Styx: Blades of Greed isn’t an Assassin’s Creed game. It’s not a Sniper Elite, a Hitman, or part of any of the other popular stealth action franchises that have received new entries in the last couple of years. This is a proper, old-fashioned stealth game - the kind that you really don’t see much of anymore.

The focus is entirely on the act of sneaking, surreptitiously sticking to shadows, and creeping around environments in order to avoid detection entirely, rather than trying to blend in or silently take out enemies from afar.

As the titular green goblin Styx, you’re certainly not a fighter, and detection means an almost certain demise. Sure, you can fend for yourself against one or even two low-level enemies in a pinch, but your health pool is extremely limited, and open combat quickly spirals out of control as more guards are alerted by the sound of the fray.

You can hardly break out of a crouch when you’re moving around maps, as your footsteps alone are enough to trigger a chain reaction that inevitably ends with you getting skewered by an army of heavily armed goons. It sounds frustrating, and believe me, it sometimes is, but I simply wouldn’t have it any other way.

Nothing beats the satisfaction of pulling off the perfect heist, and some smart quality-of-life features stop the experience from ever becoming too exasperating.

Styx and stones

Its big innovation is a clever, quick save system. You might see the phrase ‘save scumming’ (the practice of frequently reloading saves made before your mistakes) tossed around as a derogatory term in discussions about other titles, but in Styx: Blades of Greed, it’s not only necessary for success, but actively encouraged.

It’s instant and bound to pressing down the left thumbstick on your controller, with a successful save signaled by a small on-screen notification that doesn’t break your immersion. Get slashed by a guard, fall off a ledge, or accidentally come into contact with water (goblins dissolve instantly like the Wicked Witch of the West, apparently), and you’re back to your save point after just a brief loading screen.

It’s a little awkward at first, but after a few hours, saving every time you make any significant progress becomes second nature, and it’s absolutely liberating.

Rather than annoyingly setting you back, deaths become your signal to experiment. "What would happen if I tossed an acid trap on that carpet just as the guard saw me?” “Can I actually take out that worker without his mate seeing me?” “Would that falling chandelier really land on that armored patrol if I timed it just right?"

The game’s three main levels are mammoth and filled with multiple avenues of approach that really reward trying new approaches. With endless ledges, chimneys, the undersides of tables, inside barrels or chests, and maintenance passages, you’re never short of places to hide, and making full use of every available spot in order to infiltrate somewhere flawlessly is satisfying.

Don’t be worried about the fact that there are ‘only’ three maps either. Side quests and collectibles incentivize you to scour them thoroughly, and an intelligent metroidvania-esque progression system sees you gradually acquire new traversal tools like grapple hooks or gliders that open up vast new zones in them to explore.

Each story chapter also ends in unique, more linear segments that are a refreshing change of pace after such openness and help you get acquainted with each new mechanic as they come.

Carrot and Styx

Styx is a seasoned master of infiltration, so he has a wealth of abilities to play around with that are unlocked through a modest but impactful upgrade tree. The most interesting of these are tied to your acquisition of Quartz, the sinister new material that Styx and his rag-tag crew of allies are pursuing.

Mind control has you manually piloting adversaries that would otherwise be too powerful to defeat and commanding them to jump to their deaths, while slowing down time helps you escape otherwise impossible situations in a flash.

This is on top of some returning favorites from the past Styx games, like invisibility, throwable clones that latch on to the faces of foes, plus basic tools like throwable bottles, acid mines, and more. It’s perfectly possible to get through the game without using the majority of these, but fully engaging with every tool at your disposal invites exciting gameplay possibilities.

It’s unfortunate that there are plenty of jagged edges here that might trip up those coming over from more casual stealth experiences. I really appreciate the commitment to make Styx: Blades of Greed a faithful sequel to both Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness (not to mention a prequel to Of Orcs and Men), but it’s almost too faithful at times when the last instalment was almost ten years ago.

Without knowledge of the previous entries, the otherwise surprisingly decent story isn’t going to make a lick of sense, and many of its coolest moments, like returning to the ruins of an old map, simply won’t resonate.

