It’s a little hard to go back to the old Yakuza games

We were absolutely spoiled Yakuza games lately, especially if you’re a newcomer to the series who was able to effortlessly jump 0 to the Kiwamis at Like a dragon. But now that some of the older games are available on PC, there are a few things that there are things to keep in mind for those looking to step back into the history of the series.

After releasing on PlayStation last year, Yakuzas 3, 4 & 5 are now available on PC and Xbox, as “remastered” editions. And while they have been improved slightly to update them, with improvements in resolution and framerate, these are still games that are 11, 10 and 8 years old, and unlike Kiwami, these are certainly not complete remakes.

What this means is that other than the graphics tweaks, you’ll be playing old ass. Yakuza games, to a degree that I hadn’t realized before trying them out this week. Because the series tends to improve at an icy pace between releases, an adjustment here and a pullback there, it’s not always obvious when you’re playing a new one. Yakuza game how much smoother and more contemporary than the previous one. You just think, hey, that’s a new one Yakuza game, sweet!

So let’s go back to Yakuza 5, now one of only two games in the main series not to be seen here (I had technical problems on PS3 at the time, and therefore I never finished), did not enough was the joy I expected it to be. The game still rules, don’t get me wrong, but I was a little shocked at how crisp the game controls, the way itff Kiryu’s animations were, how many boring little idiosyncrasies of the series (like fixed save points and a lack of first-person mode) I had glossed over or simply forgotten in my rosy memories.

And yet! Of Classes this thing was going to happen, these are old video games, and it would otherwise be a given and expected. It was only thanks to the wild and strange growth of this series in the West, which has climbed to very strange places (first to 3, then 0 and lately at Like a dragon) that I wanted to talk about here, because so many people on PC and Xbox might be tackling these games for the first time, rather than revisiting an old favorite.

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If so, you are of course going to love them, as long as you are ready to deal with these things. Yakuza 4 & 5 in particular have a sort of explosive largesse that later games strayed from, with an incredibly overblown cast of playable characters and intertwined storylines that are an absolute blast to wade through.

And while I really admired the effort put in Like a dragon RPG CombatIt was also nice to come back to the show’s mind-blowing action combat, something that looks and feels intimidating, but really isn’t. A combination of leveling paths and difficulty settings means anyone can make their way through these games, including some of the best and most memorable boss fights you’ll ever see.

I am the worst to this kind of fight, so if I can finish these games without breaking a sweat, anyone can.

Yakuzas 3, 4 & 5 Remastered is available today on PC (Windows Store and Steam), Xbox One, and Xbox Game Pass (for Xbox One and PC). And if you want to check out my full reviews of 3 & 4, writes around the time of their release, you can find them below!