Review of Yakuza Kiwami 2 (remake of 2006’s “Yakuza 2”)
A explosion the criminal world will never forget
This blog post is a continuation of my ongoing review of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. You can find my first deep dive into the series by clicking the link attached here: https://cplisken.medium.com/review-of-yakuza-like-a-dragon-2020-56d108b1a309?source=user_profile---------7----------------------------
Reader,
This next game in my series review, is also rather strange it must be said.
Once again, we are not having a discussion of the original release of this game, Yakuza 2, but rather, the official remake to it instead. Time and money both have an impact on why I’m choosing to play this game instead of the original.
But with that said, this particular game in the Kiwami mini series has some of its own charms compared to the first Kiwami remake. Whether or not they are considered good or not remains to be seen.
That said, as usual, let’s give a quick deep dive into the development of the original Yakuza 2. Showing the ways in which the team at RGG improved this time around.
Preproduction: The Dragon of Dojima’s Second Wind
Yakuza 1, upon release in 2005 was lauded for its unique take on Japanese culture, specifically the crime infested and seductive red light illuminated town on Kamurocho.
Despite many of the initial hurdles like depicting sex and violence with a company like SEGA, that was still adjusting to becoming a third party publisher at the start of the new millennium, Yakuza would go on to sell around 232,650 copies in just its opening months in 2005.
Needless to say, the now confident team at RGG Studios wanted to capitalise on the success that the game had now garnered. Which meant that a sequel was almost inevitable. With much grander ambitions to boot.
More cutscenes, more turmoil within the world of the Yakuza, a brand new hub area to explore in Osaka and the most interesting for our analysis, a mature love story.
Not only that but with the PlayStation 3 coming up in 11 months, the team decided to develop Yakuza 2 and release it on the PS2 in just under a year. Yakuza 1 came out on December 8th 2005 with its follow up coming out nearly a full year later on December 7th 2006.
Whether or not you’re a fan of this kind of practice, I actually think the turnabout is very impressive.
Nowadays, you don’t necessarily expect major studios to release a sequel just one year after the previous game was released.
Barring something as popular as Call of Duty, the most you can expect is something like DLC Season Passes or standalone adventures Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales releasing two years after Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2018.
That’s not meant as a complaint for the record but I think it shows a lot of the confidence SEGA now had with the franchise, especially in Japan.
And naturally, similar to our talk with Yakuza Kiwami 1, Yakuza 2 would eventually receive a full blown remake in 2017 and 2018 globally with, what else, Yakuza Kiwami 2.
Sadly I couldn’t find much info explaining the developmental history of Kiwami 2 but I can comfortably assume that it had a similar design goal with its predecessor:
That being, to make the only other PS2 Yakuza available on modern consoles but making the combat more inline with the latest entry in the series (that being 2016’s Yakuza 6: The Song of Life).
Whether or not this was the smartest decision in the world is something I’m going to have to leave up to you but how did the increased scope change the series going forward?
To answer that, let’s focus our attention on the main source of improvement. The plot.
Story: Omi God, that escalated rather quickly
One year has passed since the events of 2005’s Yakuza 1, with the game beginning on the previous protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, visiting a graveyard for his old family with his adopted daughter, Haruka.
Kiryu is a Yakuza. Previously known as the feared Dragon of Dojima, his entire world was shattered 11 years ago when he took the fall for his oath brother when he accidentally killed the Dragon’s boss.
Having spent a decade in prison and after experiencing the loss of his father figure, his childhood love as well as Nishiki in a Yakuza conspiracy, Kiryu has left the life of crime behind to mind Haruka.
It’s there, reflecting on his wounds that he obtained the year prior that he’s approached by the head of the Tojo Clan and his successor as the fifth chairman, Yukio Terada.
Terada explains that he’s been planning to sign an agreement with the Omi Alliance, who have been long term rivals with the Tojo in the underworld business and are the inspiration behind my poorly worded pun during the title card (I think I was having a off day tbh).
As a result of the money laundering conspiracy and blood shed from 1, Terada cites these cases as his rationale for the agreement. Hoping that it can stop any more conflict from occurring. But he’s a bit too late on that front.
When Kiryu and Haruka try to leave, Terada is shot from behind by assassin’s. Kansai based accents, Omi Alliance pins on their jackets.
Kiryu fights the group off but Terada takes a fatal bullet for Kiryu, before giving the ex-fourth chairman the papers for the Omi deal. He passes away shortly after. And Haruka, realising the significance of his sacrifice, offers to stay at Sunflower Orphanage to allow his father to get to work.
