The demo of Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, released a few weeks before launch, was heavily criticized. Players claimed the graphics were "worse than on PS3," and changes to the story and some combat systems caused dissatisfaction.
After its premiere on Steam, the game received "mixed" reviews – the average rating was 67% positive reviews. At its peak, there were 7,466 concurrent players in the game, and the project took 46th place in the bestseller ranking. For comparison, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii in February 2025 gathered more than 22,000 players on Steam.
Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties on Metacritic received 7.5/10. The user score is 5.4/10. Criticism concerns the cut content – the number of side quests has been reduced from more than 100 to less than 40, and some characters have completely disappeared. Also, the changed ending became controversial, which, according to fans, weakened the emotional impact of the story. Some users call the changes "unnecessary" and believe that the remake has lost part of the soul of the original.
