90%PC

Oh, Kiwami. Where it all began for me. While 8/10/2023 was not the first time I started to play this game, it was the time that stuck. I finally got it, and played it all the way through. I had no idea this random beat-em-up my partner suggested I play would have such an impact on me. I've made new friends, I've grown a community, and found a series that I will ride or die for. It only felt fitting to put the work in and 100% this game.

The story? Love. I laughed, I cried, I raced tiny cars. What more could you ask for? As someone who loves to go down every rabbit hole I can find, this game delivered tenfold. Cranking it up to Legend Mode? A big challenge but one I knew I could do as soon as I unlocked the tiger drop (side note: I could not do a tiger drop to save my life my whole first play through, and let me tell ya, makes a big difference). Were there retries? Absolutely. But we did it gang. We beat legend mode and then the completion list. I am ready to go into a shady backroom and gamble with the best of em (no, i absolutely am not).

40%PC

This game kept getting recommended to me as an alternative to GTA. I think all those people may have misunderstood. This game is NOT an action sandbox game. It's an interactive movie intermixed with segments of a fighting game.

This game falls into the same problem as Mafia. They are virtually identical gameplay loops. This isn't as big an offender as Mafia in the series of linear gameplay separated by cutscenes since there are some minor side encounters. On the other side, the rest of the gameplay is sadly repetitive. The fighting is tedious. If this had been billed as a fighting game with some running in between maybe that would be better...

Unlike Mafia, I may come back to this but it will be a while. Unfortunately, I have six other Yakuza games I'm unlikely to try now and honestly, I would be much more angry if I spent full price on them. As it is I'm still annoyed I dropped $30 for the set on GOG

100%PlayStation 4

I liked Yakuza 0 more especially the substories and I think the villain could’ve been handled better but still a really great game. The story has a lot of heart and intrigue

40%PC

Hideous combat. As much as I love Yakuza's way of storytelling, I despise this particular design where your character constantly gets interrupted and knocked down while not being able to properly lock on to anything. Zero had it much better.

75%PC

I don't know how the hell you play this without playing Yakuza 0 first. No idea how people in the past got attached to the characters quick enough. Like "oh this Kiryu guy is gonna be chairman now" at the end; that doesn't mean shit if you don't know them. (not affecting rating but I'm just saying it's weird)

Pretty cool seeing how they and the city changed over the 10 years though. Nishiki being a family patriarch, Majima being a captain for Shimano, and Kiryu coming out of prison. Purgatory was tight too. I liked how they "modernized" the setting and characters overall.

I liked the beginning a lot, but it kinda got "slow" when Haruka was introduced. I have no idea where the story's going now, now that everyone from 0 basically died. Majima's still around though but they didn't talk about what will happen to him after Shimano's death.

I gotta take a shit so I'm not gonna say much else. Combat was kinda fun, kinda aids. I felt like I was always getting knocked down and mashing X to get up. More group fights in this game. Cancer aids bullshit a lot of the time, but Beast and Brawler felt good. Sidestories were alright. Nothing crazy that stands out, but I did like how some of them had their own cinematic cutscenes.

Solid game 7.5/10. Story just dint hit too hard. Took a week off around the beginning of the Jingu part, so I had trouble following that at the end, but maybe it makes more sense to people who remember everything. Kiwami 2 next.

85%PC

Since it's based on the PS2 game, story is pure hype moments and aura. Combat is fun except when enemies stunlock you.

80%PC

Kiwami 1 is a solid game with some great moments, but it takes a while to find its footing. The early hours can feel slow, and some boss fights can be frustrating. Still, there’s a good story underneath it all if you stick with it.

However, it’s missing the energy that made Yakuza 0 unforgettable. The side content isn’t as engaging, and the mini-games aren’t nearly as addictive. There’s still fun to be had, but it lacks that same charm and momentum that made 0 so hard to put down.

That said, the core of what makes Yakuza remarkable is still here: memorable characters, heartfelt moments, and that unique mix of over-the-top action and serious storytelling. It's a good game, just not a great one.

