Yakuza Kiwami

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 673 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 512 out of 673
  2. Mixed: 95 out of 673
  3. Negative: 66 out of 673
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  1. Fraxxo
    Sep 9, 2023
    7
    Remake of the first title in the Like a Dragon series, Yakuza Kiwami is built on the same model as Yakuza 0 and it works as a direct sequel of it.
    This remake follows the story of the first game and tries to bring it up to date with how the series has evolved during the years prior, connecting various dots to the prequel 0 and adjusting Kiryu character to his new image, but it somehow    Remake of the first title in the Like a Dragon series, Yakuza Kiwami is built on the same model as Yakuza 0 and it works as a direct sequel of it.
    This remake follows the story of the first game and tries to bring it up to date with how the series has evolved during the years prior, connecting various dots to the prequel 0 and adjusting Kiryu character to his new image, but it somehow fails to totally reinvents itself and the result is a game which narrative and characters feel too outdated and totally different from their 0 counterparts.
    In particular the protagonist itself feels way too different from how we left him at the end of 0, basically scrapping all the character development he previously had: the result is a game which takes pace 17 years after but feels like it should actually be the first to be played. The same can be said for Majima which in this game is just a shell of its former self, to the point of being unrecognazible.
    The story isn't actually bad, it's just not that engaging and it shows its age (11 years), more so if played after 0 which had a phenomal storytelling and characters.
    The gameplay is a slightly better version of 0, focusing this time on only on character instead of two and four fighting styles from the beginning, altough the majority of them feels like they were nerfed from 0 while the Dragon of Dojima style is overpowered and the only style you'll actually need to destroy most of the enemies. I actually enjoyed the combat, despite missing Majima's crazy movesets, and I think Kiryu is way more enjoyable as a fighter in this title than 0, but I also did found the game extremely easy, to the point where the secret boss was just a walk in the park.
    What I did find bugging was how Kamurocho, despite being the only city available this time, had much less activities than 0 without a proper reason: RGG Studio removed the Disco and Arcades, which were some of the most beloved side activies in 0, but somehow felt like MesuKing was something necessary for the game despite being very time-consuming and, to some extent, annoying.
    That said, Kiwami's Kamurocho is basically a copy and paste of 0 one, just slightly changed to match its 2005 vibes, and that's something I loved about the game: to see the city I played in changed, but the same at heart, it made me feel like I was visiting an old friend.
    The soundtrack is spot on and it has some really good tracks (my favourites being Funk Goes On, Son of a Gun and For Who's Sake), nothing else to say.
    The game has also many side activities which are what really makes it shine: racing with little toy cars in Pocket Circuit, gambling in a hidden casino, taking out hostesses, playing cards or just walking around with Haruka really made the experience a memorable one.

    The graphics are good: the game clearly shows its PS3 nature, having lot of pop-in and technical limitations, but it's enjoyable and totally bug-free.
    The only thing I would have done differently were the cutscenes which reused directly the original Yakuza models base, resulting in the new models acting in clunchy ways.

