Yakuza Zero: The Secret of Kamurocho Money Island

Love my Monkey Island reference? Please, hold the applause.

Gematsu recently translated another lengthy Sega press release, this time covering Kiryu’s great real estate adventure known as Kamurocho Money Island. This is the substantial sidequest in Kiryu”s campaign that we’ve often heard about in coverage for Yakuza Zero, and Kamurocho Money Island is being described as a type of strategy game by Sega. It will be available as Kiryu takes control of a real estate firm, an important plot point in his story.

The objective of Kamurocho Money Island is to take your fledgling real estate firm and assume effective economic dominion over all of Kamurocho, all the while padding your personal bank account. Standing in your way are the Five Kings of Kamurocho, who assume control over certain regions of the city and particular industries like electronics and arts. The Five Kings are awful people whose business practices are slimy and existence is oppressive to everyone else. On your quest to be the premier kingpin, you’ll get in the occasional scrap and further develop the plot in Kiryu’s campaign. I’ll expand more on how Money Island works after the break.

Kamurocho Money Island comes with a Main Menu that provides the player with a big-picture view of their efforts. It maps Kiryu’s space of influence and the influence of the Kings, also relaying information on the profits of each district and how safe the area is. Safety is important because you need stable operations to create a good business climate and reap profits. Central to money island are the acquiring and financial maintenance of businesses. Acquisitions expand your influence, and maintenance will fortify your presence and generate profits. Besides simply buying out businesses, some properties can only be acquired by developing relationships with the owner. A portion of the profits can periodically be pocketed presumably on certain parts of the game’s internal business calendar.

In Kamurocho Money Island, no man is an island entire of himself. Kiryu will need various forms of assistance to maintain his work as his real estate ventures expand. You can acquire Human Resources through beating sub-missions and taking down one of the Five Kings. There are some conditions to note; Sega claims that personnel acquired through sub-missions will usually perform better than those acquired from the Kings, and each aide of yours has particular preferences and talents that must be taken into account when deciding where to place them. These Human Resources come in three categories. Managers maintain the stability of an area of business and protect against hostile takeovers. Guards curb the likelihood of disruptions to the flow of businesses. Their presence will also make the random encounters you’ll face on the ground easier to take down, too. Lastly, Advisors specialize in growing and developing your business assets, for a fee. As your influence expands, there may be too many properties to keep track of so an Advisor’s help could be crucial to your success.

Rival Battles will also be an important part of Kamurocho Money Island. Rival Battles are fights between Kiryu and one of the Five Kings, and will drive out the corrupt King from Kamurocho. As mentioned above, you may also acquire some of their Human Resources. Kiryu will also acquire new combat skills after defeating a King.

To check out Gematsu’s full translation work and a new screenshot gallery, click here. Credit goes to them for the translation work and the featured image.