Overall Score : 9/10
Verdict: An amazing story, great visuals and great LaD gameplay.

Review:
Oh man.
I feel like I have to say that, aside from 2 hours in Kiwami 2 this is my first Yakuza game and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ man I wasnt prepared.

Writing
I've played a load of games with sub-par/almost non-existant storylines recently so this game was a massive, massive breath of fresh air. The level of writing in this game is on par with some of the best movies I've seen. You can definently feel the level of care put into this series as i've heard the story of the other games is equally as, if not even better than this. It had me second guessing myself throughout the entire game. I got so invested into the story in fact, that I ended up playing 9 of the 14 chapters in a single 10 hours sitting. Just amazing, a solid 9/10 for the story for me.

Visuals
They're what you'd expect, the new Unreal engine does wonders in the cutscenes, they look so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cool. Some characters look better than others but that might've just been me (Takeda, Saigo, Heisuke) in particular look amazing.
Outside of cutscenes the graphics are definently worse but they're passable and there really isnt much to complain here. Overall a 7.5/10

Setting
Its the late Edo period; Im a massive fan of late 19th century Japan and the history of the country in general so I am simply awe-struck by the level of detail and the beauty of Kyoto in this game. I am definently looking forward to a Kenzan remake in the near future. 10/10

Music
I love it, its a mix of exactly what you'd expect from a yakuza game and of new, fresh stuff. Really good overall. Ill say that my favourite was the Yoshinobu Boss fight music. Chefs Kiss.

And as previously mentioned, its my first Yakuza game so, if you are, like me, looking into the series but dont want to start with the older games since you feel like their age would affect your opinion of them or whatever (even though i strongly encourage you play these for the story, i know I will) I suggest you start with this game. A spin-off so you wont get the main game story spoiled for yourself. A new engine, so stunning graphics coupled with the same gameplay loop and wacky fun of every game in the series.

This game is great. It does have its downs (these mostly being bugs that do still happen sometime) but these are so heavily outweighed by the positives it really doesnt matter.

First the story is great, I wont say amazing as I did feel like the ending of the game was a bit rushed in the way of pacing but what else are you really gonna do when the enemy is a space-teleporting band of horse-riders. You can afford to make a story like this. I do say it felt rushed however as the beginning of the game is kinda slowish very methodical and thought out in its world-building while the end is just kinda "oh yea go to spot x so you can go to spot y on the other side of the map because story". This is a minor detail however as wherever you find yourself youre overwhelmed by the immense world-building efforts the devs have put out.

The sidequests of this game are amazing, probably the best implementation of such a system in any game I've ever played. It doesnt feel like its taking you out of the experience at all. From the witcher contracts to the random requests certain characters have it all feels good.

The world is extremely pretty, for a game from 2015 its darn impressive. I thought I may be giving the game too much praise since the graphical update did just launch so I decided to launch the PS4 version of the game that I own but never finished to kind of see how much of a difference is actually there and I must say the game looks amazing even in that version. Of course this is the PC so the graphical fidelity of certain things its better than on PS4 but the PS4 version still holds up and If i didnt know this game came out in 2015 I wouldnt have an issue believing someone if they told me this game came out in 2022. For an RPG the graphics do certainly still feel fresh.
Something weird I've noticed however, i believe this to be a graphical update thing, some side-character models seem more detailed and more textured than even Geralt? Which is just hilarious. I found Ermion's model looked ultra amazing while Geralts face was just nowhere close to what they did to Ermion. But alas it doesnt really matter.

You may think what you want about CD Projekt after the entire bad-faith fiasco with Cyberpunk but the witcher still holds up as one of the if not the best RPG of all time. I have no issue recommending this game. I would even go as far to say its a must play experience for anyone, anywhere. For a price as low as 10 euros for the entire experience with all the DLC there really isnt many better things you can spend that money on.

EDIT: DLC ADDITION
The DLC's are amazing, both offer a standalone extension to the games story and both are up to par or in some instances even better than the mainline story itself.
What an amazing achievement in game development.
I must say however that one rather *Magical* bit irritated me quite a fair bit near the end of the Blood and Wine DLC, It did look magnificent though.