series'', originally released on Sony's PlayStation 2. ''Yakuza Kiwami'' w ...

'', Kiryu only uses one fighting style. This game features the series staple location of

Kamurochō is a fictional district of Tokyo from Sega's ''Yakuza'' media franchise. It is modelled after Kabukichō, Tokyo's renowned red-light district and entertainment precinct situated in Shinjuku ward. Like its real world counterpart, there are many ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, as well as a new city,

Onomichi is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. The city was founded on April 1, 1898. As of April 30, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 141,811 and a population density of 497.8 persons per km2. The total a ...

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

. Onomichi stands out from other cities in the series in that its name is the same as its real world counterpart, with the area featured in game being a recreation of the city's Shingai district.

Characters

Several renowned actors voice the characters in Yakuza 6. Among them:

Takeshi Kitano is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, filmmaker, and author. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. With th ...

as Toru Hirose,

Shun Oguri is a Japanese actor and voice actor, son of stage director Tetsuya Oguri, and the youngest of 3 siblings, including older brother Ryo, who is also an actor. He started in small roles as extra in the works in which his father and brother worked ...

as Takumi Someya,

Hiroyuki Miyasako is a Japanese comedian, television presenter, actor, voice actor and plays the boke in Ameagari Kesshitai. His partner is Tōru Hotoharu. He is represented by Yoshimoto Kogyo. Miyasako won the award for Best Supporting Actor at the 28th Hochi F ...

as Tsuyoshi Nagumo,

Tatsuya Fujiwara is a Japanese actor. Internationally, he is best known for his leading roles as Shuya Nanahara in the '' Battle Royale'' films, Light Yagami in the ''Death Note'' films, Kaiji Itō in the '' Kaiji'' films, and Rikuhiko Yuki in Hideo Nakata's '' ...

as Yuta Usami (Miyasako and Fujiwara both being recurring actors from ''

Yakuza 3 is the third main entry in the ''Yakuza (franchise), Yakuza series'', released for the PlayStation 3 in 2009. It was developed by Sega's New Entertainment R&D Dept., CS1 Team and published by Sega. It was released in Japan and South East Asia ...

''), and Yoko Maki as Kiyomi Kasahara, as well as other artists that have participated in the Yakuza series.

Plot

Recovering from injuries sustained in the previous game,

is arrested for past crimes, and willingly spends three years in prison, hoping for a peaceful life with his fostered children. In his absence, an arson in Kamurocho's Little Asia district skews the criminal underworld's power balance: Daigo Dojima, Taiga Saejima and Goro Majima are framed for the arson and imprisoned; Katsumi Sugai and Takumi Someya usurp the Tojo Clan; the Chinese Saio Triad, specializing in heihaizi human trafficking, rises to power in the area; and the Jingweon Mafia resurfaces, occupying most of Kamurocho. Upon release in 2016, Kiryu discovers that Haruka hid herself in

Onomichi, Hiroshima is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. The city was founded on April 1, 1898. As of April 30, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 141,811 and a population density of 497.8 persons per km2. The total ar ...

from the paparazzi after her controversial retirement, and is currently unconscious after being a hit-and-run victim in Kamurocho. Learning that she has an infant son, Haruto, Kiryu travels with the baby to Onomichi. Upon arrival, Kiryu befriends the local Hirose family, its patriarch Toru Hirose, and members Tsuyoshi Nagumo, Naoto Tagashira, Takaaki Matsunaga and Yuta Usami. Searching for Haruto's father, he meets prominent figures of the Onomichi Yakuza world: Takeru Kurusu, real name Heizo Iwami, chairman of the powerful Yomei alliance, and his son Tsuneo Iwami, CEO of his front company, Iwami Shipbuilding. Kiryu also learns that Sugai and Someya initially provoked the war with the Saio Triad in the Tojo Clan's name, which included burning Little Asia, so that Daigo could be framed and arrested. However, the hostility between the gangs became genuine after Tsuneo Iwami empowered the Saio Triad. Iwami later betrayed them and dispatched the Jingweon Mafia to murder the eldest son of their leader, Big Lo. Iwami and the Saio Triad also share the "secret of Omonichi". Likewise, Sugai and Someya want the Saio Triad suppressed, with the latter requesting support from Kiryu. Kiryu rejects the offer because of his role in framing Daigo. Hirose eventually reveals that Yuta is Haruto's father, and the youngest son of Big Lo. From birth, Big Lo's subordinates, Masuzose and Tatsukawa, secretly manipulated Yuta into learning Chinese culture in case his elder brother died, so that he could replace him and reign over the triad, per

