8 Smart Video Games With Incredibly Dumb Twists

1. Yakuza 0 - Hey Mister, That’s My Sister

In nearly all the ways that count, Yakuza 0 is a masterclass in video game storytelling. The life sim/brawler/RPG hybrid exhibits a butler-like dedication to making the player happy at all times, but the butler is also a clown, and also, a master storyteller, and also, your dad. The game has so much unshakeable confidence in its ability to keep the player emotionally invested, that it isn’t afraid to gleefully headbutt the boundaries of realism in its mission to keep the player smiling. Ultimately, it realises that characters that never have fun aren’t really full characters.

Not that it isn’t afraid to get exceptionally dark, with a central arc including human trafficking, racism, and sex slavery. Just as it's fully unpacking these ideas though, it drops another reveal.

The reveal that Makoto Makimura is Tachibana’s sister is squeezed in between several equally huge plot revelations, and given basically no time to breathe as a result. While Yakuza 0 and ‘restraint’ aren’t exactly words you’d find together often, I feel this one could have been parcelled out a little more elegantly.