Every Yakuza Game Ranked From Worst To Best

15. Yakuza: Dead Souls (2011)

By the early 2010s, the zombie shooter craze was in full effect with titles like Left 4 Dead and Dead Island on the market. RGG Studio attempted to capitalize on this with the release of Yakuza: Dead Souls in 2011.

A big problem here is that the Yakuza franchise is known for its beat-em-up fighting mechanics, and Dead Souls makes the big mistake of abandoning it for a third-person shooter instead. Though this addition is fitting due to the change of pace, shooting itself is poorly implemented as combat feels clunky and imprecise.

And while combat takes the brunt of the criticism surrounding Dead Souls, that's not the end of it, as enemy encounters also feel tedious, due to players having to monotonously fight waves of zombies. Finally, Dead Souls has fewer amounts of side-content and substories which have been a staple in the Yakuza games since day one.

Yakuza: Dead Souls unfortunately has the dishonour of being the rare misstep in an otherwise consistent franchise. Though its attempt at trying something new is admirable, the execution was sorely lacking.