Recent reviews by Uber

This is outright one of the best games i have played up to this point in my life. The game has flaws but i have an easy time looking the other way when it comes to those flaws because the overall experience delivers on so many levels and blows a lot of other games out of the water. This game has a way with balancing story and gameplay which i can't really explain, as it on paper shouldn't work, but somehow it does.

The game feels no shame about being a video game and wears that moniker with pride, which is refreshing today when so many AAA studios try so much to move towards more cinematic experiences and standardize their gameplay loops while only focusing on spectacle, making a lot of them feel very "factory made". Yakuza 0 says ♥♥♥♥ that and instead emraces its video game roots by inserting so much side content and minigames which all feel very "gamey", in a good way. Quickly you find yourself compleatly invested in getting that small ♥♥♥♥♥♥ little bird from the clawmachine game, or maybe gambleing all your money on the slightly insensitive portrayal of a brazilian lady in a bikini, while mashing the controller and praying that you won't lose 5 hours of progress because of your less than optimal gamble. Then you swing by the bowling alley and hear about a secret price, so you spend the next 3 hours perfecting your throw timing just so you can be suprised by one of the games many funny little gags. While doing this, you are suddently reminded that this game is an action brawler with legit great combat, so you beat up some bad guys for a while, ending the night in what we all know is where the REAL game is hidden... The karaoke of course. There lies a special strength in these kinds of experiences, as they create small little set pieces for players to form their own little stories, stories which many times carry a larger weight than any mediocre AAA thirdperson shooter game trying but failing to be "The Last Of Us"-type story ever could.

All this while somehow gripping me by the balls with its narrative and just taking me along for the ride. The story feels a bit like a good season of a crime drama show, while some plot elements feel overly convenient, i can't help but love it anyway thanks to the great characters and amazing performances. Somehow this games story comes closer to being compared to stories told in other forms of media, than those boring AAA games get. I was in love with both protagonists by the end and it was the start of quite the journey, as i then proceeded to play and finish every other game in the franchise (execpt spinoffs).

Yakuza today has a special place in my heart, while being a very flawed and at certain points downright stupid franchise, i have fallen head over heels for this series of games, and look back at my time playing them fondly, just thinking about it gets me giddy and puts a smile on my face. Yakuza 0 is far from an "objectively" perfect game, but to me, personally, this is as close as it will realistically get.

10/10

i will never recover from the mental trauma this game has caused me

Just buy the game already