70%PlayStation 4

Tarinan puolesta tälle voisi hyvin antaa 8-9 arvosanaksi, mutta muutama asia johti pisteiden tiputukseen. Pelattavuus on tuotu suoraan Yakuza 0:sta tähän remasteriin ja hyvä näin sillä aikalaisekseen todella vakuuttava PS2:n alkuperäinen peli vaikuttaa aikas jäykältä tapaukselta. Eli gameplay toimii pirun hyvin! Tarinan puolelta löytyy muutama pirun ärsyttävä pomotaistelu, mutta en jaksa näistä liikaa valittaa. Aika moni entuudesta tuttu avainhenkilö tapatettiin jo tässä vaiheessa, joten odotan mielenkiinnolla mihin tästä mennään. Olisin tosin halunnut lisää dialogia ja bondausta Harukan kanssa jo tähän peliin (tiedän että on jatko-osissa), sillä pelkän tämän pelin rajoissa tunneside jäi hieman kevyeksi. Tarinamoodi oli siis toimiva kokonaisuus ja pidin todella paljon Nishikiyaman hahmokehityksestä Yakuza 0:n jäljiltä.

Sivuaktiviteetteja on runsaasti kuten yleensä, mutta Yakuza 0 verrattuna tässä ei tainnut minipelien puolella olla mitään uutta (jos nyt ei lasketa strippiklubilla vierailua, joka ei tuo peliin käytännössä mitään). Kamurochossa ei ole moni asia muuttunut kaupungin keskelle pykätyn tornin lisäksi mikä on tässä pelisarjassa varmaankin hyvä asia. Jotenkin nostalgista palata tallaamaan samoja tuttuja katuja, joissa on kuitenkin kaupat muuttuneet ja ajan kulun huomaa kuitenkin teknologiassa ja katumuodissa.

Pisteiden tiputuksessa kulminoituivat ehkä eniten kaksi tekijää. Enimmäkseen latteat sivutarinat ja "Majima Everywhere" sisältö. Sivutarinoista vain muutamat jäivät mieleen kiinostavina. Suurimman osan perusrakenteen pystyy summaamaan kaavalla: Lyhyt alustus -> tappelu -> loppu yleensä minuutissa kahdessa. Eli näihin ei oltu pahemmin panostettu ja näin osa näistä tuntui yhdentekeviltä. Seassa oli myös herkkuja, mutta ei todellakaan samassa suhteessa kuin Yakuza 0:ssa, jossa suurin osa on puhdasta kultaa.

Toinen ongelma on Majiman sisältö, joka tuntuu aivan yhtä kiinni liimatulta kuin osa sivutarinoista. Majiman rooli tarinassa on jo valmiiksi aika olematon, mutta tietenkin hänen pelissä esiintymistä on haluttu lisätä Yakuza 0:n ensin pelanneille. Majima sisällössä on mukana aivan uskomattoman hupaisia kohtaamisia, mutta ongelmaksi muodostuvat näihin pääseminen. Majimaa vastaan saa kaduilla tapella kymmeniä kertoja samalla dialogilla ilman merkittävää vaihtelua, jotta pääsee näihin välietappeihin joihin on oikeasti panostettu ja joista nauttii! Näihin välitappeluihin olisi pitänyt lisätä enemmän vaihtelua ja niitä olisi pitänyt joko olla vähemmän tai ne pitäisi pystyä ottamaan pois päältä vaikka asetuksista. Täten Majima pomppii silmille pahimmillaan parin minuutin välein kun yrität saada jotain muuta aikaiseksi ja tämä alkaa kyrsimään oikein urakalla kun lähestytään sadatta taistelua tämän jantterin kanssa. Hyvä idea, mutta toteutus tällaisenaan ei ainakaan itseäni miellytä.

90%Nintendo Switch

The main story is basically nonsense, but I recommend this game to everyone. I guarantee that you'll have fun doing the side missions.

70%PC

После Якудзы 0, играть было тяжко.

70%PC

The worst boss encounters I've ever seen in a game. If they were remotely good it'd probably be a 5/5. The story is good and doesn't turn into overcomplicated slop like the longer RGG games. Haven't played the PS2 version, but it definitely feels like they back-ported a lot of the later games into this one, especially with the wackiness. Did like how organically the side stories would pop up when walking around town. Felt much more natural than the dragon engine games.

80%PC

Kiwami is excellent but doesn’t quite hit the same highs as zero. The substories weren’t as gripping though I really enjoyed the bad boy one. The coolest system in kiwami is majima everywhere. You never know where you’ll find him and some of his appearances are quite funny. I liked the upgrade system in this one more than zero and the combat felt a bit more fluid to me. The main story wasn’t as good though. I felt like I was sent on fetch quests far more often than in Zero.

