Ryu ga Gotoku 6: Inochi no Uta (PlayStation 4) Preview

The attendance at Tokyo Game Show this year reached a whopping 271,224 people—the largest in the event's 20-year history. While that may sound like something to celebrate, it is not. Bigger crowds inevitably mean longer queues, and Ryu ga Gotoku 6: Inochi no Uta, the latest entry in the Yakuza series, was no exception. The Theatre Booth, which consisted of a 20-minute video and 20-minute playable demo, had queues of up to three hours long. It was like Disneyland, but with the violence cranked up.

In true Yakuza style, the models of the in-game hostesses took turns at sitting in front of the booth that was emblazoned with the game's logo. To either side of this lay extravagant congratulatory flowers from companies that work with SEGA—a typical business practice in Japan. Series director, the trendy Nagoshi Toshihiro, also showed up for a view moments before he took to the stage, and was happy enough to take photos with the fans who asked. Some real-life yakuza, complete with suits and battle wounds, were on hand to smash the flower stands of the heads of unruly attendees. Actually, in hindsight, they may have just been SEGA staff in cosplay.

After three hours of cooling off in the queue using the Ryu ga Gotoku-themed fan (Japan is still hot and humid in September), the doors to a mini theatre area open. The 30 or so people at the top of the queue are ushered in, while the rest are forced to wait in the sweltering heat until the next showing.

A trailer begins with a scene of a battered Kiryu walking through a snowy street, picking up from the events of Yakuza 5. He is then taken to hospital, where he is surrounded by familiar faces such as Haruka, Majima and Saejima. The police arrive and arrest Kiryu under suspicion of causing bodily harm and damage to property. He has done both excessively for five games now, which would leave one to believe that these police are not the most efficient. Faced with four years in prison, Kiryu decides that he will use the time for reflection and become someone that the kids at Sunshine Orphanage can be proud of.

A slow yet dramatic piece of music full of melancholy plays over this scene. It seems out of place in the Yakuza series where the soundtrack is often comprised of heavy rock and hip-hop. For this instalment, SEGA has enlisted the help of Tatsuro Yamashita, an acclaimed artist and producer who has also worked on films and television. It seems clear that the story of Ryu ga Gotoku 6 will aim to pull on the heartstrings of the player, but with music of this calibre, they may end up pulling them clean off. The music comes to a sudden stop and we see Haruka get hit by a car. She was holding a baby at the time.

It turns out that Haruka decided to run away after images of her at Sunshine Orphanage appeared online, and her link to the yakuza became apparent. When Kiryu makes it out of prison, he finds Haruka unconscious in a hospital bed. Police detective and long-time friend Makoto Datel introduces Kiryu to Haruto, a baby believed to be Haruka's son. Kiryu heads to Hiroshima, one of the last places Haruka was seen, to try to find out who the father is.

The regular complicated storylines following the feuds of the Tojo clan are here, too, and will see Kiryu travel between the sprawling city of Kamurocho, Tokyo and the quiet country-side life of Onomichijingaicho, Hiroshima. It is safe to say that they will shorten that latter name if it gets an English translation.

While the Yakuza series is known for hiring real actors to bring life to the world, they have gone overboard this time with a cast that likes of are unseen in video games. Even non-Japanese fans will instantly recognise faces such as Beat Takeshi and Tatsuya Fujiwara (Battle Royale, Death Note series). The melodramatic stories in the previous games were entertaining enough to make hour-long cut-scenes worth it, and it is safe to say that SEGA will keep up the quality with this instalment, too.

When the trailer came to a close, there was a short video explaining the new game mechanics. After which, the attendees were allowed into the next room where the yakuza, or SEGA staff, were waiting to guide them to a PS4 to try the game for themselves. The controllers and headphones were wiped with disinfectant cloth after each use. If there's one thing the yakuza love killing, it's germs.

Both Onomichijingaicho and Kamurocho were available to play in the demo. The first thing the player notices is how "seamless" (as SEGA calls it) everything has become. Gone are the days of waiting through a clunky transition to battle scenes or loading shop interiors. It all flows as one now. If some street thugs get cocky and start a fight, Kiryu instantly enters a fighting stance and it is all go. Those who are used to the pre-fight cut-scenes seen in previous games will find themselves being attacked by the enemies as they were not expecting the fight to begin so quickly. Fights can even be taken into convenience stores, where all of the shelves are destructible. This feels like a natural progression for the series, and fluidity makes the game more enjoyable as the bothersome loading before fights is no more.

Side-quests are a staple of the series, and it seems that Ryu ga Gotoku 6 will not disappoint. One side-quest available in the demo sees Kiryu fall victim to an 'It's me! It's me!' scam. Quite rampant in Japan, it involves the scammer making a phone call and pretending to be a relative or friend in need of money. The money is then handed over to a third-party, usually an unknown "friend" or "colleague." Kiryu must use his wit to outsmart the scammer and force them to reveal their true identity. All of the humour of past games is present here.

As Kiryu walks through Kamurocho, the place we have been frequenting for over 10 years now, it is clear that the game is evolving in the right direction. The gritty Tokyo neon has never looked so good. Visuals have had a complete overhaul and there is more to see than ever before, without the load times when entering buildings that previously had prohibited exploration.