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Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties exists in a weird space. After all, the series is no longer called Yakuza, with all the recent games going under the new Like a Dragon banner. While brand confusion isn’t probably an issue (after all, the series is pretty niche and has hardcore fans), it’s still a bit weird to see SEGA reverting back to the Yakuza name.
Understandable (as there’s a naming convention to follow with the Kiwami remakes), but weird.
Weird or not, here’s Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties in all of its glory. While newcomers might be weaned on Ichiban Kasuga’s adventures, Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties takes place earlier in the series’ timeline, when the main hero is still Kazuma Kiryu.
So after all this time, how does SEGA’s remake fare against its more modern entries?
What is Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties?
Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties is a 3D action RPG remake of Yakuza 3. It is developed by RGG Studios and published by SEGA. It will be available for the PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles from 12 February 2026.
Our review code was kindly provided by SEGA.
Like Yakuza Kiwami and its sequel, Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties is a remake of Yakuza 3, with all new exclusive content featuring Yoshitaka Mine. Right off the bat, let me just tell you that Dark Ties isn’t really that much fun. It doesn’t add much to the whole Yakuza 3 story, but playing as Mine and running around Kamurocho does have its charms (and exclusive content).
The main meat of the game though is of course, Yakuza 3 Kiwami.
In this one, Kiryu is living peacefully on Okinawa with Haruka and the other adopted kids. The Dragon of Dojima is drawn out from his exile/retirement when he gets caught up in a plan to evict him and his charges for an upcoming developmental project on the island.
Like other Yakuza games (or Like a Dragon games), the plot’s much more complicated than it lets on. It brings back a lot of familiar faces (if you’ve been a longtime fan) but also introduces new ones for the Kiwami 3 remake.
That also can be said for the game.
Kiryu will be splitting his time between Kamurocho and Okinawa this time around. As always, you’re free to run around the areas once you’re a few chapters into the story.
Okinawa isn’t as big (or as fun) as Kamurocho but hey, it’s an alternate location to run around. While there is quite a bit of new content in this remake (including a much more involved smartphone customization), the biggest of them all is the Bōsōzoku side content.
Kiryu joins a female biker gang and defends Okinawa from an incursion from other gangs. Unlike most diversions in Yakuza (or Like a Dragon), this one involves a lot of fighting and recruiting of various characters (some through side missions of their own) to build up your gang.
There’s even a customization aspect to it all.
You can use money to upgrade your bike and even the uniform your crew wears. There’s a lot of cool stuff here and it’s definitely one of the better side missions in the series. The fights are on par with some of the larger battles you can find in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
Tons of characters on both sides just beating each other up.
It’s chaotic fun and totally mindless.
It’s cool and all, but it’s all let down by the game’s terrible, terrible translation.
In English, the biker gangs are referred to as baddies.
Seriously.
Baddies.
WTF.
Talk about lame. Why can’t they just use the Japanese word for it? Why baddies? Why not biker groups or delinquents or something cool sounding. Baddies sound like a term dreamt up by a freaking primary school kid. It’s also cringey as hell.
On top of that, I don’t even know why the antagonist gang in the mode has its name changed.
They’re literally called the Tokyo Nightmare in their banner! You can see that for yourself. Kiryu and the lot even call them the Tokyo Nightmare in cutscenes in Japanese!
Yet, the game calls them the Tokyo Night Terrors.
It’s mindbogglingly stupid!
Why the need to change their name?!
Thankfully, some of the other side missions are entertaining enough to take away some of the sting from that rather stupid name.
You can cook meals for the kids Kiryu cares for. You can farm vegetables and catch insects to sell and fulfill requests. You can hunt fugitives from the Tojo Clan that are preying on innocents. You can train in the Ryukyu style dojo to learn new moves. You can customize your phone to provide benefits. Hell, you can even make new friends on the LaLaLa Loveland app to unlock even more stuff!
That’s not including returning stuff like the Photo Hunt or Coin Locker key hunts. Or the darts, bowling, pool or mahjong minigames. Karaoke and the Colliseum fights return too! Don’t forget the Game Gear or the arcade games.
There’s a LOT of optional stuff to do in Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties and most of them are very fun.
The best of them all… that’s the character customizing aspects. You can change Kiryu’s look in the game and I had a great time just messing around.
While combat is entertaining, it’s clearly unbalanced in this version.
Even on Normal, enemies take way too long to down.
It’s ridiculous in the endgame, when you go up against enemies with high health that you slowly whittle down with repeated hits and combos. Even at max stats, it’s still too long to finish off random baddies. It’s pretty much a requirement to use equipment that boost Heat attacks for Kiryu for fights to end in a reasonable amount of time.