Even true Styx heads like me might struggle to stay fully engaged with it, given the fairly dire voice acting, though. The performance for the protagonist is excellent, especially his many ironically charming one-liners, but the lines for side characters and NPCs are often amateurish. Cutscenes feel cheaply animated, with stilted motion and odd cuts that never seem to flow quite right.

There’s plenty of more general jankiness to get past, too, from frame rate stutters and typos in subtitles to bugs that see you fall through the floor, get seen through solid objects, or have the entire game crash without warning. Thanks to its strong foundations, the experience was never truly spoiled for me, but I do hope there are some patches in the works to make everything more stable.

Should I play Styx: Blades of Greed?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Styx: Blades of Greed has three difficulty levels, in addition to a modest accessibility menu. Aside from the option to disable controller vibration, all of the settings relate to color blindness.

There are three vision filters: deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia. Subtitles are enabled throughout the game by default.

How I reviewed Styx: Blades of Greed

I went full goblin and played more than 20 hours of Styx: Blades of Greed on PC over the course of a few days. During this time, I completed the entire game, thoroughly explored all of the levels, tested every single ability, and worked my way through many of the side quests.

The keyboard and mouse support is pretty dire, so I relied on a DualSense Wireless Controller to play in addition to my Astro A20 X gaming headset.

I reviewed the game at full graphics settings on my system, which is a 5070 Ti-powered model from retailer Scan that features a compact Corsair 2000d RGB Airflow case, Asus ROG Strix B860-I Gaming Wifi motherboard, Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU, a 2TB WD Black SN770 SSD, 32GB of DDR5 Corsair Vengeance RAM, and an Nvidia 5070 Ti manufactured by Asus.

First reviewed February 2026

Styx: Blades of Greed isn’t an Assassin’s Creed game. It’s not a Sniper Elite, a Hitman, or part of any of the other popular stealth action franchises that have received new entries in the last couple of years. This is a proper, old-fashioned stealth game - the kind that you really don’t see much of anymore.

The focus is entirely on the act of sneaking, surreptitiously sticking to shadows, and creeping around environments in order to avoid detection entirely, rather than trying to blend in or silently take out enemies from afar.

As the titular green goblin Styx, you’re certainly not a fighter, and detection means an almost certain demise. Sure, you can fend for yourself against one or even two low-level enemies in a pinch, but your health pool is extremely limited, and open combat quickly spirals out of control as more guards are alerted by the sound of the fray.

You can hardly break out of a crouch when you’re moving around maps, as your footsteps alone are enough to trigger a chain reaction that inevitably ends with you getting skewered by an army of heavily armed goons. It sounds frustrating, and believe me, it sometimes is, but I simply wouldn’t have it any other way.

Nothing beats the satisfaction of pulling off the perfect heist, and some smart quality-of-life features stop the experience from ever becoming too exasperating.

Styx and stones

Its big innovation is a clever quick save system. You might see the phrase ‘save scumming’ (the practice of frequently reloading saves made before your mistakes) tossed around as a derogatory term in discussions about other titles, but in Styx: Blades of Greed, it’s not only necessary for success, but actively encouraged.

It’s instant and bound to pressing down the left thumbstick on your controller, with a successful save signaled by a small on-screen notification that doesn’t break your immersion. Get slashed by a guard, fall off a ledge, or accidentally come into contact with water (goblins dissolve instantly like the Wicked Witch of the West, apparently), and you’re back to your save point after just a brief loading screen.

It’s a little awkward at first, but after a few hours, saving every time you make any significant progress becomes second nature, and it’s absolutely liberating.

Rather than annoyingly setting you back, deaths become your signal to experiment. "What would happen if I tossed an acid trap on that carpet just as the guard saw me?” “Can I actually take out that worker without his mate seeing me?” “Would that falling chandelier really land on that armored patrol if I timed it just right?"

The game’s three main levels are mammoth and filled with multiple avenues of approach that really reward trying new approaches. With endless ledges, chimneys, the undersides of tables, inside barrels or chests, and maintenance passages, you’re never short of places to hide, and making full use of every available spot in order to infiltrate somewhere flawlessly is satisfying.

Don’t be worried about the fact that there are ‘only’ three maps either. Side quests and collectibles incentivize you to scour them thoroughly, and an intelligent metroidvania-esque progression system sees you gradually acquire new traversal tools like grapple hooks or gliders that open up vast new zones in them to explore.

