After 13 years, a lost Yakuza game finally has an English translation thanks to fans

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Kurohyou: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinshou has English subtitles at long last

Kurohyo
(Image credit: Sega)

The 2010 PSP game Kurohyou: Ryu Ga Gotoku Shinshou, a spinoff of the Yakuza series, is now available to play with English subtitles thanks to a newly released fan project.

The fan group TeamK4L has released the Kurohyou English translation on its official website after delaying it out of 2022. You'll need a copy of the game to install the file on, but once that's done you'll be able to play the game and actually understand just what the heck is going on! Hooray for fans.

If you've been waiting for a long time to play Kurohyou in English, that's your cue to leave this page and go live your best life, but if you're here and you aren't as familiar with the lost Yakuza game, stick around for some context.

Kurohyou: Ryu Ga Gotoku Shinshou is a spinoff that eschews the traditional one-against-many brawling of the mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon series for one-on-one fights similar to Def Jam Fight for NY. There's still a big, melodramatic narrative involving scheming crime families and inept law enforcement around the fictional district of Kamurocho, and the game is packed with classic Yakuza mini-games like hostess clubs, karaoke, and casino games, but the fighting is very different. Exploration is similar to Yakuza 1 and 2 where the camera is fixed in one position, transitioning into different areas of the map as you move through them.

Here's our Like a Dragon: Ishin review from earlier in the year just in case you need another reason to revisit that absolute gem of a remake.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.