With grief in his heart once again, Kiryu takes the papers to the Tojo Clan HQ and delivers them to Yayoi Dojima, the now acting chairman of the Clan and the wife of Kiryu’s old boss.
Yayoi did have a role in Kiwami but it was only reserved for a side mission interrogating Kiryu about her husband. I didn’t play that mission hence why I didn’t mention it last time.
In any case, despite harsh protests by the members of the Tojo clan, Kiryu asks the widowed Dojima if he could broker the deal personally. Both in response to Terada’s last will and a desire to fix any and all mistakes Nishiki has now left in his passing.
Before he leaves, Kiryu asks that the chairman’s son, Diago Dojima, help with the proceedings. But since the death of father, the boy has become a vagabond in Kamurocho in charge of a small gang who begged him to be their leader.
With no time on his hands, Kiryu heads back to his old stomping grounds and soon enough finds Diago with his lackeys. The man has no desire to return to the Tojo Clan, believing that it’s beyond saving. And Kazuma, as clear as ever, decides to beat him until he chooses to rejoin.
When both men have calmed down, Kiryu asks that Diago rejoin his brethren at the Tojo HQ but he refuses. As he was tricked into charging into the Omi’s turf by one of the Alliance’s top dogs, Ruiji Goda where he was arrested and spent five years in prison.
Together the two men travel to Sotenbori, the ocean bridged town in Osaka. Kiryu does a mini patrol of the area and ends up coming face to face with Ruji in the The Grand Cabaret Club (yes, Majima’s old workplace from Yakuza 0).
Ryuji, not recognising Kiryu, then rambles on for several minutes about his distaste for Kamurcho’s dragon.
Ryuji hates being called The Dragon of Kansai and wants to murder his eastern counterpart in order to become the Yakuza’s only dragon. Alluding to a massive firework show that he’s got planned for Dojima’s pet.
When Kiryu leaves, on a massive billboard outside, he sees a report that the Millenium Tower, to which the Tojo have an office block near the top floor, has been bombed. The owner of said block, the Kazama Family’s new head, Kashiwagi, is alright but the shock is definitely felt.
The next day, Kiryu and Diago head to the Omi HQ and have a sit down meeting with the Chairman of the group, Jin Goda (Ryuiji’s father), chief director Ryo Takashima and the flamboyant Toranosuke Sengoku.
Goda expresses his remorse for the death of Terada and also acknowledges that his son was responsible for the attempted assassination on the Kazama’s. After some back and forth, Goda accepts the planned coalition between the Omi and Tojo.
And that’s precisely the moment when Ryuiji busts in.
With the help of his crime family he attempts to take his father hostage but thanks to being a little softened up by Diago, Kiryu is able to defeat him and rescue the ageing chairman. Until Ryuiji vows to fight Kiryu again man to man without backup, just as police turn up outside the Omi HQ.
Kiryu is taken into protective custody by an investigator from Osaka, the infamous “Yakuza Huntress” Kaoru Sayama. Though not revealed at this point, she’s hoping to use Kiryu as a means to find out what happened to her parents whom she never met.
After another narrowly dodged assassination attempt, Kiryu learns from a info broker that Takashima plotted the job on Kiryu, helping to not only place a bounty on Kiryu’s head but also abduct Diago and Chairman Goda offscreen.
Back in Kamurocho, Kiryu rejoins the Tojo and explains the lowdown with Sayama tagging along but hanging back in the now abandoned and ruined Serena bar from the previous game. Alongside an invite to the Amano Building to learn of what happened to Diago and the Omi chairman.
As they wait, Kiryu decides to head to Purgatory to enlist the help of the Florist of Sai for his info services. But finds the whole place to now be in the hands of a construction company. Majima Construction and their president, who else, Goro Majima.
Yes, Majima left the Tojo Clan with his family after falling out with Terada and is now working on a real estate plot called Kamurocho Hills. But after receiving a challenge from Majima, Kiryu eventually convinces the Mad Dog to temporarily return to the Clan.
Soon after, Kiryu and Sayama head to the Amano site where on the rooftops they find a weird standoff. The returning Makoto Date, his former partner Jiro Kawara, old friend Kazuki still in charge of Stardust and… Kazuki again.
Date and Kawara hold the two Kazuki’s at gunpoint until one of them pulls a gun out and wounds both officers until Sayama shoots back in retaliation. Before he dies, the imposter Kazuki curses something in Korean.
