Is Yakuza 0 open world?

[Geeks On Hugs]

I googled the question and had some answers saying yes and some saying no. How can this be a point of contention? It is Open World or it is not Open World. What's the correct answer?

[Lar Dass]

freeroam, not a giant open world, but an open city

[Devsman]

The only reasons anyone would say it isn't would be because it's tiny for an open world and because some parts of the game take place inside buildings/sewer/etc that you can't otherwise enter. Also maybe because you get locked into one of two maps until the very end when you can finally move between them at will.

But it has lots of the design elements you expect from open world games, like sidequests, collectables and minigames.

[Unaimed Player]

I'd call it pseudo open-world. You have two cities that you can free roam, but they are not connected like you'd expect it in an open-world game like GTA San Andreas. Instead you have to go to a Taxi, then you get a loading screen and then you are in the other city.
You also have missions that play more like classic levels. You enter a building (with loading screen) and then you fight your way through that building.
Also the map(s) are smaller than 'real' open-world maps.
The Yakuza games are much more condensed. You have way more content and stuff to do on a smaller, but very detailed world. Which makes them much better than many 'real' open-world games in my opinion. You get quality over quantity in Yakuza games.

[Geeks On Hugs]

Thanks for the replies! I think I understand.😊