4/5 ★ – justimagine's review of Yakuza 0.

Let me preface this by saying that I avoided this game for a long time for two reasons: 1. I really don't like the genre 2. I can't stomach violence very well, so especially the finishers were a little problematic for me. I still decided to play this game, because I kept hearing good stuff about the goofy side stories and the captivating Main Story. But I kept being skeptical. I expected an explosion of violence and a story about honor, stealing and fighting. I was impressed by how wrong I was. While this game does have its moments of glorifying violence and using it as a crucial part of its storytelling, it was definitely not as defining as one might think. The Main Story is filled with emotions, twists, fights, twists, secrets, and wouldn't you know it, another twist. There might actually be too many of them, but they still caught me off guard from time to time. Other things, one could see coming from miles away. But, it never got boring. The Story Segments do tend to go on for longer times though. They really want to get you invested, but sometimes they take it a little too far. Making you basically wish for a breather in between. But, as the pace picks up in later chapters, you start being thankful for that. The side stories are one of the strongest points of Yakuza and if you can portion them to have a few ready after some heavy Main Story Chapters, the goofiness will help you get into an easier mood quicker. There will be something for every taste. That also means, there will be things you will not like all too much. If you want to 100% the game, that might get frustrating. Especially learning Mahjong and Shogi are two of the requirements (unless you find a way to "cheat" your way through it). I personally didn't like the "goofy hornyness" of the game, that is more apparent in some of the sub stories. Also, the collectible being Girl telephone numbers made me not really appreciate finding them. That is a personal thing though. Gameplay-wise I did not appreciate the fighting all that much. It felt kinda repetitive, slow and not really like I earned a win through skill. Until we met the second Main Character. The gameplay got so much more flexible, it was fun, fast, interesting. New. It even started to change my view of the genre. Maybe faster paced ones could be up my sleeve? I am grateful that I experienced that, although it made me realize the problems about the first main character's fighting styles. All in all, the series is definitley worth a visit and 0 does a good job of getting you interested to play more. Anyone looking for a good story will not regret giving this a shot.