80%PC

Great game to play after yakuza 0, not as strong but still unbelievably great!

65%PC

Story was ok didn’t really care for it but gameplay was fun and some side stuff was good too. Also the bosses are terrible imo, still like.

80%PC

the story is a large step back from yakuza 0's, however that is to be expected with this being a remake of the first entry in the series from ps2. the additional cutscenes adding context to nishiki's character are unique to this game, and welcome additions, however i would have loved to see so much more in the way of new, additional story content building on the depth of the relationships between kiryu, nishiki, reina, and yumi, as the original game (and by extension, this game) are sorely lacking on that front. it feels like a major missed opportunity, as this will likely be the final version of yakuza 1's story, and i feel it had a lot of wasted potential.

the combat is a continuation of the system used in yakuza 0, with some improvements to the balancing and how heat is managed. however, i found combat overall to be much more frustrating in this game, due to how frequently enemies block and how little kiryu can do against that, especially considering bosses break out of grabs immediately. additionally, so many prominent bosses in this game are weapon-based bosses, using blades or firearms, which can often feel frustratingly unfair. this may be a holdover from the ps2 original, and it is fine to design difficult encounters, however more care should have been taken into accounting for the huge interruptions in combat flow due to kiryu's extremely long stagger animations when hit by stronger weapons such as these. what's worse is these bossfights are usually group encounters, too, leading to an overall really frustrating experience.

in all, the game is still really good. the story is a little lacking, but what's there is enjoyable, the characters are extremely memorable, and despite some gripes, the combat is quite fun. 8.2/10.

100%PlayStation 4

Platinum Trophy

90%Nintendo Switch

Yakuza Kiwawi is a weird, great game, and knowing my first Like a Dragon game is often considered one of the weakest entries in its series leaves me puzzled. Can this strange formula made of (mini) open-world adventure, BTU action and light-RPG mechanics be even better? Can't wait to play the rest, but let's stick to Kiwami for instance. What makes the game really weird (and by weird I mean: different) is how everything that shouldn't work just... works, for being mastered to near perfection. Because, let's be franc, Yakuza Kiwami's gameplay and game-design are more than basic:
- battles are pure button smashing (you will learn dozens of useless combos only to stick to the beginner's guide, same for the fighting styles)
- the completion list is everything you could and should hate about open-worlds (and for good reason). Eat XX times at dinner, fight XX punks in the streets, play XX bowling... etc.
- pacing is... not that good (you jump to chapter 5/12 in a blink, and then the whole world seems to try to slow you down for some reason)
- mini-games are okay-ish at best
- the rest of the side-content is basically just eating tons of food/drinking tons of booze and kicking asses at every corner.

I could say that all these shortcomings are counterbalanced by the plot, but that would be an half-lie : I don't doubt that the whole Yakuza's story is fascinating, and since Kiwami's a remake I can imagine the devs putting a lot of effort in giving more depth to a 2005 script, but we're still facing something pretty cliché (even though the writing itself can be great). So nope, sorry, that's not the story either. So... what?

Well, first of all, Yakuza Kiwami (and I guess it works with any game in the series) is a pure arcade delight that doesn't care for realism for a second and never takes itself too seriously, no matter how dramatic its story can be. This is perfectly incarnated by the protagonist : Kiryu is a bulldozer who can take 20 guys at the same time without sweating, who swallowed an umbrella and has the biggest moral compass you ever seen. He's very human but at the same time, he's a pure video game character, 100%, and the way the game plays with this dichotomy really feels great.

And now of course, there is the, you know: the vibe. Something very hard to describe, but something you can feel right from the first few minutes. Kiwami has this incredible vibe, this incredible flow that makes it way greater than the sum of its parts. If you take any side-quest alone, it's sometimes fun, sometimes boring, often just more of the same. But as a whole, Kamurocho is a living and breathing world, maybe the more living and breathing open-world I ever seen in a game (with Breath of the Wild as the most notable exception). Full of loveable and sometimes hilarious characters playing with the very serious-badass nature of the protagonist (I have a special mention here for the 'Bad Boy Dads' sub-story, which is a simple series of dialog boxes... but what dialogs!)

