Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega. The game is the seventh main entry in the Yakuza series, and was released in Japan in December 2016. The English version was released in Southeast Asia in March 2018, and worldwide the following month[9][10] since its release in Japan in December 2016. Versions for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One were released in March 2021. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life was followed up by Yakuza Kiwami 2, a remake of the second game, and by Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the next chronological installment, in 2020.

Yakuza 6 was announced on September 15, 2015 at the Tokyo Game Show during the Sony conference, exclusively for PlayStation 4 and with a release date of “Autumn 2016”. Toshihiro Nagoshi of Sega confirmed that more details would be revealed during the rest of the event. A traditional Chinese localisation has been announced for the Asia region. Beat Takeshi was also announced to be playing a character within the game. The game also features New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestlers Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Kazuchika Okada, Satoshi Kojima, Tetsuya Naito and Toru Yano, who play fictionalized versions of themselves in the game.

Several renowned actors voice the characters in Yakuza 6. Among them: Takeshi Kitano as Toru Hirose, Shun Oguri as Takumi Someya, Hiroyuki Miyasako as Tsuyoshi Nagumo, Tatsuya Fujiwara as Yuta Usami (Miyasako and Fujiwara both being recurring actors from Yakuza 3), and Yoko Maki as Kiyomi Kasahara, as well as other artists that have participated in the Yakuza series. Yakuza 6 is an action-adventure game set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. It is similar to that of other Yakuza titles with exploration mixed with arcade style beat ’em up combat with ragdoll physics.

Yakuza 6 was the first game in the series to use the new Dragon Engine game engine, which overhauls the presentation and combat mechanics compared to past games. It also features an advanced variant of Yakuza 5’s Dragon Spirit Mode, called Extreme Heat Mode, where Kiryu becomes resistant to knockback as long as his Heat remains, and his combo finishers can turn into Heat actions that take out immense amounts of health. The game categorizes experience into different types and the player can grant themselves various upgrades by using experience of the correct type; experience may also be raised by eating at restaurants, though doing this raises the hunger gauge.

Yakuza 6 Kiryu is a 100% certified badass, so that means he’s a battle-hardened veteran when it comes to the art of street fighting. Although he utilizes one fighting style this time around, you best believe Kiryu hits like a truck. Devastating combos and bone-breaking Heat Actions make a return, but now the Dragon of Dojima can fill up a meter to engage Extreme Heat Mode. When activated, Kiryu glows blue and unleashes heavy-damage combos with his fists or any “tool” that’s close at hand.For the first time in series history, every line and piece of dialogue is fully voiced in Japanese. Let the dramatic story and absurd humor of the series unfold like an interactive foreign film experience.

Explore the world of Yakuza like never before. Yakuza 6 is the first current-gen Yakuza title that was developed from the ground up for the current-gen hardware, introducing the seedy Japanese underworld with detailed visuals, lifelike animations, a new physics engine, interactive storefronts, seamless transitions and more. From the unparalleled realism of the new setting of Onomichi, a beautiful, sleepy port town in Hiroshima Prefecture, to the latest evolution of Kamurocho, the biggest red-light district in Tokyo, Yakuza 6 is the ultimate iteration the game’s blend of gritty crime story, hyper-explosive combat, and all the vices and distractions those locales have to offer.