Kiwami 2 finds Yakuza deliberately and desperately recycling and remixing pieces of its past. While it remains a mesmerizing intersection of violence, eccentricity, and drama, its impulse to reprise Yakuza's very recent history can wear out even the most ardent enthusiast. In a vacuum Kiwami 2 is a beacon of its namesake's power and an imposing remodel of Yakuza 2. As the fifth Yakuza game in less than three years, Kiwami 2 may have reached Yakuza’s breaking point.
Yakuza 2 was the game where you could punch a tiger in the face.
Its 2008 release to the PlayStation 2, while a pleasant gesture from Sega, was buried under the prime of the next console generation. Its status as a sequel to a commercial failure, lacking the marketing budget and english dub of its predecessor, emptied the rest of the clip into its chances of success. On forums and through budding forms of social media, however, Yakuza 2 gained a reputation as the deathly serious game in which the protagonist could also punch a tiger in the face.
Ten years later and Yakuza is gaming’s equivalent of a mid-major phenomenon. In 2017 Yakuza 0 served as an introductory opus while Yakuza Kiwami, a budget-priced remake of the original Yakuza, emboldened the series’ newfound popularity. Yakuza 6, released just four months ago, brought a new game engine and served as the finale for Yakuza’s primary protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu. Yakuza Kiwami 2, a ground-up remake of Yakuza 2, is poised to strike from a position of power. Its presence and existence is an astonishing turnaround from Yakuza’s former obscurity.
If Kiwami 2 is somehow your first Yakuza game—Yakuza 0 or Yakuza 6 would better serve this position—its flow and operation can feel archaic and unnatural. Adapting classic tropes from Japanese dramas, Yakuza primarily follows the story of Kazuma Kiryu, a legend among Tokyo’s Tojo Clan organized crime syndicate. It delivers lengthy and aggressively acted cut-scenes detailing disputes between faction members and, usually, their collective, troubling beef with Osaka’s Omi Alliance. For the player this manifests in pushing Kiryu into deathly serious instances of brawler-inspired combat and wild, eccentric dives into solving the unrelated problems of the local populace. In more relatable terms, Kiryu is a mixture of Batman (without the shame and self-loathing) and Robin Hood (without reliable friends). There is no situation too outlandish or socially degrading for his services.
Kiwami 2’s story, of course, functions as a direct sequel to Kiwami. Kiryu, in his most recent self-imposed exile from the Tojo Clan, is called back into action when investigating increasingly hostile behavior from the Omi Alliance. He crosses paths with Ryuji Goda, the only son of the Omi Alliance patriarch, and begins to uncover an escalating spiral of lies, deceit, and catastrophic implications. The plot that follows the premise and replays elements Yakuza holds sacred; predictable double-crosses, unpredictable double-crosses, building-clearing raids, Kansai/Tokyo rivalry, and more testosterone-filled charisma than typically allowed by the laws of nature. Kiwami 2’s narrative is ultimately circuitous and reaches a little too far back to fully pass muster, but it’s entertaining throughout.
Kiwami 2 excels at raising the stakes without stretching the limits of reality. Don’t misinterpret this statement, nothing that happens here is acceptable in normal reality, but it’s also not re-litigating aspects of World War II like Yakuza 6. It’s a winding mob story with elements of Rashomon as its pulsing heart. The ending is one of the craziest sequences Yakuza’s history, but it’s localized to characters and interpersonal drama instead of only massive circumstances. Plans culminate and break down and I was left without a clear definition of the winner. Like the best kind of storytelling, it revels in ambiguity without feeling empty.
Kiryu’s relationship with Kaoru Sayama, an Osakan detective, allows Kiwami 2 to stray outside of Yakuza’s tightly confined lines. Their hostile friendship neatly transitions to an undeclared romance, providing Kiryu with a reciprocal companion and marking the last time in the series he ever sought a real love interest. Their mutually protective dynamic and shared insecurities are tested by both chaos and violence. They both submit to cliché (as does much of Yakuza), but it’s the only time when Kiryu doesn’t feel like a superhero. Their impromptu date in Sotenbori is the only time Kiryu actually slows down, stating “I feel pretty good,” as they both sip beer on a rooftop. It’s a simple line, but I don’t know that, after eight other Yakuza games, I’ve ever heard him say it before.
It’s also possible to engage in actions that completely undermine any of Yakuza’s explicit drama. During my evening date with Kaoru, for example, I got in approximately fifteen street fights where I beat the holy fucking shit out of fifty people and threw a dozen them into a canal. I ate dinner fifteen times to restore my health and filled my pockets with ten orders of spaghetti and meatballs from the nearby Poppo. I also popped into the cabaret club that I somehow run and went through five or six sessions, hiring two new girls. After Kaoru turned in for the night I took a taxi from Sotenbori to Kamurocho and back (620 miles) twice, during which time I also viewed illicit videos at a DVD service and participated in an underground fighting ring.
Yakuza’s dependable goofiness exists to relieve the tension of its urgent narrative. Substories, random citizens with bizarre problems in need of Kiryu’s guidance, are almost exclusively wild non-sequitur adventures. Ghost encounters, UFO catcher debacles, catching the elderly up with the modern world, various forms insurance fraud, and uncomfortable fetishes compose only a portion of Kiwami 2’s 70+ substories. Most of them end with Kiryu either as the butt of a joke or justifiably knifing someone. Kiwami 2’s substories, while not as creative and wild as Yakuza 0’s, are integral to the complete Yakuza experience.
