GamingMonk

February 11, 2019August 22, 2019

Yakuza 0 Gets Rid of Denuvo DRM In New Beta Update

Almost a half a year after its release, Yakuza 0 receives a Beta update which removes Denuvo DRM from the game.

This Beta update brings forth a lot of fixes and improvements to various parts of the game. Ultrawide Support has finally been fixed which was something that tons of users were requesting at launch.

What caught our eye though was the removal of Denuvo which shrunk the size of the exe from 200MB to about 20MB but this isn’t mentioned in the patch notes. Another thingthat isn’t mentioned in the patch notes but we noticed was significantly improved load times. We’re not sure if this is due to the removal of Denuvo but since it isn’t in the patch notes, it could be a side effect of the removal.

Another great fix in the update is the Lighting Fix. The lighting in certain scenes didn’t render shaders and shadows properly making the scene look darker and blander, especially the skin tone of characters. Particle effects have also been fixed with this.

Other than those changes, there’s also been a significant improvement to Mouse Support. When using the mouse to move the camera around now feels smoother, more accurate and overall less sluggish. While not absolutely perfect, it is a big improvement.

They’ve also added a FOV slider and a lot of other Quality-of-life improvements like improved Alt-Tabbing, target monitor selection if you have multiple monitors and other miscellaneous crash fixes.

While not the fastest on fixing the game and updating it, the fact that Sega is still listening to community feedback and releasing updates to fix their game 6 months after release is good to see. Not to mention they’ve removed Denuvo much to the delight of a lot of fans.

Yakuza Kiwami does not have Denuvo as of now but some think it is a tactic to get pre-orders in and that they will add Denuvo before the game launches. While not farfetched thought, Yakuza 0 did get cracked and now they’ve removed Denuvo from it so maybe Sega does not really trust it anymore.

We hope Sega also learns from the shortcomings of Yakuza 0 and release Kiwami with all these fixes already in place and don’t release the game with the same problems. But that’s just hoping until February 19th which is when Yakuza Kiwami releases on PC.

Looking for more news? Click here to catch up with the latest in the world of videogames and eSports and while you’re at it, why not become a member of the GamingMonk community to partake in discussions, tournaments and so much more.

January 23, 2019

Yakuza Kiwami Gets Rid of Denuvo; Gets Launch Trailer

Yakuza Kiwami finally got a release date on PC and got a launch trailer as well showcasing the features available on the PC version.

The PC version of the game is similar to Yakuza 0 as it features 4k resolution support and an unlocked framerate. While most of the PC features will be similar to Yakuza 0 there’s one that caught our eye.

Yakuza 0 uses Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM which got cracked a few months ago, however, Yakuza Kiwami will not have Denuvo as the SteamDB page shows that it was removed today. Now that the Kiwami store page has been updated, it doesn’t have the “3rd Party DRM” warning that the Yakuza 0 page still has.

Yakuza 0 had a lot of issues at launch one of which was that the game would crash to desktop when launching it at random for a lot of users, which was not fixed for a lot of users even weeks after launch.

While a lot of users didn’t face that issue but those who did, blamed Denuvo for this. Maybe it really was the issue and SEGA don’t want a repeat of it again and are getting rid of it.

Yakuza 0 also launched in August and didn’t get cracked for about 4 months so some might say that Denuvo did its job well enough to ensure launch day sales. Maybe SEGA has lost faith in Deunvo being uncrackable but whatever the reason might be, I’m glad to see the removal of Denuvo.

I’m personally not a big fan of 3rd party DRM which can cause issues with a game that I bought. And since Yakuza Kiwami is available for just Rs 598 right now with its usual price at Rs 665, it won’t even break your bank to buy a game that’s chock-full of content.

January 22, 2019

Yakuza Kiwami launches on 19th February on Steam

Yakuza Kiwami finally has a release date for its PC release as the date has been teased in a gif on the Steam Store page of the game.

If you pay close attention to this gif, a date shows up for a very few frames and that date is 19th February. Yakuza 0 and Kiwami were revealed to be making their way to the PC platform back in June 2018 and a bit later Yakuza 0 was released on 1st August, however, no date was given for Yakuza Kiwami.

Now that fans have had more than half a year to play Yakuza 0, they’re rearing to get their hands on at Yakuza Kiwami to continue the story of the Dragon of Dojima. I for one am absolutely ecstatic for the release of Kiwami and really look forward to it. After this hopefully, Sega decides to bring Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6 to the PC because those two games could really benefit from the power that PCs are capable off because they’re visually stunning games.

Hopefully, the release of Kiwami is better than Yakuza 0 as it had a few issues with crashes and problems with certain hardware and also the lack of Widescreen support at launch. I hope they listened to the feedback from players and have a better launch.

November 26, 2018

Yakuza Kiwami PC Might Be Coming Sooner Than You Think

Yakuza Kiwami is the next installment of the game that will come to the PC and with no release date as such, we can expect it very soon.

Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami were announced to come to PC earlier this year in June with a release date of August for Yakuza 0. Yakuza Kiwami did not have any release date but thanks to the activity being spotted on SteamDB, we might think the game is about to release very soon.

As spotted by Twitter user Andrew Marmo, the game has received multiple updates, most of which have been the addition of achievements. The last time it was updated was in June and now it has been updated a lot in the past few days. The game could straight up release on Steam without any warnings by the start of December, especially since most Yakuza games, including this one, take place during December and in and around Christmas.

If you’re looking for an excuse to play this game, like most Yakuza games this too has a boss fight on the rooftop of a tall building. So in a way, it’s like Die Hard (which we all know is the best Christmas Film) which means that this game should be your Christmas Game this season if it releases as we predict that is.

November 1, 2018

PlayStation Plus Games For November 2018 Confirmed

Here are the PlayStation Plus Games For November 2018

First up, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition. Get the definitive Bulletstorm experience, which includes all existing Bulletstorm add-ons plus brand-new exclusive content! Play as Grayson Hunt, who crash lands on an abandoned resort planet. You have two choices: survival or revenge. This game is over the top fun at its best.

Next up, Yakuza Kiwami. Get reintroduced to the Dragon of Dojima, Kazuma Kiryu. Become the up-and-coming yakuza who takes the fall for the murder of a crime boss, only to emerge from prison ten years later to a changed world. This game has been visually enhanced for 4K, and retains all of the great action role-playing.

This month’s PS Plus lineup also includes:

• Jackbox Party Pack 2, PS3

• Arkedo Series, PS3

• Burly Men At Sea, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)

• Roundabout, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4)