Yakuza Turns 20: The Rise of Sega’s Most Uncompromising RPG Franchise
When Sega’s Yakuza series first punched, kicked, and swaggered its way onto the scene in 2005 with enough testosterone to destroy a small planet, it’s fair to say the games industry hadn’t quite seen anything like it before. Sure, you could argue that Yakuza is ultimately a fusion of well-worn genres and mechanics, but Sega’s brashly violent new franchise was — and still is — defined by a much broader range of qualities than that alone. With that in mind, here’s how the Yakuza franchise has gone from strength to strength as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Not Grand Theft Auto – Something Else, Something Different
I get it. At first glance, it’s easy to see why those unfamiliar with the Yakuza (or Like a Dragon, as the series is now also known) games might assume they share a close kinship with Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto. Crime-opera storytelling, colourful characters, sprawling urban environments, open exploration, and freewheeling violence all make the comparison understandable — especially for players yet to be fully initiated into the franchise’s charms.
What we actually got with Yakuza, however, was something entirely different. Where Grand Theft Auto is built around rapid vehicular traversal across vast open worlds and the freedom to do almost anything, Yakuza deliberately keeps its world smaller and more intimate. Players are encouraged to walk — or run — through its streets, soaking in every handcrafted inch of an evocative recreation of Tokyo’s real-world Kabukicho district. With an emphasis on bone-crunching, face-to-face combat over firearms, a wealth of eccentric side activities, and a flawlessly executed tonal balancing act that shifts effortlessly between the profound and the absurd, Yakuza stands worlds apart from Rockstar’s marquee series.
Walking That Tonal Tightrope
Indeed, one of the most surprising things for newcomers to the Yakuza franchise, and certainly an enduring quality for those who would consider themselves long-time fans, is the manner in which the series walks the tonal tightrope. Deftly oscillating between super-serious, double-hard tattooed dudes gruffly talking stoically about honour, mafia politics and Yakuza tradition, through to the glorious nuttiness of its many, many scenarios that has our hero doing everything from stopping a peeping tom to beating up a bunch of thugs dressed up as babies in a creche(!) It’s fair to say that no series quite manages (or even attempts) this sort of tonal double act.
And somehow – it all works, and a big part of this is down to the fact that the series knows to keep the more serious stuff in the domain of its main story quests, while the much-less serious, grin-inducing stuff is found almost exclusively in the veritable wealth of side quests and incidental activities.
A Saga Told Across Eras
One of the more compelling aspects of Yakuza’s design has been how its long-running saga spans across time periods that can quite literally stretch across the centuries. From the early Tokugawa period, which Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan embraces as its own, through to the Bakumatsu era of Like A Dragon: Ishin, the heady 1980s of Yakuza 0 and the shining modernity of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s 2023 setting, the Yakuza franchise doesn’t just take place in different eras; it fully acknowledges the passage of time, too.
A City That Feels Like a Character All Its Own
From long-time protagonist Kazuma Kiryu to fan-favourite anti-hero Goro Majima and everyone in between, Yakuza hardly lacks compelling characters. Yet, without sounding too clichéd, the city of Kamurocho arguably stands as a character in its own right — one that has played a central role for nearly the entire lifespan of the franchise.
A neon-lit labyrinth of bars, storefronts, hostess clubs, winding alleyways, and towering skyscrapers, Kamurocho is more than a convincing recreation of a real-world location. It’s a near-permanent fixture, appearing in almost every entry across a timeline that spans close to four decades. Like any character followed over time, Kamurocho ages too — not through wrinkles or scars, but through architectural and structural change.
Shops and street stalls that exist in the 1980s-set Yakuza 0 may later be boarded up or removed entirely, while the relentless march of progress sees dormant retail units transformed into sprawling shopping centres in Yakuza 6. Returning to Kamurocho across successive games often feels like reconnecting with an old friend — familiar, yet subtly changed.
Bone-Breaking Combat: Unlike Anything Else
More than almost any other aspect of its design, Yakuza’s brutally satisfying, fully three-dimensional real-time combat acts as a powerful hook for first-time viewers. If you were being particularly reductive, you might describe it as a 3D evolution of the scrolling brawler combat Sega popularised with Streets of Rage and Golden Axe — or perhaps even SpikeOut, for the half-dozen people who still remember it.
In practice, Yakuza delivers immediate, visceral savagery. Every encounter sees players punching, kicking, grappling, throwing, and unleashing devastating combos. Weapons abound (both carried and improvised), and the series’ iconic Heat Action system elevates combat into something unforgettable. With a full Heat gauge, players can trigger cinematic finishing moves: smashing faces into pavement, slamming enemies spine-first into lampposts, crushing skulls with car doors, or far worse. Violence, it’s fair to say, was never in short supply.
While later entries pivoted toward turn-based JRPG combat and reimagined fist-to-face brutality in new ways, the series’ freewheeling violent spirit has never truly left.
Re-establishing Mini-Games in the Action RPG Genre
With a typical Yakuza game clocking in at 20–30 hours for main story content alone, it’s understandable that players might want to break things up, and that’s where the franchise’s staggering range of mini-games comes in. Far more than throwaway distractions, many offer tangible character progression and are robust enough to stand as fully-fledged experiences in their own right.
From darts, baseball, pool, karaoke, fishing, mahjong, poker, and golf, to miniature car racing, drone racing, skateboarding, cabaret management, real-estate empires, cage fighting, arcade gaming, and countless part-time jobs, the sheer breadth of activities can easily push playtime beyond the 100-hour mark for completionists. And speaking of arcade machines…
Arcade-Perfect Ports as Part of the Package
True to its love of history, Yakuza is also renowned for its pitch-perfect recreations of classic Sega arcade games. From retro gems like Space Harrier, Super Hang-On, and Out Run, to more modern titles such as Taiko no Tatsujin and Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, these arcade-perfect inclusions serve as a loving celebration of Sega’s coin-op heritage.
As much as it is an enduring action RPG saga, Yakuza also stands as a quietly impressive act of gaming preservation – one that, 20 years on, shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
As Yakuza celebrates two decades of grit, heart, and sheer unpredictability, its journey stands as one of gaming’s most remarkable evolutions — from cult favourite to a genre-defining franchise with a global fanbase. Whether you’re drawn to its brutal combat, sprawling side activities, or unforgettable characters and cityscapes, there’s no denying the series’ lasting impact. For a deeper look at every entry and how they stack up, be sure to check out this comprehensive ranking of the Like a Dragon series from best to least best. Whatever the future holds, Yakuza looks poised to keep surprising, delighting, and punching its way into the hearts of players for many years to come.
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