4/5 ★ – Lord_Hazenberg's review of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

This is the end of the Kazuma Kiryu saga, yet the beginning of Yakuza on the next generation of console. A fitting dynamic considering the game’s story focuses on the next generation of Yakuza challenging the ways of the old guard. Speaking of the old guard, you won’t see them that much as Majima, Saejima, & Daigo have a combined screen time of mere minutes. Being the first game designed on the new Dragon Engine, it’s stunning if a little rough around the edges. Every line of dialogue is voiced for the first time in the series, and you can explore in a first person perspective. For the first time since Yakuza 3, you play the entire game as Kiryu. A deeply personal story unfolds as he must solve a secret surrounding his adopted daughter, Haruka, & a mysterious baby. The characters are the stars of this game. From the endearing Hirose family, to the charismatic & driven leaders of the main factions. Each sporting a memorable design & personality with some fantastic boss fights. Combat has been redesigned for the new engine and is spotty at best. Heat actions are much more niche than previous entries, and you can no longer keep weapons in your inventory. The worst aspect though is when mini bosses are added to combat. These bastards block & dodge everything while attacking you nonstop. If there are multiple of them in a big brawl, pray you brought plenty of healing items. My biggest disappointment was the world itself. Hiroshima was tiny with nothing to do, and it’s beyond apparent that Kamurocho received more love. Sub stories were reduced to a minimum with a majority assigned to mini games so you didn’t experience many different situations like before. The major mini game storylines weren’t that engaging either. Baseball was a fun addition, but Clan Creator was a lot less refined that its Kiwami 2 counterpart. In conclusion, this is a wonderful send off for one of the most glossed over protagonists in gaming. The story of Kiryu was a joy to experience from start to finish regardless of any issues I’ve had. This journey has cemented Yakuza as one of my all time favorite series in near two decades of playing video games.