After he and Kawara are healed, Date and Kiryu catch up. Despite being old partners, they have been on bad terms for many years, specifically when it came to Kawara’s more lethal policy with dealing with criminals.
Not soon after Date is accused of murder when dealing with the fake Kazuki, which he believes is connected to a Korean crime organisation, the Jingweon Mafia. A claim only highlighted when Kamurcho’s PD’s head of foreign affairs, Wataru Kurahasi, pulls both Date and Kazuki off the case.
Kiryu also learns of the location of Diago thanks to the aid of the Florist of Sai who now works with the police in the Millenium Tower. The dragon quickly jumps to the rescue, heading back to the now abandoned Shangri-La soapland, with Diago speculating his kidnappers were the Jingweon.
The pair don’t have time to reflect however as soon after, they need to go back to Tojo HQ to host a small funeral for Tarada. A funeral that is then interrupted by Ryuiji and his Go-Ryu Clan.
Their aim was to warn the Tojo to prepare for war in three days. Made worse when the Nishikiyama family, lead by Nishki’s old enforcer Koji Shindo, tries and fails to stage their own coup as hidden informants of Ryuuji, but successfully assassinate several other Tojo Patriarchs.
With time running out, Kiryu and Karou head back to Sotenbori in the hopes of finding one of the remaining Jingweon survivors to learn more about what happened to their numbers. But matters become more complicated as the two spent more time together, with Karou essentially falling in love with Tokyo’s Dragon.
The next day, the pair head to a small shogi parlour to talk to a veteran Jingweon named Murai. This mystery has slowly been building up over the course of the game with different perspectives and revelations but it’s here where most of the pieces are put together.
Roughly 20 years ago on Christmas day 1980, the HQ for the Jingweon was raided by members of the Dojima Family as part of a bitter struggle for the city’s underworld crime.
Roughly 30 members of the Mafia were killed during the attack, by representatives of the Dojima, as well as Futoshi Shimano and Kiryu’s stepdad Shintaro Kazama, who were both drafted into helping out under Shoei Dojima’s orders.
Murai believes that he and only four other people in the building survived the onslaught. Two of which being the boss’ wife and child who were rescued by a young Kawara investigating the incident. With Kaoru believing the child to be herself.
Just then, assassin’s from the Jingweon show up, presumably having followed Kiryu and Karou to get to Murai. And despite Kazuma subduing the group, one member uses a throwing knife on Murai before the members commit suicide through a poison powder on their rings.
Later that night, Kiryu confesses to Karou that he was one of the people who showed up to the masacre the night it happened. He was concerned for Kazama’s safety when he was 12 years old and tailed behind Kazama into the Jingweon HQ.
When he arrived, he eavesdropped on a negotiation between Kazama and the Jingweon boss, with Kiryu mitstaking Kazama to be in danger and rushed into attack, where Kazama shot the Jingweon’s boss in Kiryu’s defence. Karou leaves in disgust.
Kiryu doesn’t have long to reflect because soon after he gets a message from the returning Sengoku who has kidnapped Haruka and has her held up in his personal castle.
After fighting through a bunch of ancient Japanese traps, Sengoku’s armed men and even two pet tigers, Kiryu eventually corners the kidnapper in the main office.
Conveniently, Ryuiji is seen making himself comfortable in Sengoku’s office, and in disgust for kidnapping a child, the heir to the Goda family slices his fellow Omi Alliance representative before he falls out of a window. He leaves soon after reminding Kiryu of the invasion of Kamurcho in two days.
And things only get worse from there.
With Haruka rescued and Karou back from a much needed mental break, Kiryu receives a call from Kurahashi, revealing himself to be Yeongmin Ji, another survivor of the Jingweon Massacre, who kidnaps Date and demands Kiryu and Karou see him in the Millenium Tower.
When they arrive, the two parties are at a standstill with the Jingweon having planted several small bombs in the building to prevent anyone else getting involved. Everyone else except Kiwara.
Apparently, Kiwara always harboured distrust for Yeongmin ever since he joined the police force and was secretly following both Kiryu and Yeongmin for their next move. That and his duty towards his daughter Karou, whose mother just so happened to be the wife of the Jingweon’s boss.
Kiryu then faces off against Yeongmin before he can trigger the explosives, but the deceitful police officer attempts to shoot at Kaoru until Kiwara takes the bullet. Kiwara shoots and kills Yeongmin in retaliation that passes away in his daughter’s arms.