Each story chapter also ends in unique, more linear segments that are a refreshing change of pace after such openness and help you get acquainted with each new mechanic as they come.

Carrot and Styx

Styx is a seasoned master of infiltration, so he has a wealth of abilities to play around with that are unlocked through a modest but impactful upgrade tree. The most interesting of these are tied to your acquisition of Quartz, the sinister new material that Styx and his rag-tag crew of allies are pursuing.

Mind control has you manually piloting adversaries that would otherwise be too powerful to defeat and commanding them to jump to their deaths, while slowing down time helps you escape otherwise impossible situations in a flash.

This is on top of some returning favorites from the past Styx games, like invisibility, throwable clones that latch on to the faces of foes, plus basic tools like throwable bottles, acid mines, and more. It’s perfectly possible to get through the game without using the majority of these, but fully engaging with every tool at your disposal invites exciting gameplay possibilities.

It’s unfortunate that there are plenty of jagged edges here that might trip up those coming over from more casual stealth experiences. I really appreciate the commitment to make Styx: Blades of Greed a faithful sequel to both Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness (not to mention a prequel to Of Orcs and Men), but it’s almost too faithful at times when the last instalment was almost ten years ago.

Without knowledge of the previous entries, the otherwise surprisingly decent story isn’t going to make a lick of sense, and many of its coolest moments, like returning to the ruins of an old map, simply won’t resonate.

Even true Styx heads like me might struggle to stay fully engaged with it, given the fairly dire voice acting, though. The performance for the protagonist is excellent, especially his many ironically charming one-liners, but the lines for side characters and NPCs are often amateurish. Cutscenes feel cheaply animated, with stilted motion and odd cuts that never seem to flow quite right.

There’s plenty of more general jankiness to get past, too, from frame rate stutters and typos in subtitles to bugs that see you fall through the floor, get seen through solid objects, or have the entire game crash without warning. Thanks to its strong foundations, the experience was never truly spoiled for me, but I do hope there are some patches in the works to make everything more stable.

Should I play Styx: Blades of Greed?

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

Styx: Blades of Greed has three difficulty levels, in addition to a modest accessibility menu. Aside from the option to disable controller vibration, all of the settings relate to color blindness.

There are three vision filters: deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia. Subtitles are enabled throughout the game by default.

How I reviewed Styx: Blades of Greed

I went full goblin and played more than 20 hours of Styx: Blades of Greed on PC over the course of a few days. During this time, I completed the entire game, thoroughly explored all of the levels, tested every single ability, and worked my way through many of the side quests.

The keyboard and mouse support is pretty dire, so I relied on a DualSense Wireless Controller to play in addition to my Astro A20 X gaming headset.

I reviewed the game at full graphics settings on my system, which is a 5070 Ti-powered model from retailer Scan that features a compact Corsair 2000d RGB Airflow case, Asus ROG Strix B860-I Gaming Wifi motherboard, Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU, a 2TB WD Black SN770 SSD, 32GB of DDR5 Corsair Vengeance RAM, and an Nvidia 5070 Ti manufactured by Asus.

First reviewed February 2026

High on Life is a game that a lot of people love, but I just couldn't get on with it thanks to its at-times obnoxious comedy and slow, clunky gameplay, so I didn't know how to feel going into Squanch Games' first-person shooter (FPS) sequel. High on Life 2, however, is a remarkable step up in quality from the original, and it's felt right from the beginning.

After taking down the G3 Cartel, the unnamed bounty hunter has become a superstar in the galaxy. You'll experience the highs of fame throughout the intro of the game, which manifests itself as a montage that sees you appear on talk shows and reality TV, take down kaiju, and perform a lot of stabbing. But the world comes crashing down soon after as you become the galaxy's most wanted, while yet another entity wants to turn the human race into drugs.

The formula of High on Life 2 remains mostly the same, but instead of hunting down bounties, you're hunting the ranks of a corrupt pharmaceutical company in order to find out the identity of its CEO, and, y'know, kill them too before the massive court hearing to legalize humans for use in drugs takes place. This almost-episodic structure not only keeps things pretty brisk throughout the runtime of the game but also allows it to take wild swings that, for the most part, stick.