    All in all, I enjoyed Yakuza Kiwami, despite being a remake clearly showing its dated story and characters. The new beginning of the Dragon of Dojima journey was a thrilling experience, and being a game shorter than other Yakuza titles, I actually had the chance to play it without getting to the point of redundance like I did in 0.
    So play this game, either before or after 0, if you are a Yakuza fan or just someone looking for a good Beat 'Em Up/Adventure game.    … Expand
  2. MPK92
    Aug 31, 2023
    8
    A fantastic remake. Good story, great characters, good side content, good combat, looks and sounds good. A few lulls in the mission design such as a handful of fetch quests and other missions that seem rather superfluous.
  3. Killerpummkin
    Aug 9, 2023
    10
    Unbeatable atmosphere, hilarious submissions, an excellent story and plenty of things to do in between the main missions. If you haven't played it, I don't know what you're waiting for.
  4. Vlad001
    Aug 6, 2023
    0
    My second favourite yakuza game,I loved everything,something that i miss now is the boost of kiryu that was nerfed in other games but it was perfect after all
  5. FrankCreeper
    Jul 28, 2023
    8
    A remake of first game of the franchise with better story,better gameplay and fantastic combact system...still an open world with an amount of enjoyable activities.Amazing of this game is very enjoyable even you cant play the predecessor
  6. Davidnotavailab
    Jul 1, 2023
    8
    I played this after Yakuza 0, the game suffers a lot from being much shorter, than 0 so it lacks in the world department letting it feel pretty empty and out of place with the main story. The main story isnt bad for the yakuza series its just much poorly presented than 0's one, and also a lot different. Also playing only as kiryu kinda sucks considering he has the same moves as in 0. II played this after Yakuza 0, the game suffers a lot from being much shorter, than 0 so it lacks in the world department letting it feel pretty empty and out of place with the main story. The main story isnt bad for the yakuza series its just much poorly presented than 0's one, and also a lot different. Also playing only as kiryu kinda sucks considering he has the same moves as in 0. I liked the spiked up difficulty tho this is probably the most challenging yakuza of the bunch, the music is nice, kamurocho stil looks great.
    7,5/10    … Expand
  7. ebbest
    Jun 23, 2023
    10
    after 50 hours of side quest and main quest, i can say that it's an incredible game in every way
  8. Staarlik21
    Jun 17, 2023
    6
    El juego no llega al 6,5. Casi ningún personaje es memorable y los que lo son no aparecen lo suficiente. Además la historia se siente demasiado corta, a medio hacer. El gameplay, por su parte, se hace más tedioso que el de Yakuza 0.
  9. Uncl3s4mbr
    May 4, 2023
    8
    Very good gameplay with a very good history and new graphics. Continues the history from Yakuza 0 very well.
  10. VioIrdsGX
    Apr 18, 2023
    10
    This is the first remake of Yakuza, I started playing it in 2022 after finishing Yakuza 0, I also liked it and the first time I just saw the game it was the alternative since I don't have a PlayStation 2 and the first Yakuza game , so this game was one of the great opportunities to familiarize the history of the famous Dragon of Dojima (KIRYU-CHAN), this game had changes than in theThis is the first remake of Yakuza, I started playing it in 2022 after finishing Yakuza 0, I also liked it and the first time I just saw the game it was the alternative since I don't have a PlayStation 2 and the first Yakuza game , so this game was one of the great opportunities to familiarize the history of the famous Dragon of Dojima (KIRYU-CHAN), this game had changes than in the original version but I'm not so familiar with the PS2 version, sorry, so In chronological order, this should be played after Yakuza 0 and its story met my expectations.… Expand
  11. Avey123Avey
    Apr 16, 2023
    4
    Significantly worse than Yakuza 0 despite ripping most of its assets from it. The story, despite being maybe half as long as 0 is somehow more padded out with totally unnecessary tangents. The game has practically no new mini games from 0 but also omits some of the better ones from 0 as well. The side stories here are all variations of "man tries to rip off Kiryu, Kiryu beats him up, manSignificantly worse than Yakuza 0 despite ripping most of its assets from it. The story, despite being maybe half as long as 0 is somehow more padded out with totally unnecessary tangents. The game has practically no new mini games from 0 but also omits some of the better ones from 0 as well. The side stories here are all variations of "man tries to rip off Kiryu, Kiryu beats him up, man runs and apologizes". And the combat system here is the exact same with a couple of minor additions, Dragon Style restructuring and changes to certain attack properties. Overall the combat system is on par but missing the extra variety Majima added to the game. The true problem with the combat is that there are very few new enemy types from Yakuza 0 and more offensively the bosses here are a huge step down most of the time. There are a handful of really good bosses in this game, but many of the bosses have poorly fleshed out move sets which are embarrassingly easy to exploit one on one. To make up for this the game spams a massive amount minor enemies into every bad boss fight to distract from how half baked the boss is. This makes many bosses a repetitive slog on higher difficulties because you must pick off distant foes one by one before you can begin fighting the actual boss. This becomes ludicrous with the second to last boss who is perhaps the worst boss design I've seen in a game. Many will try to defend this by recommending exploitable strategies, but the fact that a large expressive move set has to be boiled down to only the most cheap and exploitable tactics for this boss fight is only more evidence of its astonishingly poor design. All that being said I don't hate this game but I find it very disappointing. It is both a sequel to 0 and a remake of the original Yakuza game. Maybe it is more commendable as a remake but as a follow up to 0 it feels like a massive step down. I only recommend picking it up if you are a major Yakuza fan, this is not the ideal introductory title… Expand
  12. chokorettoo
    Apr 4, 2023
    7
    story was okay, felt kind of rushed, finsihed the game in 20 hours or less,the story didnt really pull me in as 0 or 2 did, the controls made me rage alot , jingu was the worst
  13. TianLong1
    Mar 31, 2023
    8
    Great sequel to Yakuza Zero, I enjoyed it a lot, the fighting sequence is just as fun and satisfying. The character development of Nishiki was interesting but its hate towards Kyriu felt kinda forced and was not consistent with his character in Yakuza Zero where they had a true bromance. The final boss fight was more annoying than challenging, but the fight before that was rather fun.
  14. JesseDillinger
    Feb 1, 2023
    9
    In terms of combat, this one is the best by far. The combat in 0 is kind of the same, but it's missing something about it. The story is good. This was the first Yakuza game I played. I wish the combat would've been like this with the rest.
  15. Max552
    Dec 31, 2022
    0
    Can't say I was a fan. Played and found it too easy and quite boring. I really don't see the fuss about these games.
  16. B-Bog
    Dec 19, 2022
    7
    Haven't played the original, but IMO they should have done more with this remake to modernize the game, since it is still veeeery clunky in a lot of ways (menus, item management, general movement etc. etc.), but the worst offender here is clearly the janky combat. Never have I felt so utterly ineffective in any video game combat system. The enemies are constantly blocking, dodging,Haven't played the original, but IMO they should have done more with this remake to modernize the game, since it is still veeeery clunky in a lot of ways (menus, item management, general movement etc. etc.), but the worst offender here is clearly the janky combat. Never have I felt so utterly ineffective in any video game combat system. The enemies are constantly blocking, dodging, swarming you and knocking you down, they have insanely long health bars, especially later in the game, and you do so little damage even after fully upgrading all skill trees that combat, even on easy difficulty, is just a tedious and drawn-out mess. To make it even worse, boss enemies can even REGAIN health, which can only be stopped if you have the right fighting style selected, your heat gauge is full, AND you have unlocked a specific skill in that specific style. Otherwise, no dice, enjoy your fight taking EVEN LONGER. Really, the only thing making fighting somewhat enjoyable in this game are the signature Heat moves, which, as always, are totally ridiculus and over-the-top.

