Sony just announced that Sega’s widely loved Yakuza series of criminal underworld sims will soon debut on its PlayStation Plus subscription service. The entire mainline series is coming, in fact.
Today, Sony announced on its blog that the main entries in the Yakuza series, which follow Kazuma Kiryu’s story across seven different titles, will start becoming available for PlayStation Plus subscribers next month. Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which changes pace to tell the story of Ichiban Kasuga — with a surprise switch to turn-based combat — will also join the service.
They’re not all coming to everyone, though. Yakuza: Like A Dragon will be available on the Essential, Extra, and Premium subscription tiers, but Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2 will only be available at Extra and Premium. Sony’s blog promises the rest of the main series will be available later in the year, but only at the Premium and Extra tiers.
(Sony’s blog post currently seems to have an error regarding which games are specifically available at which level. Kotaku has reached out to Sony for clarification.)
Yakuza first arrived way back in 2005 on the PlayStation 2. An open-world action-adventure game with RPG-like fighting mechanics, Yakuza introduced us to Kazuma Kiryu, a soulful gangster who’s swept up in a story of crime and violence. Seven more games would follow over the years, releasing on nearly every Xbox and Sony console since, as well as PC. Remasters of the first two games, rebranded as Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2, launched in 2016 and 2017.
The Yakuza series is legendary among fans for maintaining a standard of solid, memorable writing with a wide array of features and side-quests that’ve allowed players to get lost in seedy, wonderfully designed urban districts. The series hasn’t shied away from taking some chances, with the most recent entry delivering a sharp pivot to turn-based combat on top of some hilarious story beats.
The inclusion of these hit games is helping to round out the PlayStation Plus value proposition, with games like Stray, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, and tons of Assassin’s Creed titles joining the service earlier this month as well. The tiered structure has led to some confusion, but with more hit games arriving over time, the prospect of figuring it out will become that much more appealing.
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