You'll be solving murder mysteries on expensive yachts, traveling through various conventions, and casually running into your target on the street. Each of the main hunts felt wholly unique. And this is helped by a unique chapter design, with my highlight – the finance wizard target – embedding classic tropes, genres, and references in a way that feels far more meaningful than your usual "lol remember retro games" throwback.

Funny games

Chances are, how you felt about High on Life came down to its stars, the talking guns known as Gatlians. Personally, I found Justin Roiland's Kenny to be nigh-unbearable thanks to the voice performance being the annoying voice he does in Rick and Morty.

High on Life 2 brings most of the sentient weapon cast back, and while I still find Betsy Sodaro's Skweezy to be a bit too much, the return of Michael Cusack as Knifey and Tim Robinson as Creature were welcome returns. And the new additions – namely Ralph Ineson as Sheath and the duo of Travis and Jan – are the highlights of the game.

Comedy is rough in games, but High on Life 2, for the most part, is a far funnier joke. There are still occasional stinkers that made me roll my eyes, but for the most part, I found myself chuckling more, be it from the random non-player character (NPC) dialogue, dumb side quests, or the news reports from Jason Testicles recounting what you just did on a mission. Although my absolute favorite jokes in the game were ones that were so dumb, like your hideout having a "Crane Machine" based around sitcom Frasier or a subplot about Jar Jar Binks (no relation).

Skate or die

Where High on Life 2 steps up the most, however, is the gameplay. Gone is the slow, clunky, awkward shooter of the original, and it's all thanks to a plank of wood. High on Life 2's skateboarding mechanic is a game-changer; levels have ample opportunity for you to grind and slide about while dispatching enemies at will. What was once sluggish now feels akin to arena shooters of years past and is uber satisfying once you get skating down. Although it really would've benefited from gyro aiming.

My only wish is that the guns felt as good as the skating. While some of them get a lot better once you've stacked them with upgrades (Creature is a strong example of this), for the most part, the guns – mostly Skweezy and Gus – lack much impact. Gus, in particular, is a contender for one of the worst-feeling shotguns I've used in a shooter for how weak he feels, to the point where I only ever really used him for his disk ability, which I loved. Just like with the comedic chops, the new guns introduced in this game, like Sheath – which is a Halo Battle Rifle – and Bowie – shocker, a bow – were the highlights of the game.

High on Life 2's peak is its boss fights. The majority of them are thoroughly enjoyable and wholly unique, from your standard gunfights to puzzle-based encounters and a final boss that is a true gauntlet of how well you know your weapons. Senator Muppy Doo in particular is a highlight, as it has him embed himself in your suit, and you have to continue the fight through the pause and settings menus, with a conclusion that I can't say I've ever seen in a game (well, I have, but it'll make sense when you get there).

Also, the breadth of dumb side stuff returns. You can still go to the movies, but this time around, there's a selection of emulated retro games (with classics like Super 3D Noah's Ark, Bible Adventures, and Gourmet Warriors) as well as the likes of speed dating, the comedy club, and helping out random citizens around the world. I got super into the skateboarding time trials present in each of the hub areas, trying to get the highest times possible, and I spent an embarrassing amount of time watching old commercials in my room (but the Glover N64 commercial popped me big time).

The King Is Half-Undressed

Unfortunately, High on Life 2 feels like it could've used a little longer in the oven. Firstly, the visuals – while generally good-looking stylistically – have that smeared-in vaseline look at times. I also found the game either way too bright or impossible to see when I had HDR enabled, with no way to actually adjust the HDR in-game aside from a general gamma slider, so I had to disable it from the console settings to make it less obnoxious.

Performance issues weren't always present, but when the framerate issues hit, they really hit. There's a specific boss that takes place in a field, which is probably the longest boss fight in the game as it is, but the framerate absolutely tanked during this segment, making what should've been a highlight to cap off a great section of the game an annoyance.

This was on PS5 Pro too, mind you, so I can't imagine what the base PS5 or Xbox Series S versions are like. There isn't even a performance option either, just which upscaling mode you wish to use – but frankly, I didn't see a difference between PSSR and TSR in either performance or looks.