This unique atmosphere really sells it all, makes everything fine, even things that would seem awkward in other games (like getting 10 times more XP than required to unlock each ability or beating the hell out of Majima 5 times in 30 minutes). It's the cement that changes a lot of not-so-great features in a amazing saga you're just sad to quit, just like a good all book. And now I can come back to my introduction: is that really can be one of the weakest entry in the series? I'll find out soon, but if so, it was at least the best possible way to introduce itself.

65%Nintendo Switch

The story is rather good but the combat is frustrating and very repeatable.

40%PlayStation 4

Kiwami shouldn't have been a faithful remake, it should have been a re-imagining. There is so much wrong with this game. I actually like Yakuza 1 (the PS2 game) but this game butchers gameplay and adds superfluous story. It tries to connect to Yakuza 0 but none of the character arcs started in 0 end satisfyingly. What this remake did to connect to 0 wasn't enough. There are many times in the game where the combat was awful because of the boss' gameplay design that wasn't in the original. Like trying to insert 0's gameplay in a game where that doesn't fit. However, there is a saving grace which was Haruka's character. Kiwami should have leaned into the 'dad game' angle more.

100%PC

I've seen people say this game is a drop in quality since Y0. Honestly? I think it's my favorite game in the saga. Fun, not so story-heavy and difficult (mentally) to get through as Y0, and overall enjoyed it more. And also, there's no JCC here (all my homies hate the cat scratch fever achievement).

80%PC

This game was great. It took a bit to settle in, but then exploring all the little side experiences was great. I loved fighting Majima all over the place. It'll be fun to get further into the series.

90%Nintendo Switch

Yakuza 0 left such an impression on me that I jumped straight into Kiwami the next day.

I went on a road trip last week so I played the Switch Lite version for portability. It didn't look too bad! The cutscenes are especially still nice, though some of the city isn't great looking and the load times exiting buildings is a little slow. There’s some small, infrequent chugging when running around Kamurocho, but at least the combat plays well.

Majima came out as my favorite character from Zero so I was bummed he wasn’t playable in Kiwami. Thankfully though he gets so much screen time via the Majima Everywhere stuff. Some of the ways he pops up are hilarious.

I engaged with the game mechanics and side quests a lot more in this one, but I think it's more because I'm familiar with the gameplay now.

I ended up enjoying Kiwami a lot, though it hasn’t topped Zero for overall experience for me. For better or worse Kiwami is a much shorter and streamlined experience from Zero. It has a less convoluted and sprawling story and with only one protagonist the combat and upgrade system feels more focused. However I think Zero took everything they learned in the 4 games inbetween to make a much more cinematic and emotional journey.

With Kiwami done I can now say I’m officially Yakuza-pilled. I was originally going to just play a few of the Kiryu games for context and jump to Yakuza 7 since I’m more of a turn-based JRPG fan, but I have to play them all now.

Final Grade:

A or 9/10
4/27/2025

85%PlayStation 4

peak

80%PC

Very similar to Yakuza 0, but gets a lower score as systems are not as developed and lack a couple of big side games. Completed about 50% of the content and had a good time with it.

With so many reviews already available, I'll skip making a bigger review for this one.

100%PC

Primeiro contato que tenho com a séria Yakuza e simplesmente adorei, tanto o combate quanto a história e as side quests. Pretendo terminar a série.

60%PC

This is a definition of a mixed-bag.
I did enjoy a lot of it, especially the side quests. Yakuza games are the best when you're just strolling around the town and influencing quirky residents' lives, and this one is no different.
But when it comes to the main quests, it didn't work for me well. I've heard that Yakuza 1 has a really good story, but from what I've seen it's just a soap opera. Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon did a similar story in a much better way in my taste. And Kiryu in the main story is such a passive, boring character compared to Ichiban, or even to Kiryu in the sidequests.
The combat is also very clunky, to say the least. I think the fighting mechanics work the best in the action stages, where you beat a group of weak enemies to continue to the next stage in continuous fights. It happened 4 times during the game, and I enjoyed all of the instances. But it became extremely flat when it comes to arena-style battles, like when you're fighting against just one group of strong enemies, or just one boss enemy, in a small designated area. They're damage sponges that takes 5-10 minutes of restless button-mashing, and they instantly kicks off their strongest moves without warning. The way of 'balancing' the game they took was to enable spamming health items, which made me feel like I'm always cheating through spamming items even though that's the intended way.
So, the combat is bad, the story is mid, yet the sidequests are pretty fun. And I think I'd take Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon any day than this one, because that game has better story and combat mechanics while also having fun sidequests.

