"Remake for the sake of remake." Yakuza Kiwami 3 demo disappointed players and sparked a scandal around the new ending
It seems that the developers decided to revise the fate of some characters and incurred the wrath of players, who were already dissatisfied with the state of the demo.
The extended remake of Yakuza 3, subtitled Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, is once again at the center of a scandal. This time, the reason for the fans' outrage was rumors that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio had changed the ending of the original game. According to dataminers, they managed to extract the full script from the demo version recently published online, and it revealed serious discrepancies with the plot of the classic Yakuza 3.
We will not reveal the details to avoid spoilers, however, according to the extracted script, characters who died in the original version will survive the ending of the remake. This potentially affects the chronology of further events — from Yakuza 4 to Like a Dragon Gaiden. Details can be found at link.
Fans perceived the possible changes as an insult to the canon: social networks were filled with messages accusing the developers of "devaluing old games" and "undermining dramaturgy." The return of dead characters is especially actively discussed, which, according to players, deprives the plot of emotional weight. Some even say that they will refuse to buy the remake if the rumors are confirmed.
The situation was aggravated by the release of the demo version, which caused a new wave of criticism. The demo currently has 74% negative reviews on Steam: users complain about poor optimization, outdated graphics, and minimal changes compared to the remaster. Many see no reason to pay $60 for a project that, according to them, is "more like a remaster of a remaster" — people believe that the remake was made "for the sake of the remake" in order to make easy money on fans.
At the same time, the original version of the game will become unavailable for purchase with the release of the remake on February 12 and will probably remain available only as part of bundles with other classic games in the series.
