The wild landscape of the Yakuza franchise has stolen many hearts during its time. Probably for the fact it’s incredibly hard to find a game that even feels similar to the Yakuza series. The power struggles, the humor, and an intense storyline go along with it. It’s not hard to see why the series has such a loyal fanbase.

While the full package can be hard to find elsewhere, if you can deconstruct your favorite parts of the game then we can begin to find similarities depending on what you love about Yakuza 0.

Updated November 3, 2021 by Michael Llewellyn: Despite being an open-world action series, the Yakuza series is one of the most unique. The cities that protagonists explore aren’t as large or as vast as the GTA series, but they are densely packed with stories, quests, and activities to keep you entertained for hours. There’s also a delicate balance between humor and drama that no other series seems capable of matching without getting too satirical. Yakuza 0 served as an introduction for many new fans and its 1980s setting is one of the best in the franchise. This list aims to tick as many boxes as possible that fans of the Yakuza 0’s setting and gameplay may be looking for.

13 Double Dragon: Neon

  • Released: 2012
  • Developer: WayForward Technologies
  • Platform: PC, PS3, and Xbox 360

When it comes to taking gamers on a nostalgia trip back to 80s beat-em-ups, Streets of Rage 4 is often credited as the pinnacle of old school fighters given a new lease of life. However, the often forgotten Double Dragon: Neon deserves the same accolades for doing this almost ten years ago.

Fans of Yakuza 0’s old school fighting system will enjoy the challenge that Double Dragon provides. It’s the full-blown tribute to everything that’s the 1980s that will appeal to fans of Yakuza 0.

12 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

  • Released: 2002
  • Developer: Rockstar
  • Platform: PC, PS2, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Android, and iOS.

Almost twenty years on and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is still regarded as one of the best in the series. The open-world crime game has an all-star cast lead by Goodfella’s Ray Liotta as Tommy Vercetti.

With a remaster set to release in late 2021, there’s never been a better time to jump into one of Rockstar’s best games. For Yakuza 0 fans that loved the nostalgic trip back to the 1980s, Vice City has you covered. With satirical references to well-known movies like Scarface and an outstanding 80s soundtrack, Vice City is a trip down memory lane you won’t want to miss.

11 Mafia 2

  • Released: 2010
  • Developer: 2K Czech
  • Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox One, and Mac OS

This is a pretty obvious choice purely for the fact that you can get your gangster fix with both. You’ll begin by returning home from WWII and trying to make a little money. It’s here that you begin working for the Falcone crime family. Making moves and climbing up the ranks with some big decisions to make.

You’ll get the same heavy plot points that you find in Yakuza, you can tell by the two hours of cut scenes you can find in the campaign. With a mass amount of detailed vehicles and weaponry to fill up your time, it’s unlikely you’ll fall victim to boredom on your way up the criminal ladder.

10 L.A. Noire

  • Released: 2011
  • Developer: Team Bondi Rockstar
  • Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, PSVR, Switch, and Xbox One

This is another crime drama for you to wet your whistle. Only this time it will take the protagonist through a semi-open world format as the detective instead of the bad guy. While it might not have the Asian stylings of Yakuza, Who can say 1947 LA didn’t have style?

Being put on the other side of the law for once, in L.A. Noire you will be investigating clues and getting information out of the suspects. Only the game does like to add a little attitude to the experience, being noire and all.

9 Shenmue

  • Released: 1999
  • Developer: Sega
  • Platform: Dreamcast, PC, PS4, Xbox, and Xbox One

Being first released in 1999, this game will take some settling into for those who have been spoiled with sleek, modern graphics. The story is where the similarities lie, with elements of revenge and high action Shenmue elevates the drama a few notches.

In an open-world environment, you have to hunt down clues as to who murdered your father. You’ll be dragged through a gritty Asian underground with surprisingly modern features. Each character you see has its schedule and path, which you can track through the day and night cycle.

