‘Yakuza 6’ will release worldwide more than a year after its Japanese launch

By Brad Jones August 18, 2017

yakuza 6 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life was released in Japan in December but now Sega has confirmed that it will be available worldwide in March 2018. The sequel will be the second title in the series to be developed for the PlayStation 4, following the prequel that made it to the west earlier this year.

The Yakuza saga began in 2005 when the first game in the series was released for the PlayStation 2. Each main-story game has featured gangster Kazuma Kiryu as the protagonist, chronicling his ever-evolving role in the brutal and deadly Tojo clan.

At this point, western Yakuza fans are used to having to wait a while in order to play the latest installment in the franchise. It is not at all uncommon for it to take more than a year for each new game to be released outside of Japan.

Despite looking like action games on the surface, Yakuza titles are closer to the RPG genre. There is a huge amount of dialogue to flesh out the ongoing storyline and it takes a long time to localize it properly, doing justice to the narrative while maintaining the franchise’s unique tone.

Yakuza 6 maintains the series’ penchant for wearing its quirky sense of humor on its sleeve, contrasting the hard-hitting combat that defines its main campaign with bizarre side activities like managing a cat cafe. It is a bit of a peculiar mix, but fans have come to expect nothing less from each new installment’s open world.

Sega also confirmed that Yakuza 6 will receive a limited edition game packed with collectible items when it launches worldwide. Strangely enough, it is called the After Hours Premium Edition and is themed around recreational drinking, featuring two bar glasses, two coasters, two ice stones, a collectible outer box, and the game itself. The limited edition will retail for $90, according to a report from Gamespot.

Even the standard edition of the game comes with an added bonus, as pre-orders and copies purchased at launch will be packed with a hardcover art book.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is scheduled to launch exclusively for the PlayStation 4 on March 20, 2018.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

Gaming

The best Fallout 3 mods

An alpha deathclaw enforcer attacking in Fallout 3.

Right alongside Skyrim, Fallout 3 is one of the most modded games of all time. Bethesda took this series and transformed it into an open-world adventure that had never really been seen up to that point. As much as there was to do in that base experience, there was a limit to what could be done. However, dedicated fans didn't let that end their fun and began modding the game with new features, quality of life improvements, and new content to extend the life of Fallout 3 to the point where you can still play it today and have an amazing time. Now that modders have had well over a decade to work with the game, there are potentially thousands of mods you can try out, but these are the best ones we've found.
FWE - FO3 Wanderers Edition

Let's kick things off with a bang and talk about the FWE - FO3 Wanderers Edition mod. Calling this a single mod is kind of a misnomer since it actually integrates over 50 other mods into one massive package. The purpose is to rework the balance and depth of the game to be more fair and give players more opportunities to role-play. This mod does make the game intentionally harder than the base version. Combat is faster and more determined by player skilll. Also, which perks and skills you have make a bigger difference. Injuries need to be treated more carefully, over 40 new weapons and pieces of armor have been added, AI has been enhanced, and dozens of other changes were implemented to make the game more immersive. It's the simplest way to give another playthrough some spice.
Fellout

Gaming

Amazon’s Fallout success reveals a big problem with the video game business

The cast of Fallout.

April's biggest video game isn't a new release like Tales of Kenzera: Zau or Stellar Blade. Instead, it's a series that hasn't gotten a new entry in years.

Fallout is currently enjoying a wave of mainstream attention thanks to its surprisingly fun Amazon TV adaptation. Returning players and newly-won-over fans alike are returning to classics like Fallout 4 and New Vegas to scratch their post-apocalyptic itches. It's the moment any video game publisher dreams of, but there's just one problem: Bethesda can't capitalize on the moment.

Computing

A Redditor ‘didn’t know’ about the Steam Deck, so they built their own

The homemade Ryzen Deck sitting on a desk.

It's hard to imagine that anyone interested in portable gaming hasn't heard of the Steam Deck, but one Redditor says they "didn't know" it existed. And because of that, they decided to build their own.

The 3D-printed contraption comes from Raven0606, who shared images of the completed handheld on the r/SBCGaming subreddit, which is dedicated to handheld emulators. The build took nine months to complete, and Raven0606 dubbed it the Ryzen Deck in honor of the Steam Deck (they found out about Valve's handheld halfway through the build process).