I've seen a lot of reviews try to win people over with an endless list of amusing anecdotes - winning chickens in a bowling game and making them a real estate manager. Training a dominatrix to be more assertive. Obliterating people in combat with a motorcycle.

It's all true, of course. Yakuza 0 can be an immensely funny and absurd game with moments that's genuinely make you laugh out loud - largely because you could have never expected them.

But I also think that's had the side effect of selling the game short. You might think this is a comedy game, something that is almost lighthearted or trivial.

It's not.

Yakuza 0 is a very serious game - a fact you might find surprising. Its plot is complex and is centered on a fairly dry subject of real estate intrigue in a booming market. It deals with mature, often terrible issues and has a cast of immensely realistic - and likable - characters set in an equally realistic city. Yakuza has the pacing and tone of a drama, and it must be enjoyed slowly like one.

The comedy, then, is not the driver of this game, but rather serves as a much needed relief of tension. It's almost like there's a swinging pendulum in which the game is allowed to present you with increasingly intense and dramatic moments so long as it's all offset by an equally increasing level of absurdity. It helps space out the moments of self-seriousness in a way that just...works.

Beyond just the tone and story is a very enjoyable brawler that constantly mixes it up with minigames, tough bosses, and other diversions. I do want to stress that this isn't necessarily a game you're coming back to for the gameplay - rather, you'll be coming for the story, the characters, the city itself.

This isn't a bad thing, though, and I wish more games would take this approach. Yakuza 0 is a wonderful game.

PS: Whoever did the localization for Yakuza 0 is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ genius.