Worst of all, however, were the glitches. Multiple times, I would get stuck in the maps or fall through the ground, including one where I was amid a great side quest about going to the zoo with another character, but once I reloaded my last checkpoint, I was locked out of the mission. I also would occasionally get random freezing; while the game never crashed, these could last for a good 20 seconds at their worst. The glitches got even worse towards the end of the game, with the final boss bugging out on me multiple times, between my weapons entirely locking up or the ground just straight up disappearing, sending me into a freefall.

High On Life 2 won me over in ways I didn't expect when it was first announced. It's a funnier, bolder, and – crucially – faster sequel that turns it from a novelty into a strong FPS contender in its own right. But it's also a game that could've seriously used some more time in development as far as performance is concerned.

Aside from those issues, it's a wonderfully imaginative FPS campaign with a Ratchet & Clank-esque level of playfulness when it comes to weapons, set pieces, and levels, and it has turned me from a naysayer to someone who is looking forward to the next one.

Should you play High on Life 2?

Play it if...

Don't pt if...

Accessibility features

High on Life 2 has a number of accessibility features, like speaking indicators, subtitles, and UI size options, and an option for "hyper legible text" for the subtitles, which gives it a bolder font.

There are colorblind options for Deuteranope, Protanope, and Tritanope with a slider to tune how severe these are. But conversely, a lack of rebindable controls and lackluster input settings fall a bit flat.

How I reviewed High on Life 2

I played High on Life 2 for 18 hours. In this time, I finished the main campaign, all of the skating challenges, and delved into a good amount of side content like the trip to the zoo, escape room, and comedy club.

I played the game on a PS5 Pro between a Samsung Q60D TV with a Samsung HW-T450 soundbar and a Samsung Odyssey G5 gaming monitor with a PlayStation Pulse 3D Headset.

First reviewed February 2026

Yakuza Kiwami 3 is a remake of what is perhaps the most divisive game in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Like A Dragon franchise. It comes with overhauled graphics, refreshed combat, a more fleshed-out narrative, and, of course, a new separate story – dubbed Dark Ties – which follows the path of antagonist Yoshitaka Mine.

Having recently gone back to the Yakuza 3 Remastered on PlayStation 4, I can say that Kiwami 3 is a very comprehensive remake, and changes to its visuals, combat, and story certainly feel striking.

But are all of these changes for the better? Does this remake continue the high standard that RGG Studio set with the first 2 Kiwami games? Well, the answer to those questions may not be particularly straightforward.

A Dragon reborn

Let’s start by discussing the main game: Yakuza Kiwami 3. This follows the story of Kazuma Kiryu – also known as the Dragon of Dojima – a former Yakuza and Tojo Clan Chairman. Following the events of Kiwami 2, Kiryu decides to run an orphanage on the island of Okinawa. But it doesn’t take long before he’s embroiled in yet more drama.

His orphanage is under threat, due to it being situated on land that's needed for a government-backed resort plan. The new Tojo Clan chairman is shot by a mysterious figure. And a succession dispute is erupting among the Tojo family patriarchs. The narrative is still gripping, although this revisit does make a couple of changes.

As some fans may already know, there’s been a shake-up to the finale, which is undoubtedly going to ruffle some feathers. I won’t go into details, but in my view, this change isn’t executed very well. It takes some of the emotion and impact away from the original Yakuza 3, causing the game to fall short of the very best RPGs, narrative-wise.

Something else that may reduce the impact of the narrative is the newly added English voice acting. I know I’m far from the only one who’s said this, but some of the English voices are poor, especially that of Kiryu himself. There’s a lack of maturity and gruffness to the protagonist’s voice, meaning his iconic personality doesn’t shine through. As a result, I played through the game in Japanese.

Still, a lot of the other adjustments feel largely positive. For instance, combat feels far better than it did in the original. The new Ryukyu style – which is inspired by Okinawan weapon arts – is brutal and optimized for wiping out swathes of enemies at once. There’s a wide variety of weapons that Kiryu can use in this style, and learning new combos makes it truly devastating.

