[3] Set in late 1988 during Japan's bubble era, and seventeen years before the events of the first game, the story follows Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima as they get embroiled in a conflict between various Yakuza factions for control of a patch of land known as the "Empty Lot".

The game received generally favorable reviews from critics, and is largely responsible for the franchise's rise in popularity and sales in the West, the series being deemed obscure beforehand.

The game takes place from December 1988 to January 1989, in Kamurochō and Sotenbori, fictionalized recreations of Tokyo's Kabukichō and Osaka's Dōtonbori areas respectively.

The player controls series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and recurring character Goro Majima, alternating between the two at predetermined points during the story.

Players can freely walk around Kamurochō and Sotenbori, interacting with people they meet to trigger side-quests, battling enemies who attack them on the street, or playing several minigames, including fully playable versions of Sega arcade games such as Out Run, Super Hang-On, Space Harrier, and Fantasy Zone.

Money is more liberally awarded in Yakuza 0 than in previous entries, with every heavy attack causing enemies to drop cash.

Completing side-quests will often result in characters they meet offering to help with side businesses, allowing players to more easily and quickly progress.

Progressing in side business sequences or training with specific masters will unlock additional abilities for purchase on the characters' skill trees.

Yakuza 0 takes place from December 1988 to January 1989, during the bubble era of Japan, in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated.

Both protagonists are drawn into a conflict surrounding the "Empty Lot", a small piece of land in Kamurochō that the Tojo Clan wishes to acquire for redevelopment of the area.

At the center of the controversy is Makoto Makimura (Miyuki Sawashiro), a psychogenically induced blind woman who inherited ownership of the Lot.

Throughout the story, Kiryu and Majima are supported by several allies, including: Akira Nishikiyama (Kazuhiro Nakaya), Kiryu's oath brother; Osamu Kashiwagi (Shunsuke Sakuya), captain of the Kazama Family; Shintaro Kazama (Tetsuya Watari), patriarch of the Kazama Family and a father figure to Kiryu and Nishikiyama; Tetsu Tachibana (Arata Iura), president of a real estate company who offers to shelter Kiryu from the wrath of the Tojo Clan; Jun Oda (Katsuyuki Konishi), Tachibana's right-hand man; Reina (Hiromi Tsuru), proprietor of the bar Serena and a friend of Nishikiyama; Wen Hai Lee (Kazunari Tanaka), a former assassin who owns a massage parlor in Sotenbori; Takashi Nihara (Hidekatsu Shibata), acting second chairman of the Tojo Clan; and Masaru Sera (Tōru Ōkawa), a senior Tojo Clan officer who runs a secret black ops organization within the clan.

Other antagonists include: Tsukasa Sagawa (Shingo Tsurumi), a high-ranking Omi Alliance officer who supervises Majima in Sotenbori; Homare Nishitani (Keiji Fujiwara), a sadomasochistic Omi Alliance officer who is attracted to Majima and often taunts him; Futoshi Shimano (Naomi Kusumi), Majima's former superior in the Tojo Clan and Sagawa's oath brother; and also Lao Gui (Koji Suzuki),[d] a Chinese assassin hired by Dojima to frame Kiryu in the Empty Lot murder.

Kiryu meets real estate agent Tetsu Tachibana, who promises to clear his name in exchange for helping him acquire the Empty Lot before Dojima.

Tachibana tells Kiryu that the Empty Lot's owner is his estranged sister, Makoto Makimura, who inherited it from their grandfather and lives in Sotenbori, Osaka.

At that time, Makoto migrated to Japan to find her brother, but ran afoul of Oda, who sold her to a Korean gang, where she was sexually abused, causing her blindness.

Majima defeats Lao Gui for framing up Kiryu and prepares to kill Dojima, but is being stopped by Sera, who has ultimately acquired the deeds to the Empty Lot.

[10] Kiryu's traits in Yakuza 0 were specifically changed to a "loose-cannon hot-head" to the point long time fans would be surprised by his actions.

[12] In addition to challenges translating tone and humor, Strichart's team at Atlus had difficulties localizing traditional Asian games, including Mahjong and Shogi.

In order to make these minigames accessible to Western audiences, Atlus had to provide detailed rules alongside gameplay.

[16][17] PlayStation LifeStyle's review of the import version was a 9/10, calling it the best in the series and "the result of 10 years spent not just perfecting a formula, but adding to it.

[31][22] The game's fighting system has often been praised for its brutality, though IGN felt it might come across as too simple due to players' tendencies to mash buttons.

[23] PlayStation Life Style praised the encounters with minor characters as well as the heat function for the cinematic movements Kiryu and Majima perform although he felt they were barely stronger than normal moves.

[24] Polygon had mixed feelings in regards to the cast as the antagonist often end up becoming trustworthy regardless of violent acts as well as the fact that most female characters are poorly treated both in the main narrative and minigames.

[26] GameSpot felt the story was the greatest strength of the game, due to its handling of cutscenes, serious storytelling and appealing voice acting.