After it accidentally leaked it, RGG unveils a full-on Kiwami remake of Yakuza 3, plus a whole new bonus Gaiden game where you play its main bad guy

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties | Announcement Trailer - YouTube

It has, somehow, been almost a decade since Sega last released a Kiwami remake of one its older Yakuza games (though it's been a mere six years since its previous one—Kiwami 2—hit PC). Now it's feeling the itch again: during the last Ryu Ga Gotoku (RGG) Summit, the mad lads announced that Yakuza Kiwami 3—a full-on remake of the 2009 PS3 game—is coming on February 12, 2026.

Yes, it turns out RGG didn't accidentally write "Kiwami 3" on its own website for kicks last week. Who'd have thought?

Oh, and the devs are putting out pretty much a whole bonus game alongside it: Yakuza 3 Gaiden: Dark Ties, where you play as Yakuza 3 bad guy Yoshitaka Mine. Go big or go home is, I guess, the RGG motto.

Kiwami 3 is a full-on remake in the Yakuza 6 Dragon Engine, much like Kiwami 2 was, and once again follows world's-worst-criminal-but-best-dad Kazuma Kiryu as he tries to literally stop evil men from tearing down his orphanage. You know, like how criminals do.

With the Yakuza/Like A Dragon games now firmly established in the west, Kiwami 3 will also feature an English voice dub alongside the expected Japanese. We got a taste of the dub in the trailer and, while it sounds fine, I honestly can't imagine playing these games in anything but the original language. Yankee Kiryu and Majima simply aren't the freaks I've come to know and love.

Kazuma Kiryu unleashes a special attack, featuring a literal dragon manifesting behind him. — (Image credit: Sega)

I gotta confess, I've attempted to play the Yakuza 3 remaster we've got on PC quite a few times, but it's tough to return to what is—at its heart—a PS3 game after all the glitz and glamour of Kiwami 2 and its Dragon Engine-ified remake of 2. This is likely gonna be the push I need to finally play through Yakuza the Third.

And then… I'll wait for Kiwami 4, probably, which you have to assume is coming at this point. With a remake of 3, RGG has broken the seal on full remakes of PS3-era games (Yakuza 1 and 2 were both PS2 games originally), and I strongly suspect nothing but a baffling downtick in sales will stop the studio from going through its whole PS3 catalogue and tuning them up.

TOPICS

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.