There’s also a bleeding mechanic that Kiryu can inflict with some attacks in Ryukyu style. Unfortunately, it’s a rather uninspired mechanic and doesn’t really factor in much in fights. It’s also the only status element in the game, which is rather weird. Why no poison, stun or other similar statuses?
Bleeding is cool for doing DoT (damage over time) attacks on the game’s beefier enemies and bosses but it’s not really explained in-game how long it lasts or whether it stacks. It’s just there and not elaborated upon. In the grand scheme of things, it does too little damage, takes too long to proc and is too inconsistent to be a feature to count on.
I really wished that SEGA focused more on this aspect of the fights. Done right, it could’ve added more dimension to battles and how you approach them. Instead, the bleeding status is largely ignored and underutilized.
Worse still is that pretty much all bosses and arena opponents have this aura around them that makes them resistant to flinching. Combat then becomes either a straight up slog (with you getting hit for every blow you land) or a contest of agility (with you dodging and getting behind a boss, landing a few hits and then darting out of range again).
Both options are boring.
They don’t allow you to fight your way, forcing you to rely on exploits.
It makes the Ryukyu style (with its numerous long winded combos) even worse, because you’re pretty much guaranteed to be hit when you execute anything higher than a three-hit combo. Mine’s rapid fire combos fare better (because they’re so fast) but they deal pathetic damage unless you chain a lot of hits together.
In fact, that’s the main drawback to Mine.
He’s missing a ton of Kiryu’s fighting options – he only has one style, he can’t equip items to boost his stats or attacks and he is sorely lacking in power.
His story, Dark Ties, isn’t really necessary either.
Sure, it’s nice to see how Mine and Kanda climbed the Nishikiyama Family ranks but it adds very little to the overall plot of Yakuza 3. Oh, other than the redone ending that is.
Is it worth playing through Dark Ties for the plot though? Not really.
I do like the side jobs Mine does in his story though. He doesn’t get to explore Okinawa, but he can explore all of Kamurocho like Kiryu.
Unlike Kiryu, who’s doing good because he’s a good man, Mine goes out on the town to raise Kanda’s reputation. Everything he does is calculated and while Mine does have a moral compass (albeit a bit skewed), he is cold, calculating and ultimately, solely focused on his goals.
As Kanda’s rep gets higher, more quests get unlocked in Kamurocho. Mine’s storyline though has one exclusive feature that Kiryu’s doesn’t – the Hell tournaments. Survival Hell is a rogue-lite mode where Mine (and mercenaries you can hire) delve into timed stages to fight and loot.
While you can’t use the loot you get outside, they do come into play while you’re doing the Survival Hell mode. They buff you up, they make health drop more (and heal you for more) and even give discounts on mercenaries. It’s a fun diversion to be honest and the main highlight for the Dark Ties campaign.
Overall though, the biggest disappointment to me is the complete dearth of risque content. While there’s never been explicit nudity in the series, there’s been a lot of innuendoes and sexualized content throughout the games…which is why Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties’ lack of anything even remotely sexual is so alarming.
Despite having about half of the game set in Kamurocho (which is a den of vice and larceny), and with sex shops readily available on Pink Street, there is pretty much nothing that’s even remotely sexually related.
No hostess bars to visit. No risque telephone cards to collect. No gravure videos to watch. No pole dancing.
All of these were present in past games in the series. It’s not just a list of activities I just made up. Yakuza has a history of erotica. Yet, it’s all gone now… The only thing remotely sexual is the soapland that Kanda loves to visit in Dark Ties. Even then, there’s nothing to it!
If this is a preview of what the latter games in the series will be like, it’s a very bleak one!
I don’t get how SEGA has ignored the sex part of the series. It goes hand in hand with the setting!
WHY SEGA?
WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US?
The Bottom Line.
Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties is a decent remake with a ton of new stuff added. Most of them are worthwhile and add to the whole experience.
Yes, there are issues… The voices in Japanese rarely match with the subtitles. Combat could be better. Dark Ties could be more substantial. All are legitimate grouses to have but are trivial in the grand scheme of things. The core Yakuza experience is still there.
Would I recommend Yakuza 3 Kiwami & Dark Ties for somebody new to the series? Yes, but with caveats. For returning fans though, this should tide us over until the next Like a Dragon game comes along.
TLDR:
A decent remake but plagued by minor issues and questionable design decisions.
The Good:
- Lots of optional content.
- Two different campaigns.
- Hours of playtime to do and complete everything.
The Bad:
- Translation issues.
- Spongey enemies and bosses.
- Dark Ties plot isn’t really interesting or essential.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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