With the Omi invasion in mere hours, Kaoru leaves to crack a encryption disk left by Yeongmin, meanwhile Stardust’s Kazuki, now fully awake after his doppleganger incident, reveals that he overheard the Jingweon bombs across Kamurocho in retaliation for their dead comrades. 31 massacre victims, meaning 31 bombs to disarm.
When Kiryu relays the news back to the Tojo, the clan agrees to help defuse the bombs. But with most of their officers dead thanks to the Nishiki family, Diago ends up taking charge of the bomb operation, with he and the Tojo dealing with the explosives while Kiryu handles the Omi.
The planned invasion foiled, Date catches up with Kiryu about some new information. According to his research, Karou and Ryuiji are distant siblings, the pair both sharing the same mother, with Ryuiji being another Jingweon survivor when he was a baby.
Karou returns from her data encryption and stalls both Kiryu and Date so she could confront Ryuji personally.
Kiryu catches up with the group and subdues Ryuji in a one-on-one fight, with Jin Goda watching helplessly from the sidelines. And that’s when Terada walks in. With a bunch of Jingweon members as his guards.
Yep, Terada whose real name is Daejin Kim, was alive the whole time, is yet another massacre survivor and much like his brethren, wants the complete destruction of the Tojo. Karou and a worn out Kiryu help take down the fifth Tojo chairman and his lackeys.
Then Takashima (yes, we’re still doing plot revelations, bare with me) steps in, revealing himself as the ultimate puppet master. Who helped give Kim all the info he needed to destroy the Tojo, all in an attempt for him to claim the Omi Alliance as his own.
Takashima kills Jin Goda, wounds Kiryu and also kills Daejin for his incompetence, just before the former chairman arms another bomb right beside Kiryu, asking for the Dragon’s trust. This is partly because Daejin suddenly remembers encountering a young Kiryu the day of the massacre, when Kazama Sr. spared his and Yeongmin’s lives.
Ryuji meanwhile, probably as sick of these plot twists as you are, jumps in and shoots Takashima to death, taking several bullets in exchange. And with the bomb timer set to go off at any moment, Kiryu and Ryuji have one final duel with Kiryu coming out on top.
Karou and her distant brother have one last moment together before he passes. With both Kiryu and his new found love embracing each other as the bomb ticks to zero.
One month later in January 2007, Haruka is seen praying near the gravestone of the now deceased Daejin Kim. With Kiryu and Date watching her.
Apparently the last bomb Kim had planted was a fake, done in Kiryu’s favour to deal with Takashima. Ryuji technically did the job in killing Takashima but I guess it still worked out.
With Date leaving for business, Kiryu turns and sees Karou greet him and Haruka with a bouquet of flowers. Ending the events of Yakuza Kiwami 2.
No seriously. That’s it. You can stop waiting for any more random plot twists now.
In all fairness, I think Kiwami 2 as a story is still very good, especially when it comes to following up the events of Yakuza 1. But as you can tell from my story, the adventure is… all over the place.
When it comes to the general plot points, it’s pretty obvious that Kiwami 2 takes a good approach to the whole “do with the original did but expand it” mechanic you see in sequels.
The Omi Alliance for example, an organisation that only got mentioned in passing during Yakuza 1, is fully explored in 2 with the journey to Sotenbori and the exploration of their own power struggles. And how infighting is something that both it and the Tojo clan have frequently.
Not to mention, thanks to the year time difference between both games, there’s a bit more of an exploration of Kiryu as an influence in the Tojo clan. Specifically as his reputation as the former 4th chairman of the organisation.
While I wasn’t a big fan of how quickly he ditched the job near the end of Yakuza 1, it’s a choice that is criticised indirectly through certain actions that happen in the story. Mainly Terada’s sudden appointment as the Tojo fifth chairman resulted in the entire clan nearly being destroyed from the inside by the enemy.
And speaking of enemies, a part of me got very tired with the Jingweon Mafia the more they were implemented into the story.
I do think the idea for them is pretty great, a vengeful Korean crime group that commands total loyalty from its members and have essentially infiltrated most aspects of Japanese society, from yakuza to the police. Even aligning itself with people like Takashima who had their own agendas.
My problem with the group however was that after a while, it felt like they were seen as the biggest priority to the story over Ryuuji and his Omi conspirators. The man who wants nothing more than to kill Kiryu and become the only dragon of the Japanese underworld.
And much like the Jingweon, Ryuuji himself is pretty cool as well. He still abides by a code like Kiryu, mainly when it came to the abduction of Haruka but you can tell he’s way more unhinged by comparison.