The Dragon of Dojima style feels excellent too, and perfectly personifies the classic brawler combat Kiryu is known for. You can learn new abilities, including heat action finishers and grabbing techniques – usually, you’ll have to use points earned in battle to do so. Other aspects, like health and strength enhancements, require you to use cash instead. In my opinion, this feels more streamlined and polished than the original upgrade system, and I really enjoyed enhancing my build as the game progressed.

Just generally, combat feels more refined in Kiwami 3. The issue of enemies continually blocking has been significantly improved, battles feel a bit faster-paced, and Kiryu’s movement feels more fluid. I did find that the game was considerably easier than other Yakuza games – at least playing on standard difficulty. As a result, I reduced my use of healing items in battle – but you can select a harder difficulty option instead, if you’d prefer a greater challenge.

Another significant addition is the Lalala Phone, which you can customize to improve Kiryu’s abilities – or just for aesthetic reasons. This is surprisingly fun and provides a real throwback to the late noughties. You can also add friends in Tokyo or Okinawa, and eventually unlock rewards for doing so, giving an actual incentive to use your phone. This has seemingly replaced the original’s Revelations feature, though, which was a source of quirky and often funny cutscenes.

But before I move on to Dark Ties, I want to talk about two other major changes – one that I loved, and one that I was less hot on.

I’ll start with the good: Life At Morning Glory. Here, you can complete a bunch of mini-games, like helping the children with homework, sewing, harvesting crops, and fishing. I was absolutely addicted to these – especially the latter two, as they’re necessary for cooking meals requested by the kids. Cooking is a blast, and it’s really wholesome watching Kiryu bond with the orphans over food. More generally, you see so much more of Kiryu’s relationship with the children in this remake – and although he may be a punch-first, ask-questions-later kind of guy, you get a window into the softer, more sensitive side of him, which is a joy to watch.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in love with the other major addition, Bad Boy Dragon. In this story, Kiryu becomes chairman of the Haisai Girls and supports them in their aim to protect Okinawa, crush the oppressive Tokyo Night Terrors, and become Japan’s leading girl gang. You’ll fight in turf wars and large-scale battles in order to achieve all of this, and frequently recruit new members along the way.

Personally, I found this part of the adventure to be a little tedious. Fighting in turf wars feels same-y after a little while, and the trope of helping a group of underdogs win against the odds – as seen with Four Shine in Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Real Estate Royale in Yakuza 0 – just felt a little uninspired. The environments you battle through also lack differentiation, making this part of Kiryu’s campaign less compelling than others.

Enter the underworld

Kiwami 3 definitely adds a lot of good stuff, but not all of its additions work out for the best. But my suspicion is that a lot of players – especially returning fans – will be more interested in the Dark Ties content, which follows Tojo Clan newbie Yoshitaka Mine. Here, you uncover the origins of Mine’s Yakuza career, explore his relationship with the brutish Tsuyoshi Kanda, and explore his desire to learn about genuine human bonds.

This is a shorter style of game, with just three chapters. Dark Ties clocked in at under 8 hours for me after I completed the story, as well as a healthy dollop of side-content. But there’s still plenty of fun to be had.

Firstly, I want to talk about combat. We already gushed about Mine’s moves in our Dark Ties preview, and for good reason. Mine’s shootboxing style is truly vicious and brilliantly reflects his character – especially when you’re using the souped-up Dark Awakening mechanic. But even his normal moveset – made up of Intense knee smashes, rapid-fire jabs, and acrobatic grabs – makes Mine’s new campaign a blast to blitz through. Seriously, I even found myself enjoying random encounters with street thugs.

I really took a shine to Kanda Damage Control as well. This sees Mine attempt to boost the reputation of his aniki, Kanda – a man who I’d describe as a disgusting pig if I were feeling generous. In order to do this, Mine has to do good deeds around Kamurocho – after which he always claims to be Kanda himself. It never gets old, honestly. These often involve high-octane battles, but sometimes descend into the typical wackiness that Yakuza is loved for. I spent a lot of time with this, and plan to max out Kanda’s rank in the coming days for sure.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Because the other major part of the game – Hell’s Arena – did not do it for me at all. This is basically a dungeon crawler where you have to avoid death, loot treasure chests, and destroy your enemies with the help of various mercenaries and weapons. In a similar vein to Bad Boy Dragon, the dungeon-crawling in Hell’s Arena can feel tedious, and the setting didn’t feel varied or interesting enough to draw me back in.

