Thoughts on the brilliant 

story of Yakuza 6

It's in the detailing that Yakuza comes alive, and 6's new engine allows those details to appear finer than ever (even if the framerate takes a hit, halving from Yakuza 0's 60fps to 30fp, a target that base PS4 models can sometimes struggle to hit).

 Textures feel richer - as you can tell by just looking at the wrinkles pointedly added to Kiryu's face for his swansong - and you're now able to enter interiors without a loading screen getting in the way. More than a little's been lost, but a fair amount has been gained too.

That new richness is much appreciated in a series that at its heart offers digital tourism of the highest order.

It's the kind of game in which you can happily spend an hour or two watching revellers spilling across the streets of Kamurocho under its many lights, wandering down streets and alleyways and just soaking in that detail; the mad scrabble of seemingly unrelated goods in Don Quijote, or the suspicious buns that simmer away on the front counter of a conbini. Take a tour in the new first-person mode and it won't take long to convince yourself that Kamurocho, constructed slowly over the years and across Yakuza's many instalments, is one of video game's great wonders, made all the more fantastical by its real world roots.

Yakuza 6 combines exhilarating combat, poignant storytelling and an infectious sense of madness in a way only this medium can. Kazuma Kiryu’s lovable Japanese charm spent years failing to penetrate outside of his homeland, but now the series has taken on a new lease of life with Yakuza 6, the final chapter in the Dragon of dojima story.

Kiryu’s swansong concludes with a final act that’s arguably the series’ finest hour yet, presenting encounters and narrative revelations that bring with them the shock and emotional gratification you’d expect from a feature film. This is thanks to a fantastic cast and sharp localisation effort that translates the original Japanese without sacrificing any of the gravitas. Past entries have garnered criticism as a result of removing such elements, so it’s great to see everything untouched here.

You can relax if you’re a new player afraid of being washed away by waves of lore. Yakuza 6 comes with a reminisce tool that allows you to relive the narrative of each game and familiarise yourself with key characters. While I’d still recommend playing past games for maximum impact, this offers a great way for newcomers to dive into a world that requires much dedication in order to become fully immersed.

Yakuza might be the game of the moment,make sure to play it until you get Shenmue .