To Ryuuji, might is right and he feels obligated to fight and kill Kiryu simply because of mad power. No trust in family or friends up until the revelation of him and Karou being related.
Contrast that with Kiryu, a fellow Yakuza, dragon of the east and someone who fights for the benefit of others. Mainly his family like Diago, Haruka, Katsuragi and Majima. His selfless passion is in direct odds with Ryuuji’s unending ambition.
But like I said, when you have another organisation to worry about with the Jingweon, whose members suddenly reveal themselves whenever the writers felt like the plot was losing momentum, the lack of focus on this particular rivalry hurts the overall story.
Seriously, the amount of times I can make a “Nobody expects the Jingweon Mafia!” joke with the amount of members and people who have had past experience with the group like Kiryu or Kiwara is almost laughable. But I won’t shoot a dead Jingweon any longer.
However, the biggest crime I think 2 as a story does is it’s use of returning cast members. Or rather the characters that don’t appear in future games, mainly Karou and Diago’s mother/then acting Tojo chairwoman, Yayoi.
To my knowledge, the main reason why Karou didn’t return in future games is due to her original voice actresses (in Yakuza 2 for the PS2, not to the Kiwami version) was very rude to the staff members at RGG Studios.
Plus, as the likes of “Tehsnakerer” has said in his look on the series, it would be slightly weird if Kiryu was still dating Karou while also taking part in the series’ well known hostess/dating side content.
In any case, by the time 2008’s Yakuza 3 is released, she’s featured in the opening of that game but is quietly removed soon after.
Now unfortunately this won’t be the first time incidents like this happen, where important characters from one Yakuza game never appear in the followup title, sometimes without explanation as well. But I think in Karou’s case it’s the most annoying.
Her whole character arc through the game, a tough police detective that slowly falls in love with a Yakuza veteran isn’t an original plot as far as crime dramas go, but it’s a shame that the amount of development it receives through the entire story is suddenly discarded the next time we see her and Kiryu together.
Considering that Kiryu lost his first love, alongside his oath brother and father figure, during the events of Yakuza 1, I would have liked Karou as a new replacement for the void those three people have left on Kiryu’s life.
Maybe Kiryu starts to have doubts on if he and Karou can actually be a couple given their different professions and his trauma from his previous family.
To be fair though, Haruka technically represents his old family to begin with, given that she’s the literal daughter of Yume but my point still stands. Building up a romantic interest to suddenly brush them aside in the sequel is generally not a good move.
Yayoi by comparison is someone I didn’t really miss in future titles but unlike Karou, to my knowledge, there’s no explanation of why she never returns. And that could be because her characterisation in 2 is just… sort of there.
I think she’s a more interesting character than Karou at the very least. A grieving woman who decides to take up the role as the leader of an organised crime syndicate but from my experience with Kiwami 2, she doesn’t do much outside of her leadership position.
Compared to Chairman Sera from Yakuza 1, Yayoi doesn’t take any direct action outside of her chairwoman status. Whereas the third chairman was constantly getting involved personally in the main conflict, between helping to hide the counterfeit 10 Billion Yen operation with Yume and Kazama Sr. as well as preparing a will for his successor Kiryu in the event of his death.
You could argue as well that Yayoi was simply being more cautious given the recent “murder” of her predecessor Terada and her only holding the position temporarily but still.
Not to mention, given her job in the Japanese underworld, I would have figured there’d be a lot of patriarchal backlash by her Tojo brethren, being a woman in a man’s world and all that, but aside from some opposition in her opening scene, not much is done with her aside from that.
The only other gripe I can think of is one minor nitpick during the Nishikiyama Family coup. Where Koji Shindo cites his love for Yayoi being the reason why he wanted to take over the Tojo. To which Yayoi explains that she only loved her late husband Shoei and he her.
When I heard that, I immediately raised an eyebrow to myself and thought “Are you sure? Shoei trying to rape Yume during the start of Yakuza 1 is the main reason he’s dead and why Kiryu ended up in prison.” It’s not as jarring as say, the Jingweon having a perfect copy of Kazuki but it’s still a little strange to me.
You could argue she’s simply remembering her late husband in the best possible light but still.
Yayoi would eventually be quietly replaced in Yakuza 3 by her son Diago as the Sixth chairman of the Tojo Clan, which does make sense given his arc and the work he did during the bomb threats. But the amount of missed potential for his mother as a character is disappointing regardless.
