Yakuza 0 - Why is the Series so good?

Games Horizon takes a look at the Yakuza series:

What Makes Yakuza Games So Good

The Yakuza franchise from Ryu-Ga-Gotoku studios is currently enjoying a much deserved revival in the West. Right from early games like Yakuza 0 and Ishin : Like A Dragon that went under the radar at their original launch; to new releases like Yakuza : Like A Dragon and Like A Dragon : Infinite Wealth now regularly find their place in lists for top games of the year, best RPGs, best open worlds and so on. In fact, the Yakuza games (and by Yakuza games we mean all the numbered titles in the franchise, the Judgment series and Like A Dragon series) collectively work out to some 14 games with an average Metacritic score of 81 – I doubt there would be any other franchise that comes anywhere close to this level of consistently high scores, across so many titles. So, clearly they are doing a lot of things right that are loved by both critics and gamers. Lets look at what makes Yakuza games so good!

The strongest pillar for all Yakuza games is that all of them, without exception, have gripping stories to tell. There are (very) long cut scenes that set up the main plot : in fact, for the first hour and a half or so for the games, you would not have much to do at all with the controller, as the introductory set of cut scenes lay out the story elements quite leisurely but deliberately – akin to watching a movie. Over the next 25-30 hours of gameplay, there are twists, characters that backstab, there are redemption arcs for other characters and everything gets put up with flashy camera angles in dramatic fashion accompanied by suitably grand music.

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Thanks Couchpotato!