Story-telling is pretty good throughout Dark Ties, though. Mine is fixated on Tojo Clan Chairman, Daigo Dojima, and the way that the latter’s men will risk their very lives in order to save their boss. I was engaged with Mine’s pursuit of human connection, his conflicting relationship with Kanda, and his rise through the Tojo Clan, ensuring that Dark Ties felt like a worthwhile addition overall.

The Dragon and the Kirin

We’ve spoken in depth about Yakuza Kiwami 3 as well as Dark Ties now, but it’s time to bring them together and look at the package as a whole.

Now, something that has whipped up a lot of discussion online is the graphical quality of the game – especially with regards to Kiwami 3. An update was released during my review, intended to fix “a lighting issue” and “other quality concerns”. This will be available for all players at launch.

Using version 1.11 of the game, I didn’t have some of the lighting issues encountered by other players, and with HDR active and a few tweaks, I had Kiwami 3 looking pretty solid. RGG Studios’ attempt at ‘tropical lighting’ can make some in-game elements appear oversaturated, though. Some street signs, for instance, looked almost too bright, creating quite the contrast against the original’s grittier color palette.

Just generally, I wasn’t bowled over by the visuals across both campaigns, actually. Some of the in-game textures – stuff like cars and walls, say – just look a bit dated, and lacked the sharpness I’d expect from a 2026 release. Sure, you’re still getting an upgrade overall from the remaster of Yakuza 3, and the game’s visuals aren’t ugly or anything – they’re just not especially impressive.

But back to the good stuff. I was really pleased with the performance of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties on PlayStation 5. With 4K visuals and a smooth framerate, you can expect pretty seamless gameplay with very few hiccups.

I was also loving the soundtrack once again. Yakuza always brings together an eclectic mix of aggressive battle music, smooth jazz, and upbeat tracks to suit every mood or setting, and Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties is no different. You can even listen to tunes from other Sega titles, like Rhythm Thief & The Emperor’s Treasure, Persona 3 Reload, and Metaphor: ReFantazio using Kiryu or Mine’s phone, which I adored.

But now I want to return to the questions that I posed at the beginning. Are all of the changes made in Yakuza Kiwami 3 for the better? Well, the short answer is no. On the whole, you’re getting an improved experience, with better combat, a shiny new battle style, and boatloads of new content. However, changes to the finale and the slightly tedious Bad Boy Dragon side-story felt less positive.

Does Kiwami 3 maintain the high standards set by its remade predecessors? On the whole, yes. The more streamlined upgrade system, good performance, and quality of life adjustments are most welcome. But I think RGG Studio could’ve made a more visually impressive game. A few other choices – like redesigning a major character named Rikiya and removing Revelations – may also upset some hardcore fans.

With that said, I was a fan of Dark Ties overall, in spite of a couple of flaws. I wouldn’t say that this helps to propel the overall package to the dizzying heights that other entries in the series have reached, though. And ultimately, I feel that Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties sit in the ‘good category’, rather than the ‘great’ one.

Should you play Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties?:

Play it if...

Don't play it if...

Accessibility features

There’s a pretty comprehensive set of accessibility features to explore in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. You can set auto quick-time events, swap the left and right sticks, choose between rapid or hold button controls, and customize the camera to your liking. You can also alter subtitle language and text size, map controls to different buttons, and utilize color vision assistance.

How I reviewed Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties:

For this review, I spent more than 50 hours playing through Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. During this time, I rolled credits on both Kiryu's and Mine’s campaigns, defeated all of the reapers, and completed the Life At Morning Glory and Bad Boy Dragon storylines.

I played the PS5 version of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties on my Sky Glass Gen 2 TV, which is connected to a Marshall Heston 120 soundbar. On occasion, I dipped into the Yakuza 3 remaster in order to compare performance, graphics, and gameplay.

I’m a long-time fan of the Yakuza series, and recently reviewed the Nintendo Switch 2 versions of Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2. More generally, I’m a massive JRPG fan, and have written about titles such as Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake, Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army, and Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter.

First reviewed February 2026