Recent reviews by Flatliner

I'm happy to see that Like a Dragon: Ishin! has finally been translated and released internationally. I've never played the 2014 Japan-exclusive PS4 game (duh), so I'm even happier that after the first hours I can already tell that it has all components that make for a great Yakuza/Like a Dragon game: suspenseful main story, dozens of fleshed out characters with their own agenda, silly side stories, great soundtrack and satisfying combat.
It doesn't improve on the "Yakuza formula", but it doesn't have to - it's a game series that reliably delivers.

It's a great spin-off that anybody will enjoy who enjoyed other Yakuza games. For newcomers, this could be a great starting point, provided the setting in 1860s Japan sounds interesting. If it doesn't, it would be better to start somewhere else, e.g. with Yakuza 0 or Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

At the same time, there are a few glaring issues that can't be overlooked. The movement outside of combat is clunky and feels very 2014, even on a controller. The story has some pacing issues, after the intro it pretty much slows down to a crawl. On top of that, there are technical issues, that will hopefully be addressed with future patches. Some of those are really unforgivable in 2023: UE4 shader stutter; missing ultra wide screen support (come on, Sega); 30 fps cut scenes (really?).

Recommended without restrictions. I bought this game on a whim a few months ago and now I'm hooked on the whole franchise...

Yakuza 0 is a prequel to all the other Yakuza games and should be played first. It features a fantastic and serious main story about two Yakuza grunts between a rock and a hard place, with intrigues, betrayals and tragedy. It's one of my favourite game stories. It is interrupted by interesting and silly side stories about eccentricities of the Japanese society.
The beat 'em up gameplay is not my favourite part, but there are definitely some satisfying moves you can learn to power through it and become OP. There are plenty of minigames to keep it interesting.

It was first released on PS3/PS4 in 2015 and has been ported to PC in 2018. The port is well done, but there are some small improvements recommended, see PC Gaming Wiki: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Yakuza_0

The fact that SEGA sells all Yakuza games at such low prices on Steam (with and without a sale) is all the more reason to buy it!

Can't recommend it. Even if all the bugs were fixed, it would still be a very shallow game overall.

Buy it in 2 years at 75% off with all DLC included if you must.

I was disappointed by a highly-anticipated futuristic "RPG" that just released, so I decided to finally give Detroit: Become Human a go. The existential questions about what makes us human and the impact of my decisions is everything that I expected (but didn't get) from that other game that is set 57 years in the future from now.

Detroit: Become Human doesn't have a lot of gameplay. It's basically walking around, clicking on things and QTE, but the decisions and unfolding story more than make up for it.

I highly recommend you to just give it a try, without reading anything more about it.

Unfortunately, it's a bad console port (apart from graphics), so there are two unfixed bugs:
-On Nvidia cards, it only works with driver 446.14 (see here: https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/1222140/discussions/0/2569815696856072388/) - one more reason not to play V for now
-Unplug ALL controllers/wheels/joysticks, otherwise some button prompts will straight up not work without telling you why

Metro is love, Metro is life.

Still as revolting as it was in 2003. Vote for best use of farm animals.