80%PC

Its a very solid game. It uses the same engine as Yakuza 0. The main story was a fun time but many of the quests had the same formula -> Go talk to someone, they tell u to go talk to someone else / grab an item, go back to first person and they ask for something, quest completed. The story felt quite underwhelming due to that quest structure. For example, when you need to find Kazuma, you go talk to someone who tells you to go talk to someone else, who then asks you to get a fake passport for her, you go to get it and then get into a fight with a rival gang, you get the passport, you go back to the person and she tells you she doesn't have it, you go to the person she tells you, he asks you for 500,000 YEN (you can negotiate for a cheaper amount), finally get the item you need to go find the person who knows where Kazuma is. That entire quest could've been completely side stepped if Shinji told u where Kazuma was instead of saying "find this person". The whole story is full of needless running around. The overall story however is excellent and I really cared about the characters in this game. However, I feel that I felt that way because they were in Yakuza 0 as well and that helped show them off before Kiryu went to prison.

Side content wise, I did a bit more in this game then Yakuza 0, primarily I spent a long time playing pocket racing and it was excellent. The side stories in this game are fairly hit or miss. There are just way too many of them and majority are one and done type stories. For example, being a temporary bouncer for a bar and beating up a few people.

Combat was very solid but very annoying as the game went on. Many of the enemies had weapons and kept stunning me. Enemies that had guns were the most annoying. The second-last boss (Jingu) was the most frustrating as you needed to fight 3 guys with guns that have a lot of health.

TLDR:
A very fun start to the Yakuza series and while it isn't the strongest in the series the story was very fun and engaging and the combat was fun if a little frustrating.

80%PlayStation 4

Great story, action, locales, and a cinematic feel. I hated some fights though, enough to make me want to throw my controller. Hopefully combat is better in other games in the series. It was cool to see how they made the Prime show a bit different from the game. This was my first in the Yakuza / Like a Dragon series, so I'm hoping things get even better.

85%PlayStation 4

It's an amazing introduction to the series that keeps you interested to play the next instalments. The gameplay is ridiculously fun with some little parts of it being extremely challenging but VERY satisfying to complete. The story is very good with all of the ridiculous twists, turns and drama you would see in a soap opera or something. Very fun to play and very compelling to sit through

90%PlayStation 4

Comparing to Y0, Completionist is easier. Game introduces cheat items for mini games (I recommend saving them for Haruka quests in late game); Climax battles are easier but may be still pain in ass and multiple replays. Abusing of heat actions, environment and weapons will simplify most of battle related stuff. Majima Anywhere is awesome experience.

100%PC

By far my favorite yakuza game to date, every story has its beginnings and this one does it well.

100%PC

father simulator featuring a crazy man who follows you throughout a busy city to fight u - of course this is a masterpiece

70%PC

Huge downgrade from 0

85%PC

Super amazing game honestly. I liked yakuza 0 more, but this was great. This one had some of the most bullshit annoying boss fights I've done in a game. The side quests didn't feel AS in depth or fun as 0, but still great. I only did like 20~ side quests and miiight do more before I move onto kiwami 2. Def would recommend someone to play it. Great game, super fun and immersive. I love the city it's in so much.

70%PC

Yakuza kiwami is the first yakuza game i played. The combat is jaw dropping since you don't see this much ass kicking in most games. It's crazy the amount of heat action takedowns that are available. The story is good, especially the rivalry of the dragon and the koi. The voice acting is phenomenal, you can tell the voice actors putting life and soul into each line. As a bonus, the Japanese dialogue is easy to understand, as someone who is at Japanese N4 level as of the making of this review. Characters are memorable, especially Kiryu, Majima and the big bald yakuza boss.
The only downsides is that street fights get very repetitive, street NPCs have the same two voice lines which you hear for 20 hours straight such as "oniisan ippai nondeteeee", literally as annoying as hearing construction work at 8 AM when you're trying to sleep. Also there is too much running around town for no reason. Literal, time wasting simulator especially since there are only 5 taxi fast travel points around the map.

All in all its a full ass anime game which doesn't make any sense (Character gets shot 100 times mid fight = tis just a scratch. Character gets shot in cutscene = Rest In Pieces) and this breaks immersion quite a bit. That's why i give a 7/10. The game is fun but some parts are just annoying to get through.

