Yakuza 6: The Song of Life PC review | Laptop Mag

Our Verdict

Yakuza six: The Song of Life is an excellent conclusion to i of the near underrated RPG serial in gaming.

For

Excellent vocalisation interim
Dizzying corporeality of content and sub-missions
Heady city areas to explore
Gripping, heartfelt narrative

Against

No English language voiceover option
Non all dialogue is fully voiced

Laptop Mag Verdict

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is an excellent conclusion to one of the most underrated RPG serial in gaming.

Pros

+
Excellent voice acting
+
Dizzying corporeality of content and sub-missions
+
Exciting city areas to explore
+
Gripping, heartfelt narrative

Cons

-
No English voiceover option
-
Non all dialogue is fully voiced

Yakuza 6: The Vocal of Life is Kazuma Kiryu's swan song, so it was difficult not to scrutinize it more previous entries in the series. It also had the honor of being the first title in the series designed solely around the PS4 hardware when it kickoff debuted. With so many new fans coming together Kiryu for the outset fourth dimension at the beginning of his chance with the blast hit release of Yakuza 0, it seemed almost too soon for Yakuza 6 to arrive when it did. Afterwards all, we were just getting to know him.

Yakuza has been a cult striking for years now, only it wasn't until Yakuza 0 that the series started to resonate in the west. Considering of its blossoming popularity, much of the Western audience has a vastly different perspective on the franchise. New fans love Kiryu and Yakuza considering, well, they're first-class games. All the same, many don't have the years of history with the franchise as longtime fans practice.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life PC review — (Image credit: Sega)

Equally a outcome, Yakuza 6 ran the risk of alienating one of the two crowds specially since those who started the series with Yakuza 0 likely haven't had the time to play through each game yet. Thankfully, Yakuza 6 manages to strike a fantastic balance. It fills new players with the information they need from past titles without being so referential as to amerce those who accept already played through previous Yakuza games. And now that the game is on PC, it opens the floor to more than fans around the world. It happens to be 1 of the best PC games effectually.

A fitting refrain

Yakuza 6 picks upwards a few years after Yakuza 5. Kiryu was the fall guy for the events in that game, and after a 3-yr jail sentence, returns to the Okinawa orphanage to alive his life in peace. However, his young accuse Haruka, who was supposed to be waiting for his render, has disappeared. She's nowhere to exist institute.

With this newfound knowledge, Kiryu heads to his old stomping grounds of Kamurocho to track her down, just finds she's been in a terrible accident. Haruka is found comatose in a local hospital, and Kiryu also discovers she has a baby, something wholly unexpected, especially for those following the previous entry in the Yakuza series. Determining the father of the child, who acquired her accident, and how information technology'southward all connected, is the central focus of the game.

With that, you set off on what feels like a reel of all the important people in Kiryu'south life every bit you acclimate to life outside of prison house once more, only to find that the world has changed significantly. Three years is a long time for Kiryu (though not well-nigh the longest stint a Yakuza hero has been incarcerated). But as you'll see as the game carries on, you haven't missed out on a thing. The game is so welcoming and informative to newcomers that it'll be similar coming dorsum to a familiar drama series a few episodes in with some keen recaps thrown in for skilful measure.

Striking the metropolis

Although most of your fourth dimension is spent with Kiryu completing the game's primary story, you'll accept plenty of opportunities to check out the balance of the areas effectually you lot likewise, and that will take up a adept part of your time in the game as a whole. It's perfect for anyone who doesn't like actual open-earth games and needs to be reined in a chip since the city areas aren't endless.

At that place are a broad diversity of activities spread out between the main urban locales: Kamurocho and Onomichi. Y'all're left to your own devices equally Kiryu between lengthy story setpieces. These are some of the most rewarding aspects of the entire feel. Though the central story is always a thrill to play through when it comes to Yakuza games, part of the attraction is the immense amount of sub-stories you'll unlock past but exploring the urban center.

Yes, while Kiryu has his ain mission to complete, that won't stop him from helping others with theirs, likewise. That'south how he's won over so many hearts across the length of the Yakuza series, subsequently all. As you speak to various individuals in the city, you'll find many of them take their ain unique concerns and situations that they need help with. This can range from feeding cats throughout the city to helping out a cat cafe owner or fighting in a cemetery in the name of the local "god" Ono Michio. Kiryu might be a criminal in the black and white eyes of the police, merely these sub-stories show how great of a guy he actually is.

Sometimes, the main narrative and sub-stories go paw in mitt. It'south intriguing to come across both narrative streams come together, particularly when you help out a particular private but to run into them come back later on and do something remarkable for the overarching game.

Streets of rage

This is one of the about fluid Yakuza titles yet, with a variety of moves Kiryu can pull off when he enters combat. Thanks to the game's new engine, y'all get faster, more graceful action when fights inevitably pause out amid Kiryu and his friends. Kiryu is equipped with a variety of moves and augments to make street brawls a memorable occasion, which means plenty of opportunities to bash others' skulls in. These fights are required if you enter one for a detail storyline, simply yous'll run across others that do nothing but net you lot greenbacks and additional feel.

Yakuza 6 carries on the institution of first-class minigames as well with a variety of arcade titles, baseball cages, substories, cabaret clubs, and more. However, some activities are missing, like bowling, billiards, and slot cars, simply the new side quests, like baseball management, are meaty plenty to make up for what's gone. You could spend days alone sifting through all the extra missions and side quests if yous want to explore those further.

There are so many augments to the game that it might fifty-fifty feel a fleck jarring. The most significant improvement that comes with Yakuza half dozen is the new Dragon Engine. Y'all tin now enter and exit buildings and fights with no loading times. The graphics and animations are much more fluid besides. Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami were both amazing games, merely they were made with the PS3 in heed. Yakuza 6 is genuinely a current-gen title, and Kiryu and Kamurocho have never looked better. This was true when it arrived on PS4, and it's even more than true now that it runs just as well as the rest of the serial when played on PC.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life performance

I fired up Yakuza 6 on my custom desktop PC, which is running an AMD Ryzen nine 5900x CPU with 32GB of RAM and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 GPU. I played with all settings at maximum and never experienced issues with the game'south visual fidelity, frame charge per unit, or screen tearing. The game looks and feels fantastic, and runs silky smooth, showing off everything the Dragon Engine has to offer. I didn't experience any slowdown or adverse issues when exploring the areas of Kamurocho, Tokyo, and Onomichi, even when there were dozens of characters on-screen.

Conclusion

Yakuza 6: The Vocal of Life might be Kiryu'south last (chronological) starring role in the Yakuza series, only in that location'southward no need to shed any tears. It'south one of the most fitting send-offs a character similar Kiryu could accept experienced. It's a polished story with an excellent translation that'due south not only full of the franchise's traditional humor, weirdness, and heartfelt stories, but satisfying combat and a compelling narrative. Whether information technology's your first Yakuza, or you're a long-time fan, Yakuza 6 is sure to satisfy. Once you've played through it, y'all should absolutely follow information technology upwards with a playthrough of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which kicks off a brand new chapter in the Yakuza continuity with a frontman who's every bit as worthy as Kiryu.