Ranking the Yakuza Series: ‘Yakuza: Dead Souls’

by Flora Merigold · Published January 21, 2022 · Updated November 14, 2021

After finishing Lost Judgment, I was in the mood for some comfort food, which has lately taken the form of the Yakuza series. This mood caused me to pick up the controversial Yakuza: Dead Souls, a PS3 spin-off which embodies one of the most ridiculous gaming premises I’ve seen. Taking the beloved brawler franchise and replacing its iconic over-the-top combat with third-person action gunplay is a bold move, and throwing the legendary Kazuma Kiryu, Gora Majima, Ryuji Goda, and Shu Akiyama together in a Yakuza 4-style chaptered experience is a chaotic design decision — to say the least. Putting guns in the hands of characters who don’t normally kill works given the narrative conceit of a zombie hoard overwhelming the city. Kiryu and the gang operate with this convenient excuse when they mow down literally thousands of enemies: these zombies are already dead, so it’s not as gratuitous or morally objectionable.

Once I got over the initial shock from Yakuza: Dead Souls’ strange zombie (and mutant) premise where Kamurocho has been overrun and quarantine zones have been erected, I found myself with incredibly mixed feelings. On one hand, it felt great to spend time diving back into this city with a cast of characters whom I greatly love; on the other hand, the actual mechanics of Dead Souls are probably the worst I’ve experienced in any Yakuza game to date. My intimate familiarity with Kamurocho and the game’s four protagonists enabled me to overcome any perceivable frustration with the janky aiming system of combat, as well as the eventually tiring and repetitive scenarios which these characters are regularly forced into. With Kamurocho on the line, the stakes are high, leading me to breeze straight through the story with little regard for Dead Souls’ strangely truncated-feeling substories — an otherwise essential ingredient in the success of any Yakuza game.

Eventually, Yakuza: Dead Souls takes some ascendant turns, revealing that this zombie outbreak arose from deliberate bioengineering unleashed on the world. In a cruel twist of fate, Haruka, Kiryu’s beloved surrogate daughter, is captured by these very people who are responsible for this infectious violent outbreak. To save Haruka, all roads lead to the Millennium Tower, where a series of epic battles, including a mega-zombie whose gargantuan size breaks through the roof, results in one of my favorite bosses in the entire series. For every fumble Yakuza: Dead Souls makes, it gets something else right. For a complete spin-off, Dead Souls retains the soul of the Yakuza franchise. The deus ex Majima that happens at the story’s end is also a contender for the funniest moment in Yakuza history, which is saying something. Even though it certainly lands towards the bottom of the hierarchy in my ranking of the Yakuza series, Dead Souls is a truly memorable experience, especially by its climax.

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Fun

Is the Game Fun?

Combat never feels precise or fully responsive in the way shooters have trained me to expect, but the jankiness produced some hilarious scenarios and occasionally even added to the intensity of certain bosses. There are plenty of the usual Yakuza side activities on offer here as well.

Performance

Does the Game Perform Well?

It’s hard to escape the trappings of returning to PS3 hardware for this title, including poor resolution and framerate. I never had a substantial problem with Yakuza: Dead Souls, but it is far from the most polished experience the series has to offer. Like Yakuza 3 through Yakuza 5, Dead Souls could also do with a face-lifting remaster.

Art

Does the Game Have a Fitting Art Style?

Some of the zombie and mutant bosses were fascinating to behold, often evoking symbolism towards their human forms (e.g. an octopus boss mutating from a sushi chef). Much of the zombies feel visually identical, however, and Kamurocho is not at its zenith of vibrancy here.

Story

Does the Game Have a Unique Story or Premise?

As a premise, Yakuza: Dead Souls nearly earns the full point here. There’s nothing else like this in the Yakuza series, and the closest thing I can think of to Dead Souls is no doubt inspired by its very existence: Sleeping Dogs – Nightmare in Northpoint. Dead Souls’ main cutscenes are great, but the moment-to-moment writing is rather uninspired and forgettable.

Lasting Power

Does the Game Have Replayability or Lasting Power?

The weakest point of most Yakuza games is their limited lasting power and replayability. There’s far too much left to do in Dead Souls if I wanted the platinum trophy, but it would turn a 15 hour story into a 100 hour game, which I have no intention to do. Furthermore, the story is so contained in Dead Souls that I would consider this inessential unless, like me, you are already obsessed with the Yakuza games.

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Verdict

Yakuza: Dead Souls is a nice change of pace, even if zombies are a tired trope in fiction. Considering that I’ve completed ten Yakuza games at this point, Dead Souls’ strongest attribute is how memorably distinct it feels from other entries in the series. There’s not much more on offer in Dead Souls, however. It’s hard to recommend this title, especially to newcomers to the series, but I had a blast with large swaths of the ridiculous campaign.