Yakuza 0

Intense overall intensity
Highest flag: Language — strong
AdventureModern/RealisticRPG

What's in it

Language strong
High

Frequent strong profanity and crude insults in the English subtitles during confrontations.

Violence realistic
Moderate

Realistic hand-to-hand brawling against human gangsters with punches, thrown objects, and bloody 'Heat' finishers; impact is emphasized but there is no dismemberment or gore.

Substances depicted
Moderate

Kiryu and Majima drink alcohol at bars and restaurants and characters smoke cigarettes throughout.

Dark themes intense
Moderate

Story centers on organized-crime betrayal, murder, extortion, and grief within the yakuza underworld.

Crime & lawlessness player commits crime
Moderate

The player is a yakuza who fights rivals and is immersed in extortion, gang warfare, and money laundering as the central premise.

Torture depicted
Moderate

Cutscenes depict captives being beaten and brutalized during interrogations by criminal figures.

Mutilation / body horror depicted
Moderate

The yakuza practice of finger-cutting (yubitsume) as atonement is referenced and shown in story scenes.

Sexual content innuendo
Moderate

Adult-oriented nightlife side content includes a phone-dating 'telephone club' minigame, hostess-club management and dating, and softcore catalog/video substories with heavy sexual innuendo.

Gambling simulated gambling
Moderate

In-game-currency casino and parlor games including blackjack, roulette, poker, mahjong, shogi, dice, and pachislot machines.

Nudity revealing/suggestive attire
Low

Hostesses and video-catalog women appear in revealing lingerie, swimsuits, and low-cut outfits; no full nudity is shown.

Prostitution / sex work referenced
Low

Japan's paid sex/adult industry (soaplands, telephone clubs, hostessing) is referenced and part of the setting.

Sexual violence referenced
Low

A pivotal plot point references an attempted sexual assault that sets the wider yakuza conflict in motion.

Who can reach your kid

What it is

Yakuza 0 is a story-driven, single-player action game set in the late-1980s recreations of Tokyo's and Osaka's nightlife districts, where you play two yakuza (Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima) through a crime-drama plot. Core play is street brawling against human gangsters with realistic, bloody but non-gory combat, wrapped around a large city full of side activities. Adult-oriented content is common in the optional nightlife: hostess-club dating and management, a phone-dating minigame, and softcore video substories with sexual innuendo and women in revealing attire. Characters drink and smoke, casino and parlor minigames simulate gambling with in-game money, and the mature story deals with betrayal, murder, extortion, and other dark yakuza themes, including references to torture, an attempted assault, and the ritual finger-cutting of yakuza culture. Strong profanity runs through the dialogue.

How it's framed

The game frames its yakuza protagonists as bound by a personal code of honor and loyalty, portraying violence and crime as part of a brutal underworld while treating betrayal and abuse of the weak as villainous; its sexual and nightlife content is presented as raunchy, often comedic adult diversion rather than explicit depiction.

Details

Developer
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (Sega)
Publisher
Sega
Released
2015 (Japan); 2018 (PC/West)
Metacritic 85critic score (third-party) · out of 100

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