'Yakuza 0 (2015)' serves as a prequel to its long-running series, focusing both on the franchise's main protagonist Kiryu and on one of its most iconic 'villains' Majima. The game's story is split almost evenly between its two stars, with their seemingly separate plots eventually converging in an incredibly satisfying way. The game is as crazy as anyone who has played a previous entry in the series would expect, stuffed to the brim with wacky substories (which often provide plenty of chuckles) and overly involved minigames, but it also has some real heart to it. The main quests, which are much more straight-faced, aren't invalidated by the often tongue-in-cheek side stuff. As such, the game's overall story is surprisingly effective, a mix of the absolutely absurd and the utterly sincere. It's engaging, enjoyable and, even, emotionally affecting. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but the thing reminds you who's who and what's what often enough to remain clear. Its ending does use some pretty hefty narrative gymnastics to get its core players into the positions they were/ will be in 'Yakuza (2005)'/ 'Yakuza Kiwami (2015)', but it's still an impactful and resonant climax that wraps things up in a cohesive way. The experience took me just under 100 hours and I never once got bored. I finished all substories (including the two secret boss battles and the entirety of both Real Estate Royale and Cabaret Club Czar), completed around 85% of the completion list, unlocked both characters' hidden battle styles, purchased all traditional skills and got all the collectible telephone cards. However, I didn't bother grinding out the last few ranks in the fighting arena, mopping up the rest of the CP points (I really didn't feel like learning how to play Mahjong), finding the last few pieces of equipment from the Dragon and Tiger shop, or trying to win 30 matches of the awful, RNG-based catfighting minigame (the worst minigame in the affair, for sure). That's because some of the game's grind just isn't worth it. Don't get me wrong, it's great for those who want to fully participate in the plethora of available minigames; I just didn't feel like spending hours on them, even if it annoyed the completionist within me. So, aside from in-depth distractions, what does the gameplay consist of? Fighting. Plain, good old-fashioned fighting. The combat system revolves around four styles, each of which have different strengths and weaknesses. Though it may initially seem somewhat repetitive, it's actually rather deep and gets more involved when you start to fill out the skill tree. I defeated several hundred foes and never got tired of doing it. Of course, the battles that are contextualised by story are much more resonant than the random ones that occur while roaming around the piece's two open-world locations. They're all fun, don't get me wrong, but there's this level of, I suppose, intensity that only exists when the fight is set up by a suspenseful series of cutscenes (which are all wonderfully executed). The game is just a ton of fun throughout. Every few hours, something new will appear and reignite your interest. As it approaches its finale and its plots start to converge, it only gets more and more compelling. It's so rare for a title to keep you truly engaged for 100 hours, yet this makes it look easy. It isn't perfect (for example, some of its NPCs look pretty bad), but it's an absolute blast to play. Heck, it's even an absolute blast to watch (its narrative sequences aren't exactly short). It's phenomenal. 10/10