The remainder of the Yakuza show is found inside of its gameplay systems. The most prominent of these is Kiryu’s fondness for melee combat. Light and heavy combos intersect and flow into distance-creating, clear-out finishers. Sustained combat or defense builds “heat,” a meter that fills and allows Kiryu to execute context-sensitive super moves on opponents. A mixture of one-on-one combat and crowd control still don’t flow together as well as it should—the transition from punches to grabs is much better in Kiwami 2—but encounters are easy to solve on normal difficulty. Bosses require additional attention, either in the form of precise quick-step mastery or a gratuitous supply of health-refilling energy drinks.
Kiryu’s character progression closely follows a model established by Yakuza 6. Street fights function as random encounters and deliver minimal experience. Substories grant slightly more. Story-related events deliver a huge payoff. Experience is earned in five categories and spent across four disciplines; basic stats, heat moves, battle techniques, and general upgrades. Kiwami 2 leaves quite a bit of freedom toward how you choose to manage Kiryu, although it is impossible for me to imagine him without a sufficient investment in quicksteps, increases in punch speed, and heat extensions.
Like the previous Kiwami, Kiwami 2 subsides on the work established by previous entries. Most of Kiryu’s abilities and progression are lifted straight from Yakuza 6. Other than a newfound interest in charge attacks and the return of some of Yakuza 6’s missing moves, combat felt almost identical. For a subsidiary adventure operating as a remake under the cover of a (slightly) reduced price of $50 this…acceptable. One would have hoped Kiryu’s encore, and his second appearance in Sega’s Dragon Engine, to have experimented slightly more, but Kiwami 2 gets by on a safe, effective play.
Kiryu’s more involved extracurricular activities also summon Yakuza’s past. Majima’s cabaret management minigame from Yakuza 0 returns with Kiryu at the helm. Yakuza 6’s clan creator is also back, only rearranged to focus more on a defense of assets rather than an all-out offensive blast up the middle. Both of these side-activities are extremely well tuned, and it’s possible to invest a dozen hours in recruiting and leveling up personnel for each one. Both are ruthless tasks in efficiency. Both have also, largely, been done before. Content for content’s sake lacks originality even if doesn’t feel like filler.
Two newer diversions are also available. The first is an escalating series of local bosses available once you kick the crap out of enough mobs in Kamurocho and Sotenbori. The other, found through the bartender at Debolah, rearranges Kiwami 2 into a bona fide beat ’em up. It removes Kiryu’s ability to heal himself and sets him loose in a customized portion of the city, tasking him to take everyone out before he dies. This gave me a lot of anxiety! But it was a fun take on Yakuza and a smart way to leverage some of its existing assets.
Other minigames (golf, batting practice, karaoke, darts, mahjong, etc) remain in attendance, as well as the Model 2 port of Virtua Fighter 2 previously found Yakuza 5. What’s important to note, however, is Virtual On and piss. The former is a personal favorite of mine—Virtual On is the only fighting game I have ever been good at—and its inclusion is the primary reason why this review didn’t go up on time. I love Virtual On. It is the perfect game of skill. I streamed it as part of a 24-hour charity marathon. I have no idea why more people aren’t cognizant of Virtual On’s power and salute Kiwami 2 for including it. In any case, the other important minigame is pissing as hard as you can. Once you’ve had enough to drink you can find a special urinal in the back of any Club Sega and blast piss at an AI opponent. All of this is wonderful.
Within Kiwami 2 is an entirely separate, very tiny Majima campaign. It serves a dual purpose of setting the table for the situation Kiryu enters in Yakuza 2 as well as providing a short follow-up to Majima’s story from Yakuza 0. Majima doesn’t have an inventory, substories, or any character progression, but he does have his own set of moves and, as always, that wonderfully unstable personality. It has pieces in place to make it different—he can’t eat when he’s full and mostly has to pawn items for walk-around money—but it’s all a breeze on normal difficulty. Progressing through all three of his chapters and taking down every local boss required about 90 minutes.
With Shin Ryu ga Gotoku on the horizon, and PlayStation 3 ports of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 on the way, this is probably the last time Kiryu will headline a “new” Yakuza game. Despite its place as the third chronological game in the series, and Yakuza 6’s proper farewell last spring, walking the streets of Kamurocho and Sotenbori one last time leaves a wistful sentiment. This is the best Kamurocho has ever looked and, unlike Yakuza 6, the entire city—including the north side, Purgatory, and the Champion District—are in place. I know Kamurocho better than I know some places I’ve actually been, and seeing it like this is a sweet return on a fifteen year investment.
At the same time, it’s hard to look at Kiwami 2 as more than a dedicated remake, albeit one retrofitted with Yakuza’s best minigames. It isn’t fresh by design, and that’s fine, but on the heels of four other recent games, it’s all starting to pile up into massive heap of interchangeable drama and relentless violence. I feel like I already played 75% of this game five months ago. Kiwami 2 is impossible to recommend to newcomers, but only veterans will feel an impending sense of burnout. It exists in a unique paradox that I’m not entirely sure how to reconcile. Damning it, when looking at its performance, operation, and characters, feels like a bad take. Following Kiryu into hell, which I would absolutely do, also isn’t the most reasoned declaration.
Kiwami 2 is best thought of as remake masquerading as an encore. More separation may have allowed it to better stand out and ease Yakuza’s encroaching sense of repetition. It’s impossible to deny the charm of its weird idiosyncrasies and the power of its serpentine drama. Kiwami 2 hits the modern Yakuza standard and, with any reasonable hope, breaks it for good. It also, for better or for worse, will finally allow people to cherish Yakuza 2 outside of its legendary tiger battle.