8 A Way Out

  • Released: 2018
  • Developer: Hazelight Studios
  • Platform: PC, PS4, and Xbox One

Although it’s mainly a co-op game, how can you leave such a great game off the list? If you’re looking for intensity and drama then you’ve certainly come to the right place. The classic prison escape scenario where you will have to cooperate to make the great escape.

It doesn’t have quite the same tone to it as Yakuza, but it’s hard to deny A Way Out’s ability to draw you into the story. With so many side activities and extras, especially for two convicts on the run, the connection you make with the characters along the way is unrivaled.

7 Sleeping Dogs

  • Released: 2012
  • Developer: United Front Games
  • Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, MAC OS, and Xbox One

Action is the name of this game.. or it should be. Sleeping Dogs puts you in the shoes of a seriously wild undercover police officer in Hong Kong. While you try to infiltrate the Triad this game gives you so much choice in what you want to do, even veering into the criminal side of things.

Every time the protagonist commits an illegal act, the heat meter will rise. Not that it should matter seeing as gameplay is a mixture of some impressive parkour and insane fighting skills.

6 The Way Of The Samurai 4

  • Released: 2012
  • Developer: Acquire
  • Platform: PS3

Most games will let you have a certain amount of choice, but ultimately their fate is decided the moment they press start. TWOTS 4 hands over control and lets you decide what side they want to swing their sword for. Throughout the 5 days of in-game time, things will get very interesting.

Whether you fight for the anti-government rebels, the ruling government, or the trade-seeking British. The choices that will be made over the conflict days determine the protagonist’s destiny.

5 Saints Row: The Third

  • Released: 2011
  • Developer: Volition
  • Platform: Linux, Luna, PC, PS3, PS4, Stadia, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One

One of Yakuza 0’s best qualities has always been the speed in which it can take you from serious to funny. One minute you’re in a gunfight, the next you’re teaching wannabes how to act cool. It’s in this that Saints Row shines so brightly.

Maybe with a little more emphasis on the wacky and wild, Saints Row manages to make most people chuckle while you’re the dead center of a turf war. Taking on rival gangs is hard work and everyone needs a hard laugh here and there.

4 Fist Of The North Star: Lost Paradise

  • Released: 2017
  • Developer: Ryu Ga Gotaku Studio
  • Platform: PS4

If you’ve run through all the Yakuza games and are now left abandoned have no fear. Though the story is based on popular manga, almost all the gameplay mechanics have been uprooted and given to Fist Of The North Star.

Being made by Ryu Ga Gotoku certainly does help a game along when the goal is to feel like Yakuza. The same feel to the tee, and all the great side games to match. For many, this will satisfy their Yakuza craving for a short time.

3 Remember Me

  • Released: 2013
  • Developer: Dontnod Entertainment
  • Platform: PC, PS3, and Xbox 360

In this science fiction action title, you won’t be tackling a criminal organization this time but a corrupt government. The story of Remember Me is made intense by the lack of fiction. An extreme but plausible version of society years in the future in which leaders know your every move.

You can craft personalized combos from a range of move trees. Changing your play style as you progress through the game. You can also alter memories in real-time creating a precise mix of action and precision.

2 Batman: Arkham Asylum

  • Released:
  • Developer: Rocksteady
  • Platform: PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and MAC OS,

When released, Arkham Asylum was the only Batman game to be based on the comic source material. When you’re trying to thwart the Joker’s plans, it’s pretty obvious what type of night you’re in for. Trapped in Arkham Asylum, a place that Batman has put most of the inmates.

While this has more of a linear path, the game explores the wide array of gadgets at Batman’s disposal. The island is free to be explored but it’s not exactly the Bahamas out there.

1 Lost Judgment

  • Released: 2021
  • Developer: Ryu Ga Gotaku Studios
  • Platform, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S

Just like its predecessor Judgment, Lost Judgment is a spin-off from the Yakuza franchise. It takes place in the same city and shares many of the same mechanics and distractions that Yakuza fans love.

Unlike Yakuza, however, the Judgment series isn’t a gangster series but a detective game. Even though the protagonist Yagami deals with his fair share of mobsters, Judgment is very much a series that stands on its own two feet with its emotional script.