On the surface, those unfamiliar with the franchise might see Yakuza games as comparable to Grand Theft Auto, Sleeping Dogs, and other open-world games with crime-related narratives. Without having to make any investment beyond the Game Pass subscription that many Xbox gamers already have access to, they can now experience the entirety of Kiryu’s saga from beginning to end before tackling the turn-based adventures of Ichiban.
#Yakuza vs sleeping dogs series#
With the entire series available simultaneously on Xbox and Game Pass, fans can play the Yakuza games in either chronological or release order if they choose. The prequel game Yakuza 0 was released after Yakuza 5 originally. Related: The Yakuza Series Owes More To River City Ransom Than Shenmue Many gamers in English-speaking territories have nonetheless grown to love the series, including both the seven action-oriented titles focused on Kazama Kiryu and the recent turn-based RPG Like A Dragon, with new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga. They portray open worlds in primarily fictionalized Japanese cities and districts and contain countless cultural references that are aimed at Japanese audiences. The Yakuza games are among the most quintessentially Japanese games ever made. Each entry features a complex gangster narrative centered around the distinctly honor and tradition-bound world of Japan's organized crime, and the majority were voiced solely in Japanese with no English dub. The Xbox One and Series X/S release of Yakuza: Like A Dragon and the ports of every prior Yakuza game from Yakuza 0 to Yakuza 6 are a milestone for fans of Japanese games who play on Xbox consoles, and show a positive shift from the period where Xbox fell short when it came to Japanese titles. Yakuza started out as a PlayStation exclusive series that was synonymous with the Sony console line, up until recently.
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This is a great opportunity for gamers to catch up on all eight games in the series, and it also reflects well on the future for Xbox, as a substantial example of the ongoing efforts to add more Japanese games and franchises to the Xbox library. With the recent addition of Yakuza: Like A Dragon to Microsoft’s Game Pass service every game in the Yakuza series is available concurrently for subscribers.