The only other character I have major thoughts on is Takashima, the second in command of the Omi Alliance who eventually is revealed as the true conductor of the game’s narrative.
Or as I quickly referred to him after his introduction: “Beta Version Shibusawa” from Yakuza 0. A respectful/impassive Yakuza that has higher aspirations. Not helping the fact that Takashima barely has any emotional range even in his death scene.
I wonder if his sudden recasting between 2 and Kiwami 2, with him being played by a much older actor is meant as a homage or nod to the comparisons but the fact they revealed his involvement in the Omi takeover during his second scene is a bit silly.
Shibusawa at the very least was still very loyal to Dojima to a fault and his complete heel turn from pragmatic money handler to power hungry madman is something that only works because of his earlier scenes.
Lastly, and I know this story section is going on a lot longer than I expected, there’s actually a completely separate campaign that’s unlocked chapter by chapter as you progress through the main story. The Majima Saga.
It’s nothing special. A very barebones three part prequel that exclusively follows Majima months before Yakuza 2’s main adventure kicks off. You can basically play the base game and forget it exists because of how distant it feels from the main adventure.
The only memorable thing it has going for is Majima chasing a Tojo murderer to Sotenbori and retracing his steps at a bunch of his old stops, but in the nearly two decades between 0 and Kiwami 2, hardly anyone recognises him.
In one of the more heartbreaking scenes, Majima goes to the old acupuncture clinic where his old flame/friend Makoto Makimura (from Yakuza 0 again) used to work for information. Majima gets his info from the receptionist but in order to ensure her silence, he reluctantly accepts a free acupuncture appointment.
And guess who happens to be the person on call for his visit? Makoto Makimura. Now fully able to see again and having a husband to boot.
She doesn’t recognise Majima given how she was blind throughout most of 0 but she does bring up a lot of references to that game. Including her old watch, the strap for which is starting to fall off.
Majima, in a scene that’s both hilarious and heartbreaking, tries his damnedest to stay silent knowing that saying anything might put her at risk, even when he’s been given pin point medical treatment.
The campaign ends with Majima shortly leaving the Tojo to set up his totally legit real estate company but there is an epilogue where Makoto, on a flight opens a box that was left near her desk. A new bracelet to hold together her old watch.
Mix that in with an optional karaoke song about Majima telling his old friend that “if she’s happy then he’s happy” and you have the best parts and an obsolete tearjerker out of a largely forgettable side story. My thoughts on this and Yakuza 5 are still reserved for a future blog post.
Overall though, I still think Kiwami 2 has an engaging plot. Relying on revelations and forgotten characters aside, it’s a tense adventure that manages to outdo Kiwami 1 in terms of scale and tension. Just don’t prod too deeply otherwise the plot holes start to become very apparent.
At the very least, I do admire RGG Studios for pushing the boat out as far as they could with the amount of characters and conflicts on display, but this wasn’t the way to go in my opinion. Maybe they’ll dampen it down a little next time. Hopefully.
But how does the gameplay represent that transition as well? That’s a bit tricker to explain.
Gameplay: Combat changes and funny ragdoll physics
Now the reason why I mentioned Kiwami 2 is a difficult game to talk about, at least at this point in the series, is because of a major engine change compared to Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1.
Mainly, its game engine is the Dragon engine, developed in-house by RGG Studios.
The series has generally developed its own game engine for most of its titles but starting Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, a new version of the engine was made that’s been the standard for most games in the series afterwards.
Those titles mainly consist of Kiwami 2, Judgment and its sequel Lost Judgment (a standalone duology separate from the mainline series), Yakuza: Like a Dragon and their latest titles, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
You could blame me for playing the remakes first then hopping into the earlier titles after that but still, I think it’s something worth explaining.
The main changes between Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 0/Kiwami 1 is a much bigger focus on group combat. Removing the famous style swap system and instead giving Kiryu a more adaptable combat system that changes depending on the position of his enemies.
So for example, in 0 and Kiwami 1, if I were to grab an opponent and press the grab button again I’d throw them on the ground. But in Kiwami 2, that instead results in Kiryu putting his target into a headlock and swinging them around him, damaging other enemies if they stand near enough.
Accompanying this is the inclusion of an all new power boost mode called Extreme Heat.
When Kiryu’s returning heat bar reaches a certain percentage, pressing R2 on the PS4 version of the game will have Kiryu become nigh invulnerable for a certain period of time, alongside his attacks becoming more powerful and being able to mash certain heat actions at the end of a combo to buff up the damage.
