I've essentially reviewed every standard Yakuza / Like a Dragon game with my post on why I like the series. As most games are so similar in nature, that post is evergreen, and will likely apply to both Gaiden and 8. However, there is one game that feels so vastly different from every other game I've played in the series. I'm of course talking about Yakuza Dead Souls. I wrote some thoughts over on Twitter, but this deserves a full review.
To start, a side-note. I usually play on Xbox, using official Xbox controllers. Dead Souls is only available on Playstation 3, so I used an official PS3 controller. Having not seriously used a Playstation controller for a decade at least, I just want to say, not a fan. I was confused by the face buttons, which I admit is because I'm not used to the PS layout. This was most evident with karaoke and QTE's, so not that big of a hurdle. But then there's the D-pad. If I need to use the D-pad while moving, I usually reach over to it with my right thumb so that my character doesn't stop moving, which is perfectly doable on an Xbox controller. On a PS controller, not only is the D-pad further away (being on the complete opposite side of the controller), my thumb on the left stick is also in the way! Completely messes up my flow.
Alright, onto the game. Kamurocho is the only area in the game, and it has been overrun by zombies. Not the entire district, but a designated quarantine zone. This quarantine zone expands as the game goes on and nearly takes over the entirety of Kamurocho, leaving just a few streets on the southern part of the map untouched. Going over the non-quarantined parts, this is your typical Yakuza experience. Run around a map, go to restaurants, play minigames. However, there's not a single thug in sight, A.K.A. there are no street battles in this game. Completely understandable considering the main combat gameplay has changed, but strange nonetheless.
As the main combat has changed, let's go over what that means. Combat in this game entails run and gun. The gun gameplay is servicable, nothing to write home about but there's a small hint of the Yakuza flair. You have your weapons, and you have your ammo. If you have ammo, use your weapons to shoot the zombies. The weapon types include pistols (unlimited ammo), SMG's, assault and sniper rifles, shotguns, and miniguns, and they all behave as you would expect. They can be upgraded, with some weapons being upgrades and some being sidegrades. You also have access to some other moves like kicks and dodges, but they're defensive tools and don't do damage. Finally, you have the ability to pickup e.g. trash cans to attack the zombies with, but they put you at an unnecessary risk considering they're melee weapons. Why be close range when you can be long range and do more damage more quickly?
As for the quarantine zone, this is where the majority of the game takes place. Sub stories almost exclusively take place here, and if you want to visit a store that's in the quarantine zone, you have to trek your way over. That's right, stores can also be quarantined, and when that happens you must first "save" them before you can enter it. The stores act as normal after being saved, so you can e.g. get drunk and play pool at a bar, or go bowling. While taxis are in the game, they don't exist in the quarantine zone, so they quickly become useless. There are two ways to enter the quarantine zone: through the story entrance, and the side(-content) entrance. Where these are located change as the story progresses. The story entrance is the typical pink marker on your map, so it's the same as progresing the story, while the side entrance is where you enter for anything else.
Comparing the quarantine zone to the other games in the series, they're similar to long battles: when you enter the zone, you enter combat mode until you leave the zone. They're LONG long battles as well, considering the size of the quarantine zone, especially near the end of the game. With long battles in mind, their rules apply to the quarantine zone as well: stock up on health items. There is also no saving, but sometimes you reach a checkpoint. From enemies you can gather items, but these are placed in your inventory and you only have so much space, especially if you haven't upgraded the inventory space. You must return to a storage box outside of the quarantine zone to store the items you gather, but luckily most items stack so you don't have to return that often. As no taxis exist in the zone, it means you have to return to the entrance to exit, which is a pain. Such a large area, with only one entrance, and the quarantine zone is designed slightly like a linear maze as opposed to the typical open nature of Kamurocho, with some roads being blocked either due to rubble or things used to block in the zombies with. Luckily you don't have to defeat all the enemies, and they're fairly easily to run past most of the time.
