Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

The ties that bind.

Yakuza: Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is the latest return to the franchise that remakes 2009's Yakuza 3 with all the modern enhancements that have brought to life the previous remakes in the series, including a full English dub, which wasn’t present in the original. However, while Kiwami 3 does bring several quality of life changes, as well as being rebuilt in the Dragon Engine, it also suffers from a host of pacing issues, cut content, and a horrific casting choice that will likely overshadow any good this game provides. 

Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is a little bit more than just a remake. It changes some significant parts of canon, including how Kiwami 4 is likely to begin, if it ever happens, as well as including a whole new campaign in Dark Ties, a roughly 4-hour playable chapter that sees the rise of antagonist Yoshitaka Mine. While Dark Ties is the attractive component here due to it being a whole new part of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, it does feel like a breath of fresh air since we are playing as someone who is naturally a villain, and it frees us from the norm of playing as the general hero. It has some good twists and turns, as well as a deeper look into how the Tojo Clan has been operating after Kiryu left, but some of the side quests, such as Mine doing tasks to increase Kanda’s rep, felt like filler rather than genuine content. 

While the overall presentation given to Kiwami 3 is mostly impressive, as is the game’s core storyline that sees Kiryu fight to protect his new life, the bulk of Kiwami 3 doesn’t quite nail the landing, and often had me puzzled at so many of its design choices. For every cautious step forward, it takes two generous steps back.

Kiwami 3 does a great job at conveying Kiryu’s struggles to leave the Yakuza life behind, showing his attempt at living a normal life, even when the odds are constantly stacked against him. While he is still considered the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, he aims to ensure his focus is on the orphanage and the kids that he gives everything to protect. However, when a plot to take this away from him forces his hand, he digs into this conspiracy that sees his former life return to once again confront him.

For any issues I have with Kiwami 3, the narrative is not one of them. The stakes of losing the life he's built are something that affects every core element of the story. As a resort and military expansion are set to collide with Okinawa, there is more to this plot that affects every character you'll encounter, including an Okinawan gang that you'll quickly become part of their family.

However, while Kiryu had a hand in picking the seventh chairman of the Tojo Clan in the last game, that choice places the new head of the clan in the crosshairs of someone intent on ensuring this deal goes through. While the Tojo Clan has its own narrative around its current hierarchy, it still finds an appropriate intersection with the main story that weaves everything together in a satisfying way and brings Kiryu back to Kamurocho.

This return to Kamurocho for Kiryu comes with a lot of memories. He was largely responsible for Daigo Dojima becoming head of the Tojo Clan, as well as continuing his shaky friendship with Goro Majima, who was once his sworn enemy. Kiwami 3 also dives into a mysterious man from Kiryu’s past, who should be dead, suddenly appearing, and while I do feel they went the easy way out here, it does nonetheless have some emotional moments for Kiryu to react to. It also allows the current leadership of the Tojo Clan to understand why Kiryu is so respected and how his influence is still present, despite having left the Tojo Clan years ago.

On the other side of this coin, Kiryu’s life in Okinawa is also a highlight, as we have a whole new area to explore in Okinawa, which does share some resemblance to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s Hawaii, but considering Okinawa is considered to be Japan’s “Hawaii”, this was to be expected. Still, it’s a nice area that gives you a fair amount to do, despite the map being trimmed down from the original, with some locations and streets being entirely removed or reshuffled. 

As the notices for eviction start to pile on, Kiryu then goes to meet the Ryudo Family to get to the bottom of this disturbance. While there is some initial conflict, the relationship that Kiryu makes with this family completely worked for me, given the stakes at play, especially with the family’s leader, Shigeru Nakahara, and his Captain, Rikiya Shimabukuro, who has seen a radically different look to this character, one I greatly approve of, given how the character is written and performed. Though, to be fair, the entire Ryudo family is extremely memorable.

The orphanage also has its moments as well, and where much of this was mandatory in the original, you now have the option to get to know the kids, help them with their homework, plant crops, or cook a meal for them, all within the framework we come to expect from Yakuza mini-games. That said, you can ignore this almost entirely, should this part of Kiryu’s life not interest you.

While a bit more than just a mini-game, there is a secondary narrative that sees Kiryu join and manage a girl gang that is looking to make a name for themselves. However, this ruffles the feathers of some major gangs, so Kiryu will recruit members and get into skirmishes with other gangs, thus increasing the power and fame of this gang. Overall, there is a lot to sink into here, as you conquer territories in a shipyard before confronting the gang bosses, and eventually become the most powerful gang in Japan. This is also mostly optional, should you not want to see it through.