hereditary succession An order of succession or right of succession is the line of individuals necessitated to hold a high office when it becomes vacated such as head of state or an honour such as a title of nobility.murder-suicide by burning down Little Asia. Kiryu saves them. Big Lo recovers and tells Kiryu that Hirose deliberately told Yuta about his background to provoke him to kill him. This is because Big Lo failed to obey Hirose's command to leave Japan, because of his knowledge of the "secret of Onomichi". Realizing that Hirose had been killing anyone connected to the "Secret", Kiryu returns to Onomichi to confront him; the secret is revealed to be a intended for use against the American occupation forces, built illegally by Iwami Shipbuilding. The project was funded by Minoru Daidoji, nicknamed the Fixer, a politician who embezzled taxpayer money from Hiroshima citizens. Kurusu appears and reveals that not only did he order Hirose to commit the murders, but that he was the one who thought of the idea in the first place. He orders Hirose to kill Kiryu and the Hirose Family for exposing the secret but Hirose refuses, resulting in his execution. Daidoji names Iwami as his new right-hand man and orders him to execute his father, since he failed to execute Kiryu and his allies. Iwami also announces his plan to fully dominate the Yomei Alliance and Tojo Clan. Kiryu invades the Millenium Tower to confront Iwami and Sugai, but is forced to fight Someya. Someya's defeat however led to his ex-wife being held hostage at gunpoint by Iwami and Sugai, forcing him to commit seppuku to save her. Mourning Someya, Kiryu and the Hirose Family mount a full-scale invasion on the Yomei Alliance. In anticipation, Iwami and Sugai kidnap the awoken Haruka and Haruto. The Hirose Family rescues the two, and a heavily wounded Kiryu defeats Iwami, but is shot by Sugai. Iwami is imprisoned, Daidoji dies of old age, and Sugai commits suicide. By January 2017, a politician serving as Daidoji's successor attempts to bribe a recovering Kiryu into silence regarding Daidoji's crimes, which would jeopardize several high-profile politicians. In exchange for his silence, Kiryu demands Daigo's release from imprisonment to prevent a war between the Tojo Clan and Yomei Alliance, and has the politician fake his death to ensure that Haruka and her family can live in peace. After their release from prison, Daigo, Saejima, and Majima create an alliance with the Yomei in honor of Kiryu's will. In the final scene, Kiryu observes the Morning Glory orphanage from a distance, where Haruka, Yuta, Haruto, and his fostered children live peacefully. As Haruto take his first steps, he sees Kiryu, who disappears before anyone else can spot him.

Development

''Yakuza 6'' was announced on September 15, 2015, at the

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The ...

during the Sony conference, exclusively for

and with a release date of "Autumn 2016".

Toshihiro Nagoshi is a Japanese video game producer, director and designer. He was the chief creative officer for Sega until 2021 when he became creative director. He went on to be the general director of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and later became a member of the ...

of Sega confirmed that more details would be revealed during the rest of the event. A

traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

localisation was announced for the Asia region. Beat Takeshi was also announced to be playing a character within the game. The game also features

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares ...

wrestlers

Hiroshi Tanahashi is a Japanese professional wrestler. He works primarily for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, his accolades in NJPW include a record setting eight reigns as IWGP Heavywei ...

Hiroyoshi Tenzan is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and is better known by his ring name . With Satoshi Kojima, in 2008, they won the World's Strongest Tag Determination League in All Japan Pro Wrestling and the ...

Kazuchika Okada (born November 8, 1987) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Okada is a five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion where his fourth reign with the championship is the longest in history at 720 days. He also h ...

Satoshi Kojima is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but makes appearances for Pro Wrestling Noah. Considered to be one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers of the 21st century and of all-time, he was the first wrest ...

Tetsuya Naito is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the leader of the ''Los Ingobernables de Japón'' faction. Tetsuya Naito began training for a professional wrestling career in 2000, initially under Anima ...

and

Toru Yano , is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, trained by and currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the KOPW (New Japan Pro-Wrestling), KOPW 2020 and the provisional KOPW (New Japan Pro-Wrestling), KOPW 2 ...