To likely compensate for the new moves, the enemy ai overall has been given a couple of new adjustments. Mainly the fact that groups of enemies will appear in hordes of 6 to 8 goons at a time instead of somewhere like 4 to 6 enemies previously.
Honestly it is often made fun of that random battles in the Yakuza series are home to some of the most cocky and aggressive people when you meet them on the street but in Kiwami 2 that joke reaches a whole new level.
During one break in Sotenbori for example, I saw a group of mooks approach me on the opposite side of one of the town’s bridges. I ran away as soon as they noticed me and they proceeded to run all the way across the bridge, past a corner into a small middle district as Kiryu recovered his breath. On the southern half of the map.
I have never seen a group of thugs so desperate for pocket change in my life and it seriously makes me wonder if Japan is as nice as people say, if guys like that are barely 10 steps away from you.
Joking aside, back to the combat, items off the ground are still effective in both crowds as well as one-on-one encounters but aside from being able to pocket small weapons like daggers and pull them out for later, picking up and using items have generally been dampened overall.
The most affected unfortunately are items like the bicycle and motorcycle. Weapons Kiryu could pick up from the ground and often get 9 hits in if used properly, but now unfortunately break after 3 uses. And you can’t even pick up motorcycles unless you’re in extreme heat mode now.
Now for the sake of consistency I won’t get into my overall thoughts on the combat system until we get into Yakuza 6, but overall, I still think the changes they brought were interesting and shook up standard progression a great deal.
As for the side content of Kiwami 2, out of most of the games in the series, I think this game has the most enjoyable and wacky substories in existence, maybe rivalling Yakuza 0 in that sense.
One of my favourites in Sotenbori is a mission where Kiryu voice acts in a gay romance visual novel, after being pulled randomly off of the street. Including screaming in pleasure near the end. It’s very weird.
Some of you might say that that one’s in poor taste but a part of the joke is Kiryu being hired randomly off the street and Kiryu’s VA actually voicing his poorly written lines while still keeping his abombinally “smoother than whisky on the rocks” voice as he does it. Despite voicing a character who’s supposed to be a teenager.
Not to mention, after the voice acting session, the director for the recording even points out that the game that Kiryu was speaking in is part of a subgenre called BL or “Boy Love”, that mainly has a target audience of young girls interested in gaming.
But if you think that’s weird, there’s another mission in Kamurocho where Kiryu helps out a local Yakuza group with some thug problems. Once down, the group’s leader, Susumu, offers to treat Kiryu to a drink which he obliges.
Inside however, Kiryu finds a lot of weird drinking equipment. Like a bip, a milk bottle and a small nursery area where Susumu and his gang dress up like baby’s. Men with sunglasses and goatees’ in diapers. Rolling around and babbling next to women in pink dresses.
Funny enough, this group appears later in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and in both Kiwami 2 and LAD, a fight breaks out between the protagonist and Susumu’s yakuza over a misunderstanding.
But in LAD, at least Ichi gets to share a drink of baby formula with the boys so maybe it’s not so bad?
Also I don’t know why but for me at least, the perfect substory arc from now should just be “Kiryu walks down the street and X person demands they help them do something like juggle chainsaws while riding a unicycle at a rich kid’s birthday party”.
That one might be good actually. RGG, I have an email address if you want to use my idea.
Aside from that however, there are two new big side content features. Both of which are returning from past/technically future games. Majima Construction Defence and Cabret Grand Prix.
Cabaret is probably the most similar for readers who’ve been following my blogs post by post, as it’s practically the exact same side mode as was originally featured in Yakuza 0 (then called Cabaret Club Czar).
At one point when Kiryu is walking around Sotenbori, he’s mistaken for the new manager at a Cabaret Club named Four Shine. The club in particular are struggling hard against Club Sunshine, the very same business Majima helped run in his cabaret side mode. Even the club’s first hostess Yuki is the cold manager of the joint in Majima’s absence.
Other than that though, if you’re a fan of 0’s cabaret minigame, this will feel very familiar. You play a kind of dinner dash inspired side mode to satisfy customer orders, go around Sotenbori to get sponsorships and eventually face off against rival clubs to become the town’s top club.
But much like 0’s take on the matter, I didn’t spend too long on this one. It was fun initially to have Kiryu being dragged into another person’s problems again and a part of me regrets not being able to play some of the side stories involving the hostesses and Majima as the lead judge of the Grand Prix but that’s about it.
I can really live without this mode honestly.
The other half of the coin is also Majima themed. Majima Construction.
