Sega has released new details for Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, the upcoming game that features both a remake of 2009’s Yakuza 3 and an entirely new prequel spin-off following the game’s antagonist Yoshitaka Mine. The game was revealed during the RGG Summit event during September and is already gearing up for release in just over three months. Sega has now shared some new details regarding the changes to gameplay and story content.
Yakuza Kiwami 3: New Combat Syle
The first and most noteworthy addition is that Yakuza Kiwami 3 will now support two distinct combat styles, bucking the trend from later entries in the series. Kazuma Kiryu will retain his iconic “Dragon of Dojima” fighting style, which again involves a lot of bare-knuckle brawling and smashing things against dudes’ heads. This fighting style is now complemented by the new “Ryukyu” style, which is based on real Okinawan martial arts. This new fighting style incorporates weapons, with the default stance including a tinbe and rochin (a traditional Japanese sword and shield), and allowing Kiryu to weild other weapons such as sai, tonfa, tekko, nunchaku, and more.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 will also incorporate a skill tree, similar to more recent entries such as Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and the previous Yakuza Kiwami games. Players can now also customize Kazuma Kiryu’s phone with stickers as they take a break from throwing trash cans at enemies or playing bowling.
Dark Ties: New Story Content
The Dark Ties prequel game introduces Yoshitaka Mine as a playable character as it explores his journey through the ranks of the Japanese underground after he is betrayed by a close business partner. Sega’s description of the new story reads
“The year is 2007. Yoshitaka Mine had once launched a successful startup, only to be stabbed in the back by a trusted partner.
Wandering Kaumorocho in a drunken stupor, he witnesses a gruesome conflict between yakuza factions. After watching a subordinate of Daigo Dojima sacrifice themselves, Mine longs to discover what makes a bond transcend material gain.
He approaches Tsuyoshi Kanda of the Tojo Clan’s Nishikiyama Family in hopes of learning more about Daigo. Kanda welcomes him in as his sworn brother and right-hand man. Working in tandem, they bring significant wealth into the family’s coffers.
Soon, the Tojo Clan catches wind of Mine and Kanda’s actions and springs into action. As Mine and Kanda navigate their way through this crisis, Mine begins to feel a sense of kinship toward Kanda.
As Mine ponders whether this is the unshakeable bond he’d been searching for, he receives a sudden invitation from Daigo Dojima.”
Dark Ties: New Combat Style
This spin-off focuses around its own combat style based on “shoot-boxing”, which sees the player exploiting openings in their enemies’ defense to deliver brutal beat-downs, all while powering up a “Dark Awakening” ability that causes Mine to go berserk. Much like Kiyru, Mine also has his own skill-tree, which is exciting as RGG Studio has promised as much as 10 hours of content in this new story.
As usual, RGG Studio is no slouch when it comes to high quality new games in quick succession, with Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties coming less than one year after Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. This is all while the studio is still deep in development of its new IP Stranger Than Heaven and a new Virtua Fighter game.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties releases on PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on February 12th 2026.