60%PC

Man this was not easy to go through after Yakuza 0.
The plot is not great.
Without Yakuza 0 the best friend being the bad guy thing would have 0 weight.
Still a fun time.

70%Nintendo Switch

A fairly good game, for the era it came from. Coming from an age where the city-roaming genre was practically exploding, I think Sega's spin on it delivers, and feels very much their own. It's not perfect by any means, and there were times I was a little bored. In any case, though, it sets the groundwork for what has proven as a standing franchise.

I'll start with what I feel is most important for a game of this style - the story. Yakuza 1's story feels like a Japanese soap opera in many good and bad ways. On one hand, it has the outrageous action which leaves you both amused and excited, but on the other it gives you long, drawn-out diatribes over-explaining the plot. Where it shines is when it shows the plot, rather than telling it directly. There are some fascinating and interesting characters here, but they feel put to the side in favor of a greater scope in the plot. Case in point here is Akira Nishikiyama. He is certainly the most interesting villain here, one who is built up slowly as the game goes on, giving the player small hints as to what happened to him while Kiryu (the main character) was imprisoned. Unfortunately, these don't build up to much as the plot focuses on other frankly less interesting villains than him. If it hasn't been made clear yet, let me say my interest in the story certainly waned as the game was ending. I only had a loose idea of the plot when I was nearing completion, which isn't great. That said, while many factors of the story likely won't stick with me for a long time, a few definitely will. To me, that made it worth playing.

What shouldn't be discounted, though, is the gameplay. This modern beat-em-up has very memorable combat and an addictive skill tree. Much of this is lent to the great animations and effects in combat, putting some heft behind every punch. The dissonance between the realistic story and setting and the over-the-top action actually does it lots of favors. There's honestly not much to say other than it is very fun. Punching and throwing foes, doing intense Heat actions... it's just very satisfying. I did find myself using very few of the skill tree abilities, though, as much as I looked forward to unlocking them. This very well could just be flat-out skill issue on my end, but I think a training session after unlocking each ability would actually go a long way. My mind goes to something similar to how Sonic Frontiers handles it, actually. Besides the combat, something else I enjoyed is the side content. I feel like it has a reputation even to those who have not played the game, and that's because it is really good. Most of it plays out as rather silly, but it adds some levity to the dire main story, I think. My favorite aspect was probably the Majima Everywhere system, which lead to some truly outrageous events.

A quick note on some nitpicks: After some time, random goons on the street picking a fight with Kiryu got very tiring. I eventually just started running from all of them, rolling my eyes if they did manage to catch me. This wouldn't have been so bad if they gave decent XP, but they don't. The game opts instead to absolutely bathe you in it after defeating a boss.

I think that's about all I got. I'm a little surprised I was able to write this much about a game that really didn't take me too long, but honestly that's nothing new. I hope this review gave a decent understanding of my stance on the game, but I'm a little mixed, leaning towards liking it. If nothing else, I do hope the sequels impress me by building on top of this great foundation. I'll definitely get to them sooner or later.

90%PC

Joguei e nem percebi que acabou, jogo maravilhoso.

9/10

70%PC

Very fun game, but the story isn't that good, especially right after 0. The story has a lot of filler that could have been used to flesh out some important characters that were very undercooked.

The combat and overall gameplay feel is copied directly from 0 and works just as well here.

If someone started with this game, they really aren't getting the best that Yakuza has to offer.

95%Nintendo Switch

Mon premier contact avec la licence Yakuza / Like A Dragon !
Si j'ai énormément aimé ce premier rendez-vous, je sais que je vais renouveler. Yakuza 0 m'attend déjà et j'ai une énorme hâte de m'y mettre.

Yakuza Kiwami, c'était incroyable. J'ai je dois l'admettre un certain attrait pour les oeuvres de gangster, de mafia, de cartels. Les Yakuza étant une mafia pour ainsi dire, j'ai évidemment été happé à une vitesse légendaire dans cette oeuvre de fou. Je ne pense malheureusement jamais faire le 100% car ma note pas maximale est liée à son 100%: les quêtes secondaires, je les faisait quand elles arrivaient sans problème mais certains combats étaient réellement très frustants sur la fin. S'il est jouissif d'apprendre à contrôler cette montagne de Kiryu, le voir s'effrondrer par terre dès qu'un petit rigolo arrive avec un coutal à la main ou qu'une balle siffle pour me toucher dans la hanche. C'est logique, évidemment et avoir ce genre d'ennemis de temps en temps me pose pas souci mais en avoir des vagues ? Ouaiiis je peux m'en passer ça ira.

