Yakuza Kiwami Review

‘Kiwami’ means Extreme. Yakuza Kiwami is a straight up remake of Yakuza (PS2) game that was released in 2005 with a massive graphical overhaul, game play, additional cutscenes made from the ground up for fans and newcomers to this epic saga of Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios. 

 The game is set in 1995 and then 2005, showcasing the red light district of Japan, Kamurocho (portrayed after Tokyo’s prominent entertainment side of Kabukicho). You play as Kazuma Kiryu, a yakuza who is set to have his own family, but things get ugly as he gets stuck into a situation he never thought of. His oath brother in the series, Akira Nishikiyama kills their Patriarch of Dojima Family, Sohei Dojima, to save his foster sister, Yuki. Kiryu takes the blame of killing the patriarch to save Nishiki and Yuki and was sent to jail. After 10 years, in 2005, he returns to Kamurocho but everything has changed. Tojo clan is in a war, his best friend is not the one he knew, 10 billion yen was stolen from the Tojo Clan vault and Yumi was missing. Kiryu now has to find Yumi and learn about the things happened in his absence.

Players can roam freely through the small city yet densely packed with side activities and Substories. Side activities include Bowling, Pool, Darts, Poker, blackjack, Karaoke, Pocket Circuit Racing etc. The game lacks usage of vehicles which is found in every open world games. Combat system is basic brawling, more of close quarter hand to hand fighting. Kiryu has 4 styles of fighting; Brawler, Rush, Beast and his legendary “Dragon of Dojima” which can
be switched in fight to match opponent styles. Players need to gain experience points to unlock abilities of the first 3 styles and fight Goro Majima through Majima Everywhere system where he pops up from anywhere to fight you. That helps you re-learn the Dragon style as he needs to rebuild his strength for being in jail. Story progression is fairly nice but sometimes tedious as you’ll be derailed to do other chores to fill requests and game time. There are tons of characters having direct impact to story and memorable for their development and growth. Side activities lack voice dialogue, sometimes same action to save someone or teach people a lesson for their works, characters are locked to few words, repeating every time. These side missions aren’t even your map, these are need to be discovered while roaming the city. Though the game is widely regarded for, an impressive story that is full of twist of turns and gives a nice experience, which is beyond what today’s games offer. Plot holes from the 2005 game are fixed by Yakuza 0 and extra work done in Kiwami. The instrumental soundtracks are top notch that gives fights a fresh turn. The soundtracks are a bit below average comparing to Yakuza 0 but boss fight exclusive tracks are totally worth to listen again.

Yakuza Kiwami is a remake which is true to the fans of the series and expands on the devs offered. Though the game is underrated for the company’s localization and being Playstation exclusive title. showcases a game that aged well with a story that is well above then other titles. Though fairly, the game is more like an expansion of the critically acclaimed Yakuza 0 which is better suited for newcomers.

Yakuza kiwami has very good story and you will lost in kamurocho