Yakuza Kiwami 3 Puts Kiryu Into Ultimate Dad Mode, And It’s Glorious

It’s been three months since the announcement of Yakuza Kiwami 3, the highly anticipated remake of the 2009 classic Yakuza 3. After seeing how gorgeous the game looks and plays smoothly in the Dragon Engine, on top of the newly added Mine Saga “Dark Ties”, I’ve been desperately waiting for more content to be revealed, especially when it comes to Kiryu’s island life. Last week, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio announced some of the new features coming to Yakuza Kiwami 3 that gave me even more hope that this is going to be another awesome Yakuza game, and afterward, I finally got a chance to go into full island dad mode with an extended preview demo that left me even more excited for this remake.

Unlike all the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games out so far, Yakuza 3 sees Kiryu living a somewhat peaceful life. After the conflict with Omi Alliance in Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2, Kiryu moves to Okinawa to run the Morning Glory Orphanage with his adoptive daughter, Haruka. The first half of the game focuses on his relationship with the kids at the orphanage, watching sunsets with Haruka, and engaging in silly substories as a father figure.

Although it would seem like seeing Kiryu let his guard down and go into dad mode would be enjoyable, I found the orphanage content to be pretty disappointing in the original game. Slowly walking around the house felt clunky and outdated even back in 2009, where opening every door welcomed a new loading screen–it got pretty irritating, pretty fast. It was a slog having to interact with each kid, an activity that came with very little reward. I remember finishing the game and wishing there was a better focus on Kiryu’s life on the island, considering it’s one of the only “wholesome” parts of Kiryu’s saga we get to witness.

While I didn’t get to see much of the story in the part of Kiwami 3 that I got to play, I had a blast messing with the newly added “Daddy Rank” and seeing how it changes the ways Kiryu can interact with the kids in the orphanage. That’s right, you read that correctly–Yakuza Kiwami 3 now gives players the full dad experience! Hawaiian shirt, silly chores, and cheesy Kiryu puns included. Not only is Yakuza Kiwami 3 packed with more content focused on the orphanage, but Daddy Rank is where you can increase your dad stats through minigames like helping with homework, sewing clothes, cooking meals, playing board games, and completing silly side quests. Having the ability to increase your rank to bond closer with the orphans is a more rewarding experience for the players and feels more meaningful compared to Yakuza 3.

In our hands-on gameplay, we start out in Chapter 3, where the ultimate dad activities begin. After Kiryu sees Haruka burnt out from doing all the chores around the orphanage, he puts his father foot down and steps in to help her out. Our first challenge is to help Ayako with her homework, which Kiryu is adorably nervous about. The homework minigame is similar to what’s in the vocational school in Like a Dragon and Infinite Wealth, where you answer timed multiple-choice questions. This time, it’s basic elementary-school science; I had to answer questions about different types of flasks used in science projects. It was oddly intense, but luckily, I had just rewatched Breaking Bad for the third time and managed to pass with a 70% grade. It was mildly embarrassing that I barely made it–even Kiryu broke out in a sweat at the end of the minigame. Let’s just say, I am not smarter than a fifth grader.

After helping out with homework, which ended in a very adorable interaction between Kiryu and Ayako, it was time to create a new bag for Taichi in the brand-new sewing minigame. The sewing is a bit intimidating at first; you have to follow the stitch line within a thin path, speeding up to beat the timer while slowing down around tight corners, sort of like a chaotic racing game. Like most of the minigames in Yakuza/Like a Dragon games, the sewing gives off major WarioWare vibes, and Kiryu’s signature “serious but silly” competitive nature really shines: ultra concentration face, full shrimp position mode, disappointing grunts at every minor mistake.

Once the homework and sewing festivities are over, it’s time to cook a meal for all the kids. Not only did the developers add more challenges to how the franchise handles cooking at this point–cracking eggs and flipping multiple pans in what feels like a Whac-a-Mole-type game–but you also have your own farm and garden for growing and harvesting food, plus the ability to fish for seafood.

The little cutscenes in each minigame are so wholesome; you can tell Kiryu really enjoys helping around the house, even if he’s terrible at it, because he knows what it’s like to grow up in an orphanage. Morning Glory went from having very minor features to play around with to becoming almost a full cozy game in itself. I’m definitely looking forward to spending 90% of my gameplay maxing out my Daddy Rank and becoming the ultimate protective father.

After we got a preview of Kiryu’s domesticated life in the orphanage, we moved on to Chapter 4 to bring dad mode to the city.

We immediately jump into a cutscene in which Kiryu witnesses an all-male gang beating up a group of young women, one of whom ends up with bruises on her ribs. It turns out the male bullies are the Tokyo Night Terrors, a dangerous bike gang from the mainland sent to Okinawa to recruit new members, and the women are members of the Haisai bike gang, a local gang of women who protect the city from dangerous criminals. Of course, Kiryu despises any man who lays a finger on a woman and immediately steps in to fight the Tokyo Night Terrors.