Malgré ça quel banger ! C'est drôle, juste, touchant et prenant et chaque personnage donne envie de s'y investir et d'en apprendre plus. J'ai terriblement hâte de continuer ce voyage au sein de la licence.

80%PC

N/A

100%Nintendo Switch

Foda

100%PC

Thais has been my favorite series so far, and this is a very fun game.
A RPG with "real person" and "real situations" added the awesome flavor for this yakuza game

70%PlayStation 4

this game set down the groundwork for the yakuza series so i will always respect it for that. combats pretty good and purgatory is a super cool idea.

the story though? awful, the entire middle is pretty much just filler. boss fights were boring. playing yakuza 0 first made me connect a little more with nishikiyama and i enjoy him as a villain. him, haruka and kiryu carry any good part of the story. i guess yakuza 0's story was so great that it had my expectations too high. side content was mediocre too, most of the stories being someone trying to scam you.

75%PlayStation 4

BEST FEATURES
- Kazuma Kiryu is a much more likable protagonist than people give him credit for
- Kamurocho is incredibly immersive and filled to the brim with activity
- Combat Styles and the many mechanical intricacies are fun to experiment with
- Violent and dynamic Heat Actions are super satisfying
- The Majima Everywhere System has a surprising level of variety and humor to keep it from being annoying...

WORST FEATURES
- ...However, Majima REALLY overstays his welcome in the final act
- Trying to get certain Substories or Majima Appearances to trigger can be a MASSIVE pain in the ass
- Events in the Main Story are hard to distinguish from Substories they're so unfocused and convoluted
- Combat is fun, but can be easily cheesed (almost encouraged against the hardest challenges)
- Poor Minigames

OVERALL
- This is my first entry into the franchise, and to be honest, it's hard for me to really judge its quality without knowing what the rest of the games are like. I did enjoy parts of this game, namely exploring Kamurocho and partaking in all of its Substories. While some of them are pretty "fetch-questy", there's enough humor and dialogue to make each of these encounters feel like an interesting experience. And I really like Kiryu. He may have the stone-faced angry appearance that everyone makes fun of the character for, but he's far more three-dimensional than that. Violently beating up dudes while partaking in some good food and overdramatic toy car racing is what really cements Kiryu and the game itself as an actually fun beat 'em up compared to its contemporaries. What holds it back though is sheer excess. The minigames are plentiful, but I don't really like any of them. Majima's shenanigans are amusing at first, but he does get actually annoying in the latter half of the game. And the story has some chapters and events that are just... pointless. Like did we really need a chapter dedicated to resolving Date & the Florist of Sai's families? I enjoyed this game well enough, but optimsing a playthrough of it was honestly a humongous pain in the ass. I sure hope the rest of the games are at least a little more expedient.

BEST PART
- Exploring Kamurocho

WORST PART
- The Minigames, as well as the Coliseum

70%Nintendo Switch

solid experience overall, however the progression system for Dragon style absolutely sucks

75%PlayStation 5

76

90%PC

Yakuza Kiwami is perfectly well-made. I think, now, this is the first Yakuza game anyone should play, setting up essential aspects. I know some think 0 should go first now, but I don't, I don't think you can truly appreciate 0 without the later games, but I digress. I have a lot of emotions towards Yakuza Kiwami, I cannot give enough credit to it's remade game design. This game is thoroughly fun to play, and fun to 100%. I like how many achievements are assigned to the Majima everywhere mechanic, because I wanted to see all of that regardless. No one needs me to explain how consistently well the Yakuza games balance deep emotional moments with completely out of pocket hilarious moments. The way I usually try to explain this game specifically, is a picture of, any of the side stories accompanied by "What the fuck is Yakuza even about????"

80%PlayStation 4

Enjoyed the story, but it wasn't anything that hooked me. Seeing how Kiryu is going through after 10 years in jail. Didn't enjoyed that I have to keep running away from fights while going to different missions. Also, the camera angle is a pain and trying to find the enemy - the lock-on didn't help much. I finished the main mission without my dragon style and it was a bit tough towards the end.