Speaking of enemies, let's go over them. There's a surprisingly large amount of variety in them, which keeps them relatively fresh. Your standard human zombies. Fast, agile, and strong human zombies. Fat zombies filled with enraging gas, Slow and large zombie who's invulnerable everywhere except for the head. A ball zombie with a tough-to-crack shell who goes down quickly once the shell is destroyed. A flying zombie who spits at you. And more. Enemies are the standouts things of the game, so I've got no complaints there.
Let's go over the story a bit. There's a zombie outbreak in Kamurocho, and our heroes have to stop it. There are four playable characters. In order of appearance, they are Akiyama, Majima, Goda, and Kiryu. Their gameplay is identical to eachother (with the exception of one part, which I won't spoil), but they each have an exclusive weapon. Akiyama is there at the start of the outbreak, and then he has to rescue Hana from the quarantine zone. Majima was supposed to be at the grand opening of Kamurocho Hills, but the outbreak had him save the people trapped there. Goda is looking for his takoyaki mentor when he learns the truth of the outbreak. Kiryu is here to rescue Haruka. The overarching story is the outbreak, and the characters don't really team up at the end like they do in other games. While there is some Yakuza flair in the story, it's probably the least interesting story the series' has had, and the villains could have been pulled from basically any other story. Overall a bit disappointing on that front, but surprisingly canon-friendly.
Regarding the music, it's pretty good. It's a mix of the typical Yakuza tunes and typical zombie vibes. You hear music more often in this game as the battle theme plays non-stop in the quarantine zones (even during conversations!), and you spend more time here than you do in street fights in other games. Each character has their own theme that plays on repeat, so by the end you've had your fill of them all.
Before I continue, I must say this is the Yakuza game I've done the least amount of side-content for. Partly because it's not on Xbox, partly because it was the least tempting to interact with. One reason is that the game's flow doesn't really flow well for it. In a typical Yakuza game you can do story things, go to a bar, beat up some enemies on the street, go to karaoke, beat up some more enemies, do a substory, then continue with the story. In this game, as there are enemies everywhere in the quarantine zone, you always feel on edge as you can't save anywhere within, so you don't feel like doing side-content, and as there are no enemies outside the quarantine zone, running around in the city can't be broken up by random fights (plus the quarantine zone makes it a hassle to navigate).
Another reason is that, with the exception of the first 5 minutes, the entirety of the story mode has at least some area of the map quarantined. Before I realized how easy it was to run past enemies, I didn't want to run through the quarantine zone just to get to a shop to e.g. eat everything at a restaurant for the completion list. After I realized, I had grown tired of the quarantine zone and wanted to spend as little time there as possible. The combat is just not engaging enough to warrant that experience. I did all the substories because I wanted to know what happened, but even they were some of the most boring in the series. Every character had at least 3 multi-part substories, so it didn't feel like there was a large variety there, and as they all required you to go back to the quarantine zone it got exhausting by the end. There's even a "random dungeon generator" akin to Ishin's bandit caves that eventually lead to the game's Amon, but I don't care enough about the gameplay to go through that – maybe sometime, just to have done it.
With all that said, if you want to do everything the city has to offer, wait for Premium Adventure. From there you can select what stage you want the city to be in: the largest quarantine zone available to that character, or no quarantine zone. If you choose the "no quarantine zone" option it plays just like any other Yakuza game, except there are still no thugs so the world is less engaging.
Before I wrap this up, a quick shout out to the quarantine zones. While I don't like them that much, they're impressive in that you can basically move around all of Kamurocho continuously. Not quite like the Dragon Engine games, but not far off. And the map is more impressive than Yakuza 4. All of Kamurocho and its underground, Kamurocho Hills and its plaza, and even Purgatory and the road leading to it are in this game and accessible freely in some way. The only things missing are the rooftops.
I can see why this is the most disliked Yakuza game, but it isn't a bad game overall, just lacking in all things Yakuza is known for. Sure, it may be the most boring one despite being the zombie entry, but there's a bunch of things fans will enjoy. If you haven't yet played a game in the series, this isn't the one to start with, but if you're a fan then it's whatever, do what you want. I'm glad to have experienced it, but it won't negatively impact me if I never play it again.