    The city of Kamurocho, with all its (often very funny) substories and mini-games is as engaging as always; and the story-telling and writing is generally pretty good, although you can tell that this was the first entry in the series, since the narrative isn't quite as bold and the characters not quite as complex as in later titles.

    The Majima everywhere mechanic wasn't a totally bad idea, but its implementation is pretty uneven. I got through the main story without really encountering Majima all that much since I wasn't aware of how to progress the meter (you have to go to the information booth instead of just being able to walk into the "Shine" nightclub for some weird and contrived reason), then when I did finally do that in the post-game he became a giant nuisance since his health bar grows to gigantic lengths and you have to fight him an ABSURD number of times to get all your Dragon abilities back, which wasn't even worth it at that point for me.

    So, all in all, if you like Yakuza games in general, you're probably going to like this one, too, but the remake seems to have squandered the opportunity to really modernize this title, especially the combat, and bring it up to current standards.    … Expand
  17. Nick_Scratch
    Nov 25, 2022
    8
    Having just finished Yakuza 0, I was eager to dive into this remake of the first title, and it did not disappoint. Kiryu is just so fun to play as the stoic, basically superhuman protagonist. Good stuff.
  18. Jollyolfun
    Nov 18, 2022
    6
    Rebuild of the original Yakuza, not bad whatsoever, very slow though, and the combat isn't quite there compared to other Yakuza games.
  19. TheOldestOak
    Nov 14, 2022
    10
    The Yakuza aka Like a Dragon series is incredibly good and I recommend these games go literally anybody.
  20. ehtaco
    Oct 28, 2022
    8
    This game didn't hit for me like 0 did, but it's still a fantastic game and worth playing.
  21. fabgo
    Oct 11, 2022
    6
    It's OK. The main story is decent, if a little sappy and very unbelievable, although the cutscenes are endless. The side quests did not grab me. The game can be very annoying at times. Sometimes it gives you no (or very vague) pointers on where to go and what to do next.

    Combat is both simple and overwhelming, There are far too many skill choices and combos, most of which only trigger    It's OK. The main story is decent, if a little sappy and very unbelievable, although the cutscenes are endless. The side quests did not grab me. The game can be very annoying at times. Sometimes it gives you no (or very vague) pointers on where to go and what to do next.

    Combat is both simple and overwhelming, There are far too many skill choices and combos, most of which only trigger in special conditions and are hard to remember. I found it very confusing. In the end it doesn't matter, as the game is not hard, but many fights are very repetitive and drag on forever and ever.

    Fighting gunmen in particular is super annoying, as they constantly knock you down over and over. The combat would make a lot more sense if guns and blades were left out. But no, you, the lone ex-Yakuza, fight hordes of bad guys who slash and gun you down repeatedly - yet you take little damage. Even the Terminator was easier to kill.