Kiwami 3 also has the known minigames we've seen across the years, and while the slight reduction in map size given to Okinawa is smaller than what was present in the original, there are still countless ways to spend your time, even if the hostess club and dating mini-games have been removed, apparently due to localization costs.

The original Yakuza 3 also featured around 120 sub-stories, including one that had Kiryu solving a murder, to one that spoke to a lot of trans culture that has been removed here, alongside some 80+ other sub-stories. I'm not sure why these were removed, or at least why so many were left behind, especially “Murder at Cafe Alps”, which was a fan favorite, but the fact that Yakuza 3 has now been delisted means that for digital consumers, those quests are simply gone from existence unless you purchase the entire collection. Sure, you can find physical copies or collections that have the original Yakuza 3, but future platforms have a chance to not be compatible with those discs, so it's a bizarre choice to simply not bring these quests back.

One aspect of Kiwami 3 that certainly affected my enjoyment is the inconsistent pacing. With so much to do, it rarely feels like the right time to tackle much of it. A character could be shot, bleeding out, waiting for you, only for the gang story to feel like it takes precedence and cause the main story to lose its sense of urgency. That, or you decided to take in a few Game Gear sessions.

The story itself is great, but some of the presentation around telling it is simply confusing. Cutscenes will fade to black only to continue from another angle, and in one moment of exposition dumping, characters take a break multiple times during this conversation for absolutely no reason. The fact that this happened four times in a single conversation left me in awe of why this was even considered. I was flabbergasted. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Kiwami 3 has a very enjoyable cast. From its central protagonists to its villains, so many really feel impactful to the story, with Yoshitaka Mine being a standout, especially with that performance. Now, I played through the entirety of this in English, and while I'm still not sold on Yong Yea’s Kiryu, the rest of the cast is fantastic. 

However, despite the solid English voice acting, the likeness and Japanese voice of Teruyuki Kagawa as the character Goh Hamazaki has caused many fans to avoid this release altogether. While actor George Ackles does a solid job via the English dub, Kagawa’s likeness is nonetheless the issue here. 

Kagawa admitted to groping and assaulting a hostess in 2022, and yet when pressed about his involvement, RGG Studio Director, Masayoshi Yokoyama, stated they wanted to cast someone fans would find “creepy” or “sleazy” and felt he fit the image. What is rather odd here is that other games across the series, such as Judgment, saw those with lesser offences being removed from the game, so it's bizarre that this casting choice went through, with that knowledge known beforehand.

Combat is as it has always been, with Kiryu taking on various gangs, criminals, punks, and more, albeit with a pretty slim offering when compared to other games in the series. You have two fighting styles here in Dragon of Dojima Style and the new Ryukyu Style, which sees you wielding an assortment of weapons, such as the Tonfa and the weighted Surujin. While it does have some benefit with wide area attacks, more than 90% of my playthrough was using the Dragon of Dojima style, as it just felt better to use. In previous games, Kiryu felt like he had far more options, especially within each style. While there are skills and passives to improve here, combat feels largely surface-level and rarely changes from start to finish. 

In Dark Ties, Yoshitaka Mine feels drastically different than Kiyru, and I really enjoyed his level of brutality, using a fighting style that seems to be an aggressive take on shoot-boxing. While he doesn’t have a typical Heat Meter, he does have a mode called Dark Awakening that has you filling chained hearts, and you can opt to use them individually or all at once, increasing your power. Mine is far more brutal than Kiyru, and it was nice to see them make him feel different, given the 30+ hours of Kiyru fighting could have felt like overkill by having them feel too similar. 

Performance-wise, even on the Nintendo Switch 2, the title is practically flawless. Aside from some long load times on the Switch 2, having this portable was a dream. Regardless of the wider and more spacious environments or the combat, the game ran without a hitch. Portable does bring with a slight fuzziness to certain parts of the visuals, but this was very mininal and unless you are constantly focusing on it, you’ll rarely pay attention to it. While the Switch 2 version is pretty much locked at 30fps, other platforms can certainly perform better.

Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties should have been a much better experience, given the studio’s ability to reform and rebuild so much of what worked in the original. However, with poorly implemented pacing, a ton of cut content, and an awful casting choice, the title only succeeds in any real way due to the main story. Kiryu’s journey to find that normal life is one worth seeking, as well as diving into the criminal mind of Mine, should you be able to put up with a host of various issues, and that Yakuza elephant in the room. 

Developer - Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.
Publisher - SEGA. Released - February 12th, 2026. Available On - Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC. Rated - (M) - Blood, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch 2. Review Access - A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.