, who play fictionalized versions of themselves in the game. In addition, darts player Paul Lim, the first player to score a Nine-dart finish in a world championship appears as himself during a sub-story. He speaks English, only the second time the language is heard in the series. This is the first game to be developed exclusively for the PlayStation 4, featuring the all new "Dragon Engine". ''Yakuza 6'' also includes '' Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown'', ''

Puyo Puyo ''Puyo Puyo'' (ぷよぷよ), previously known as ''Puyo Pop'' outside Japan, is a series of Tile-matching video game, tile-matching video games created by Compile (software company), Compile. Sega has owned the franchise since 1998, with games ...

'', ''

Out Run (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi (comp ...

'', ''

Super Hang-On is a motorcycle racing arcade video game released by Sega as the sequel to ''Hang-On''. It uses a simulated motorcycle arcade cabinet, like the original game. An updated version was released in arcades 1991 as ''Limited Edition Hang-On''. Gamep ...

'', ''

Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military-themed game played in the third-person perspective and featuring a player-controlled fighter jet, but techni ...

'', and ''

Fantasy Zone is a 1986 arcade game by Sega, and the first game in the ''Fantasy Zone'' series. It was later ported to a wide variety of consoles, including the Master System. The player controls a sentient spaceship named Opa-Opa who fights an enemy inv ...

'' as playable games in the form of basic play spots. ''Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown'' and ''Puyo Puyo'' include two-player modes as well. ''Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown'' is based on Version B of the game and ''Yakuza 6'' is the only official release of this version outside Japan. For ''Yakuza 6'', Kiryu's orphanage, named "Sunshine Orphanage" in previous western releases, was renamed to "Morning Glory" (the literal translation of its Japanese name ). ''Yakuza'' series localization director Scott Strichart explained that as Goro Majima had managed a cabaret club called Sunshine in ''

'', it felt too much of a coincidence that both Majima and Kiryu would both come to have a place called "Sunshine" play a big part in their lives. He then said that as such, it would likely lead to the impression that Kiryu had decided to name his orphanage after the cabaret club, which seemed highly inappropriate for his character. This change was retained in later re-releases of prior games.

Demo

The demo for ''Yakuza 6'' was released on February 27, 2018, for North America, Europe, and Australia. The US version was pulled from the PlayStation Store after Sega discovered that they accidentally released the full game in that region. The Australian and European demos were pulled from the PlayStation Store the next day, and all the free copies of the game in the US had their digital license revoked. On March 19, 2018, the demo was re-released on the PlayStation Store.

Reception

Critical response

''Yakuza 6: The Song of Life'' received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. The game received a score of 39/40 from the video game magazine

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

. The German magazine 4Players gave it 85 out of 100 points. Some questioned the inclusion of the chat room mini game where real world AV models strip on successful button prompts. Though acknowledging their presence does truthfully reflect prominent parts of the real-world Japanese nightlife and adult industries, they felt they were inconsistent with the character of Kiryu.

Sales

In its first week of release in Japan, it sold 218,168 copies. As of December 23, it has sold 400,000 copies in the region. Combined with the rest of Asia, the game shipped over 500,000 units by December 2016. It was the third best selling video game in the United Kingdom during its European debut week, making it the biggest launch for the series in the UK. As of June 2018, the game has sold 800,000-900,000 units worldwide, with overseas markets accounting for approximately half of the game's sales.

Accolades

The game was nominated for "Best Storytelling" and "PlayStation Game of the Year" at the 2018

Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...

, and for the Tin Pan Alley Award for Best Music in a Game at the New York Game Awards.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Yakuza series 2016 video games Action-adventure games Fiction about fatherhood Open-world video games Organized crime video games Patricide in fiction PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 4 Pro enhanced games Sega beat 'em ups Single-player video games Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Video games set in 2016 Video games set in 2017 Video games set in Hiroshima Prefecture Video games set in Okinawa Prefecture Video games set in Tokyo Windows games Xbox Cloud Gaming games Xbox One games Xbox One X enhanced games Yakuza (franchise) Zainichi Korean culture Video games scored by Hidenori Shoji Triad (organized crime) World War II in popular culture