Republished on Wednesday, tenth August, 2022: We’re bringing this assessment again from the archives following the announcement of August’s PS Plus Extra, Premium lineup. The authentic textual content follows.

Yakuza: Kiwami 2 is a full remake of Yakuza 2, which launched all the best way again in 2006 for the PlayStation 2, and very similar to final 12 months’s Yakuza: Kiwami, Kiwami 2 sticks fairly rigidly to the blueprint laid out by the unique recreation. It’s obtained the identical story, the identical scenes, the identical missions, and the identical dialogue as Yakuza 2. The key distinction, in fact, is that it has been remade from the bottom up utilizing the usually beautiful Dragon Engine, which was showcased for the primary time with Yakuza 6: The Song of Life earlier this 12 months.

Alongside the visuals, which at instances can seem photorealistic, Kiwami 2 additionally takes the up to date fight system present in Yakuza 6, constructing upon it with a handful of recent strikes and methods. Needless to say, in case you’re trying to play by way of the collection in chronological order, and you’ve got simply completed Yakuza: Kiwami, then you are going to be blown away by how huge an enchancment this engine is.

Admittedly, SEGA has introduced us with a little bit of an ungainly launch schedule. Jumping from Kiwami to Yakuza 6 — the ultimate chapter of protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s story — after which again to Kiwami 2 is undeniably tough, and the method is made tougher nonetheless since Kiwami 2 suffers from some blatant PS2-era recreation design.

Just like Kiwami, Kiwami 2 has moments the place you’ll be able to inform it is based mostly on a recreation that launched over a decade in the past. There are a number of severely disjointed missions all through the marketing campaign, and there is quite a lot of filler that will merely be left on the reducing room flooring in a extra fashionable Yakuza title.

Thankfully, the plot is participating sufficient to hold the expertise. At the time, Yakuza 2’s story felt like a big improve over what had come earlier than it. There have been much more twists and turns — the sort that we have now come to anticipate of the collection — and it actually introduced collectively the narrative components that its sequels would discover themselves relying upon time and time once more.

There’s an excellent forged of secondary characters on the coronary heart of Kiwami 2’s story, and as all the time, Kazuma Kiryu calls for respect. But maybe extra so than in different Yakuza video games, Kiryu’s pressured to depend on numerous allies right here, most notably a daring and robust willed feminine police officer named Kaoru Sayama. Kiryu’s not likely one for romantic entanglement, however the budding relationship between him and Sayama is a story spotlight.

So it is one other Yakuza recreation, one other actually engrossing story — who noticed that one coming? — but it surely’s one of many antagonists that arguably steals the present. Ryuji Goda, a tough-talking, no-frills clan boss who prefers punching to scheming, nonetheless stands as one of the vital memorable baddies within the collection. The dynamic between him and Kiryu could also be teetering on cliched, but it surely’s improbable enjoyable.

If there’s only a single criticism now we have of the story, it is that about three quarters of the best way in, it goes correctly psychological. Like, psychological even by Yakuza requirements. It’s so, for lack of a greater time period, anime, that it nearly makes you query in case you’re watching some sort of dream sequence unfold. It’s brilliantly mad, however within the context of the general story, the entire state of affairs stands proud like a sore thumb, and once more, it is one thing that in all probability would not make the lower in a contemporary Yakuza launch.

Moving on, we have to write concerning the aspect content material in Kiwami 2, as a result of boy is there quite a lot of it. Yakuza 6 obtained some stick for being fairly gentle on non-compulsory actions, no less than relative to different Yakuza video games, however Kiwami 2 has a number of in-depth aspect excursions so that you can discover, every one in all them providing one thing completely different.

To begin with, you have obtained an improved model of the hostess membership marketing campaign from Yakuza 0, full with its personal loopy plot and characters which you could take out on dates. The top-down clan minigame from Yakuza 6 makes a return as properly, this time with a stronger strategic edge and extra fascinating eventualities to play by way of. Both of those actions can eat up hours of your time, and the aforementioned enhancements make them definitive.

But generally you simply wish to see Kiryu beat the snot out of anybody and something, and luckily for these of you who crave violence outdoors of the principle story, Kiwami 2 gives essentially the most strong collection of combat-based actions but. Bouncer missions see Kiryu deal with ‘dungeons’ and snag highly effective gear as rewards, and the fantastic return of the underground area means which you could check you abilities towards robust opponents as a lot as you want. If you take pleasure in Yakuza’s fight system, then you definitely could not actually ask for extra.

And then on high of all that, you have obtained your close to fixed stream of aspect quests, and in typical Yakuza vogue, they vary from severe substories that cope with actual world points to downright hilarious escapades. Once once more, the best way during which Yakuza manages shifts in tone actually is masterful. Oh, and Kiwami 2 does certainly characteristic that aspect quest from Yakuza 2. You know the one, and it is nonetheless mindblowing.

Last however not least, Kiwami 2 options a complete aspect story, that you choose from the principle menu, which stars the one and solely Goro Majima. This state of affairs is completely new, and particulars what Majima obtained as much as behind the scenes between the occasions of Yakuza and Yakuza 2. It supplies fairly an fascinating look into the politics of the collection’ essential yakuza clan, however do not go in anticipating a second full recreation. Playing as Majima is nice, and his unpredictable preventing fashion is as enjoyable because it was in Yakuza 0, however in contrast to with Kiryu, you’ll be able to’t degree up and be taught new abilities, or equip varied weapons and armour. It’s very a lot a streamlined Yakuza expertise that solely lasts just a few hours.

Delving shortly into the marginally expanded fight system, Kiwami 2’s each bit as face-breakingly satisfying as Yakuza 6, however there is a larger emphasis on weapons. Armed enemies are a extra frequent prevalence, and Kiryu can pocket dropped knives, bats, swords, and weapons for later, so long as they are not smashed to bits in the course of the struggle. In flip, this provides some welcome spice to every struggle, with weapons sporting their very own cinematic warmth strikes and combos.

With a mixture of story battles, random avenue brawls, bouncer missions, and the underground area, it feels just like the fight system has much more room to breathe, and through our 40 or so hour playthrough, we got here to understand that. If you are seeking to grasp the rewarding fight of Yakuza, then Kiwami 2 provides you extra causes than ever to get caught in.