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Yakuza

15 titles in the catalog 19 versions across platforms ⏱ 2005–2025 7 platforms
Yakuza – obaly dílů série

When Sega released the first Yakuza on PlayStation 2 in 2005, it offered something the market had no equivalent for: a game about the Japanese underworld set in a single densely drawn district, far more interested in the people there than in criminal spectacle. Kamurocho, a fictional stand-in for Tokyo's Kabukicho, can be crossed in a couple of minutes, yet players spend dozens of hours in it, among bars, arcades, karaoke booths, pawn shops and strangers with absurd problems. Kazuma Kiryu is an unusually solemn hero: a former yakuza with a rigid code who ends up fighting mostly because he cares about someone.

That contrast makes the series. The main plot is high melodrama about betrayal, honour and succession inside a clan, while the side stories slide into outright comedy, and the game switches between the two without embarrassment. Combat stayed close to the arcade brawler for years, with switchable styles and brutal finishers. Yakuza 5 spread the series across several cities and protagonists, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life ran on a new engine and closed Kiryu's story, the Kiwami remakes opened the beginning to a new generation, and the biggest turn came with Yakuza 0, an eighties prequel now routinely recommended as the best place to start. In 2020 Yakuza: Like a Dragon traded brawling for turn-based battles and a new lead, Ichiban Kasuga, a gamble that became a fresh start.

Entries in the series (15)

  1. Yakuza · 2005

    The foundation of a major series; the harsh world of the Japanese underworld in the dense district of Kamurocho.

    PS2

  2. Yakuza 2 · 2006

    Kazuma Kiryu returns to the underworld; a war between the Tokyo and Osaka clans with the villain Goda.

    PS2

  3. Yakuza 3 · 2009

    Kazuma Kiryu lives peacefully as the caretaker of an orphanage, until his past drags him back.

    PS3

  4. Yakuza 4 · 2010

    Four playable characters for the first time, their intertwined viewpoints on the Kamurocho plot.

    PS3

  5. Yakuza: Dead Souls · 2011

    A bizarre spin-off throws the familiar streets of Kamurocho into a zombie apocalypse.

    PS3

  6. Yakuza 5 · 2012

    Perhaps the most sprawling entry in the series: five characters, five cities, each with its own fighting style.

    PS3
  7. PS4

    Yakuza Ishin! · 2014

    Kazuma Kiryu as the samurai Sakamoto Ryoma amid the turbulent end of the Edo era in Kyoto.

    PS4

  8. Yakuza 0 · 2015

    A prequel to the whole series set in the late 1980s, with two protagonists and three fighting styles.

    PC PS4 XONE

  9. Yakuza 5 Remastered · 2015

    The most sprawling entry in the series - five playable characters and five cities across Japan.

    PS4

  10. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life · 2016

    The final chapter of Kazuma Kiryu's story; the first entry built on the new Dragon Engine.

    PS4

  11. Yakuza Kiwami · 2016

    A remake of the first Yakuza game with Kazuma Kiryu; a yakuza drama of honor and betrayal in Kamurocho.

    PS4

  12. Yakuza Kiwami 2 · 2017

    A remake of the second game on the Dragon Engine; the first seamless transition between combat and exploration.

    PS4

  13. Yakuza 3 Remastered · 2019

    Kiryu briefly trades the yakuza life for an orphanage in Okinawa; the series' calmest story.

    PS4

  14. Yakuza: Like a Dragon · 2020

    A bold series reboot with turn-based combat and a new protagonist from the bottom of the gangster world.

    PS4 XONE Series

  15. Yakuza 0 Director's Cut · 2025

    One of the best-rated entries in the series, now in an expanded form as a Director's Cut.

    Switch 2