    Also, the endless fights with Majima get old fast.

    I made it to the end, but was glad when it was over. This is the third Yakuza game I tried. I found them all flawed. I won't try to play another one,    … Expand
  22. julic
    Sep 15, 2022
    10
    la mejor saga anime que exiten en los videojuegos es super divertido y sus peleas entre bandillas
  23. Jackthegamer
    Sep 15, 2022
    6
    It's ok. The fighting is fun, open world activities are cool and the atmosphere is good
  24. filip92
    Jul 9, 2022
    9
    I played the main game with only a few sidequests. Stories in Yakuza are unlike any others. Characters are unique and crazy. Dialogue is good, and the game always shifts from comedy to serious situations.
  25. oscarstarkiller
    Jul 5, 2022
    9
    'Yakuza Kiwami' blends **** comedy with pure heartfelt moments, amazing scenery and really fun gameplay. The first chapter in Kazuma Kiryu's story is nothing short of stunning
  26. EnsarO
    Jun 28, 2022
    10
    Nishiki...
    This game is so epic. I liked it. You must play it.No Eng Dub, no Ten years in the joint.
  27. zach_grech
    May 15, 2022
    6
    Sometimes true remakes don't fix the original games flaws. Such is the case with Yakuza Kiwami. Not much has been changed from the original game outside of a few features. The story in this game feels rushed, as if they should have expanded the plot a lot more. There are some cool moments in the game and Kiryu and Haraka's relationship is excellent. And Nishikiyami gets a lot moreSometimes true remakes don't fix the original games flaws. Such is the case with Yakuza Kiwami. Not much has been changed from the original game outside of a few features. The story in this game feels rushed, as if they should have expanded the plot a lot more. There are some cool moments in the game and Kiryu and Haraka's relationship is excellent. And Nishikiyami gets a lot more development which makes him a more compelling and great antagonist. The combat has been improved from the original game but the bosses have not. The bosses in this game are extremely frustrating where they boil down to gank fights. The side quests are also pretty boring and uninteresting. The Majima everywhere feature is good but gets repetitive towards the end of the game. Overall this game is probably the weakest Yakuza game with a lot of flaws.… Expand
  28. Yaacgold24
    May 10, 2022
    9
    Really nice game, not as good as the sixth but still a nice experience. On my way to Kiwami 2
  29. Elite_Soldier
    Apr 14, 2022
    9
    First time playing a Yakuza game, I'm now hooked into the series. Fun combat and lots of side activities to do in the meantime.
  30. bullshark
    Feb 21, 2022
    10
    When I thought there was another Yakuza game couldn't stand next to 0, there comes Kiwami. This game gets props bc its essentially that which started it all, but with big combat and quality-of-life improvements over Yakuza 0. The story is gripping, both the original and additions, the writing and humor fantastic, and acting amazing. There's always something new to do even when you beat theWhen I thought there was another Yakuza game couldn't stand next to 0, there comes Kiwami. This game gets props bc its essentially that which started it all, but with big combat and quality-of-life improvements over Yakuza 0. The story is gripping, both the original and additions, the writing and humor fantastic, and acting amazing. There's always something new to do even when you beat the main game. Majima Everywhere is way better than Mr. Shakedown. A must play!… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

59
#59 Best PS4 Game of 2017
42
#42 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
84
#84 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 70 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 70
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 70
  3. Negative: 0 out of 70
  1. PLAY! Zine
    Apr 27, 2018
    85
    Yakuza Kiwami is a fine example of how a remaster should be done. Graphical changes and fixing some story plot holes are pretty well done. Majima everywhere is sometimes a nuisance, but all in all, it's a solid addition for an already great game.
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  2. GameCritics
    Nov 17, 2017
    65
    Overall, Yakuza Kiwami isn’t a bad game despite several issues that drag it down. No, its real problem is that Yakuza Zero is a significantly superior product in every way that matters. Fans of the original release will likely dig the modernization, but for any newcomers thinking of jumping in, I’d recommend starting with the infinitely better prequel.
    Read full review
  3. CD-Action
    Nov 16, 2017
    75
    Yakuza Kiwami is so much more than just a remake of the first game in the series. Sega rebuilt the original from scratch using a much more powerful engine, with the help of completely new artists, and enriched the script with tons of references to subsequent Yakuza releases. It’s not a perfect game but it does a great job at tying up loose ends from Yakuza Zero. [11/2017, p.50]
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