If the Yakuza (and its spin-off Judgment) video games are well-known for one factor, it’s you could smash a dude’s face in with a motorbike and that it appears very humorous. In the event that they’re well-known for 2 issues, it’s that they’re actually lengthy, and that their tales and cutscenes go eternally.
It’s not unusual for individuals to spend over 100 hours on a Yakuza recreation, poking their noses across the shadier sides of Tokyo (or Osaka) whereas a cleaning soap opera story performs out at a glacial tempo. Typically you’ll sit there, eyes glazing over, as quarter-hour’ price of dialogue asks you to press “X” on the finish of each sentence, whereas at different occasions you’ll be handled to 25 minutes of cinematics that would have been wrapped up in 5. Followers adore it, I adore it, but in addition, it’s a lot.
The Kaito Information are an experiment in deviating from that system, in size if not in spirit. It’s the sequence’ first self-contained story DLC, which implies it’s not an addition or set of additional missions for a primary recreation, however its personal factor, launching from its personal spot in the primary menu, and having you play by means of it from starting to finish with none interruption. Yagami stands out as the star of the Judgment video games, however he’s nowhere to be seen right here.
As a substitute, we get a narrative all about his greatest good friend Kaito, which fleshes out the character in a shocking and lovable approach (even perhaps setting him up for a starring position down the road), and does so over the course of only a few hours—just below 5 in my case—as an alternative of the same old days, weeks and even months wanted for a full Yakuza story.
The Kaito Information don’t have sidequests, one of many sequence’ nice time-wasters, don’t emphasise distractions just like the arcade video games and don’t actually go away Kamurocho in any respect. There’s just one playable character. It’s a restricted Yakuza expertise, like an EP or a demo. The horizons are nearer right here, however by some means this nonetheless looks like a correct Yakuza recreation, the best way adaptation can take a guide you spent months studying into one thing you may take pleasure in simply as completely in a few hours on the cinema.
Actual speak: Yakuza’s tales are well-known for his or her size, however they’re not often any good. Like I stated up high, we soak them up like cleaning soap operas, having fun with their continuity and reliable regularity, but it surely’s not like anybody goes round singing the story-telling praises of a sequence the place main plot factors have concerned “raining cash” and “previous dude digs up WW2 battleship”. These video games serve up pulpy tales of loyalty, friendship, betrayal and sacrifice, and followers lap them up as a result of generally, as with precise cleaning soap operas, that shit is a responsible pleasure.
I’ve at all times identified this, and have in all probability written about it right here earlier than, however I might actually admire it right here with the Kaito Information as a result of, after simply 5 hours, I received as a lot enjoyment out of its story as I’ve any of the primary recreation’s 100-hour sagas. Perhaps much more, as a result of this DLC felt a lot tighter, because it didn’t have the posh of spinning its wheels over a dozen chapters It opens, it tells you a story of Kaito’s previous, ties that to a thriller you’re attempting to resolve within the current, asks you to combat some unhealthy guys then rolls the credit. I discovered myself having fun with the brevity a lot that I hope the builders both take notes right here on the way to edit their storylines down, or launch extra DLC like this for future video games within the sequence.
Kaito is a cool man, a mix of Kazuma Kiryu’s unflinching stoicism married to a himbo veneer, however in the primary Judgment video games he’s at all times been a little bit of a one-dimensional pet canine. It was pretty seeing him fleshed out slightly right here, studying about a few of his main life selections, and getting to understand how he does issues his personal approach when his boss isn’t on the scene.
By way of what you truly do on this DLC outdoors of watch cutscenes, it’s like a tapas collection of the primary Judgment video games, for each higher and worse. For higher it retains the previous Yakuza action-based fight, which reinvents itself each recreation whereas additionally feeling precisely the identical, and for worse it’s peppered with vibe-killing detective sequences the place you’re asking to tediously examine rooms for clues in essentially the most boring and irritating approach doable.
Principally, the whole lot right here is similar as Misplaced Judgment, a recreation I liked. There’s simply much less of it. I wasn’t anticipating a brand new Yakuza expertise so quickly after the final, so to get an opportunity to dip again in briefly for a refresher—and luxuriate in virtually each second of my transient time with it—was a stunning shock. Extra Yakuza aspect orders, please!