It was refreshing, and oddly nostalgic, to jump back into Kiryu’s original beat-’em-up style of fighting. You can tell that Kiryu is a lot younger and stronger in this game when it comes to fighting; he moves with more agility compared to Like a Dragon Gaiden and has a quicker reaction time. As someone who played through all of Gaiden as a 50-year-old Kiryu, who starts to lose his spunk in battle, this mildly tore at my heartstrings. I’m pretty familiar with his Dragon of Dojima style–I just spam Tiger Drop and throw bikes at everyone, of course–so this time I messed around with the new Ryukyu Style. I had fun trying some of the different movesets and weapons, and I love that it’s inspired by Okinawan martial arts. It’ll be really cool to see what ridiculous combos I’ll come up with in the full release, but let’s be honest–I still just want to throw bikes at everyone.

After Kiryu beats up the Night Terror members, we head to Chura Bar with the Haisai girls, which is owned by the father of their leader, Tsubasa. The girls feel so safe with Kiryu around, they decide to recruit him to help drive the Night Terror gang out of Okinawa and find other “baddies” to join Haisai. They even named him “Chairman Kiryu”, which I’m sure Kiryu felt a bit nostalgic for. Kiryu is now officially part of a girl bike gang, and I’m really looking forward to him going dad mode on the streets in his purple gang suit.

I spent the rest of my playtime exploring Okinawa and Kamurocho to see what other fun activities I could quickly get into. Yakuza 3 is known to have some of the best side stories in the series, and Kiwami 3 added some really silly ones, such as Kiryu finding a naughty magazine on the beach and hiding it before he gets caught by Haruka. There are a couple “dad” side stories I ran into as well, which seems to become a recurring theme in this remake. Aside from all the essential minigames, like Heaven’s Golf, karaoke, and casino and bar games, the developers brought back bowling and added a Sega Game Gear in Kiryu’s room that lets you play full-length games.

Once we were finished with our Kiwami 3 demo, it was time to move on to my most anticipated addition to the remake: Yoshitaka Mine’s side story “Dark Ties.” The new content focuses on Mine’s backstory that leads up to the events in Yakuza Kiwami 3: After Mine loses his business, he seeks to make a name for himself in the criminal underworld by connecting with a Tojo clan member, Tsuyoshi Kanda.

After the trailer for Dark Ties revealed that it focuses on Mine and Kanda’s relationship, many fans, including myself–who played the original Yakuza 3–were concerned about Dark Ties “humanizing” Kanda. He’s a considerably vile scumbag of a character and one of the few Yakuza antagonists with zero redeeming qualities, not to mention that he’s not even hot.

Luckily, in Dark Ties, Kanda’s horrible reputation is unchanged, which makes Mine’s main side quest pretty hilarious. Similar to Kiryu’s Daddy Rank for completion points, Mine has “Damage Control,” which increases by putting out Kanda’s fires and getting more involved with the community through side quests and minigames. The ranks are hilarious, going from “Super Trashy” to “Trashy,” and it’s quite funny to have Mine clean up and constantly apologize for Kanda’s actions. It’s also very relieving to know that Kanda is still a garbage human in this game.

When we played Dark Ties, we started out on Chapter 2 in Kamurocho, where we are first introduced to the Damage Control mechanic and meet Zenba, Kanda’s assistant, who gives you assignments to help with your rank. The first task is to investigate the underground fighting club and make your way through “Survival Hell,” a maze-like battle arena similar to the underground dungeons in Like a Dragon, where you can use different weapons and hire mercenaries to survive each level. Mine’s aerial kicks and “shoot boxing” fighting style are pretty fun when fighting large groups of enemies, as is triggering his “Dark Awakening” against bigger enemies and bosses.

After completing Survival Hell and unlocking the underground fight club, it was time for me to roam around the city to find other ways to increase my rank. We had very limited time in Dark Ties, so I figured anything connected to the story wouldn’t be revealed yet, but engaging in typical Yakuza minigames as Mine is pretty funny. Hitting a strike in bowling and completing favors for civilians as our beloved emo antagonist is already pretty hilarious, but inviting Kanda to join is even more entertaining. I invited Kanda to duet in “Bakamitai”, but it just ends up being Mine singing while Kanda yells at him. I can’t wait to see what other shenanigans Mine is forced into to cover for Kanda and how their relationship develops before their final interaction in Yakuza Kiwami 3.

I’m very happy that Yakuza Kiwami 3 is going to be packed with both silly and heartwarming side content for Kiryu, as he deserves to enjoy the little peace he has in his life. I’m also looking forward to playing as Mine and seeing how all the events will unfold in the final chapters in each game. Thankfully, I don’t have to wait all that long. Yakuza Kiwami 3 launches on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch 2, and PC on February 12.