As Majima and his loyal boys are busy with the development of Kamurocho Hills, naturally, the real estate plot has caught the eye of a good deal of rivals. Most of which are set on wrecking Majima’s equipment and stealing the KH plot for themselves.
Despite what you might think. Majima is insistent on Kiryu staying out of politics. When his rival tries to butt back, Majima compromises by making Kiryu a foreman of the Hills project.
What does this mean? Basically, whenever you’re at the Construction plant, you can talk with Majima to start what can be compared to a tower defence mission.
With the help of a birds eye camera of the whole construction yard, Kiryu is tasked with looking after Majima and his boys, directing one or a group of their forces in taking out the invaders.
Before the start of an invasion, all of the men Majima Construction has to select will be on the battlefield, allowing you some time to organise and pick and choose which type of unit you want to go.
Once begun, the enemy forces will try to overwhelm Kiryu’s and attempt to destroy the construction resources at the back of the construction yard.
You can use some cash to not only heal units and activate temporary power ups unique to each mission but once you start the match, it can’t be stopped. You have to win a set number of rounds and defeat the boss at the end in order to win.
Things are made a bit more complicated once you remember that, if all of the construction equipment is destroyed you lose and that defeated friendly units will be unavailable for the rest of the match, but if you keep a cool head on, you’ll surely make it through.
In between missions, you can find new and better recruits by beating tough opponents in the open world or alternatively by paying a small fee for the chance of rolling a high level unit.
You could argue that this is essentially loot boxes all over again, but aside from purchasing specific units off the PS store, which are all references and based on characters from Kiwami 2 and beyond, you can still obtain all characters via just the standard recruitment scheme.
While I only played up until the first boss encounter with one of the ring leaders, I do remember enjoying the mode a good deal. Even if it’s a very slow tower defence like game, despite how much you’re expected to make on the fly decisions.
That said, I do feel a bit bad for Majima’s second in command Nishida. A man that basically becomes the living embodiment of his boss’ stress toy, as Majima often kicks, punches and chases after Nishida when things don’t go his way.
But the group actually has a pretty cool theme song and a billboard with the words “we build s***!” and hiring anyone tough. No experience needed! I can tell, if Majima Construction was still around today, the recession would have never happened.
Lastly, always a favourite of mine, is the return of Karaoke. Which sadly, this time around is pretty small.
Out of the songs that the player can have Kiryu sing, there’s only two that I consider brand new. “Pride from Despair” and “As Long as You Are Happy”. Both of them are also Majima themed.
“Pride from Despair” is alright honestly. A song that’s all about, you guessed it, rising against impossible odds, with clips in the background of Kiryu and Majima from Kiwami 1 to complement it.
I can kind of see what they were going for with this song, a mixture of both Judgement from Yakuza 0 and Tonight from Kiwami 1 (which returns in Kiwami 2 with no adjustments) in how it’s a reflection song that comments on the game’s themes.
But I think in comparison to both songs, the song itself doesn’t contain any specific references to Kiwami 2’s story. Which I think could have made the song a bit more special if they tried to do that. Aside from that, it’s still a good hard rock anthem that’s easy to follow.
“As Long as You’re Happy” by comparison though, is the song that will make most fan veterans tear up. It’s a song that’s only playable in the Majima Saga and, as pointed out in my summary of the side mode earlier, is all about Majima telling Makoto that as long as she’s happy, he’s happy.
It’s a very emotional song that I think only works for those who’ve played 0’s story but even so, I can’t deny that the harmonica accompaniment and choral backing (the latter reminding me of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah in a way) is enough to thug at anyone’s heart strings.
But with all that said, and with a lot more time spent on this review then I was expecting, let’s wind things up a bit as best as I can.
Conclusion: “Extreme” is kind of justified
Overall, Yakuza Kiwami 2, as a full package, is pretty good. It’s hard to say if it’s better than Kiwami 1 as a game but I won’t deny it when I say that almost everything about it still plays very well.
The story, while a little packed and relying too much on last minute betrayals, still has a lot of heart for what it was going for. And the gameplay, though a little hard to adjust to and with some reused content, is still home to some of the great variety that the series has on offer.
Be it your first time or as part of exploring the series’ evolution, this game is still worth playing as the stakes within the Tojo Clan become bigger and bigger as time passes by.
Now I’m just waiting for the day Karou can be brought back home. C’mon SEGA, fans have been waiting for her for well over a decade.
First drafted 17 August 2023
Last edited 19 March 2024
