The remake of Yakuza 2 that is not only carried by its story, but by the glorious Dragon Engine by RGG Studio. Combat is amazing just like Yakuza 0, and it even got better than Yakuza 6 with more heat moves and options in battle as you swing grunts like they're dolls. Side content is a little monotonous, but the additions such as the bouncer levels make it nice to have mini beat 'em up sections. The cabaret club minigame is also back and it's still the same as ever only with a newer cast of hostesses and some slight changes. The main story has good writing, and Ryuji is the best antagonist of the series; they developed from Yakuza 1's writing. Unfortunately, you need to play 1 to understand what is going on in the story but I say play it regardless.

Coming off of Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 1, Yakuza Kiwami 2 feels like a game confused about where to take the series narratively. It tries to fashion an Empire Strikes Back type sequel for the series and it crafts a love story noir type dynamic with Kiryu that doesn't really work. And on top of that, Kiwami 2 clearly had no idea what to do with Haruka which feels like a giant step back from the first Kiwami narratively.

I haven't played Yakuza 6 yet so this game is my first brush with the Dragon Engine and I have to say I really love this aspect of the game. It's stunning to look at and while the combat trades technicality for bombast, I think that works greatly in Kiwami 2's favor. Some of the encounters are just simply stunning. Osaka Castle in particular is one of the most stunning things I've played in the series thus far.

As people echo in other Yakuza reviews on the internet, a lesser Yakuza game is still better than most games so it's not like Kiwami 2 was a poor experience, I still had my fun. It's just that as a sequel it feels severely lacking in some baffling ways. I feel like I expected more from a game touted as the series' peak.

A better remake than Kiwami was thanks to its additions not interfering with story progress. The soundtrack still took a large hit by replacing a lot of the music and cutting another bunch, but the remixes of the remaning ones are at least decent. Added in this remake is the Majima Saga, a short story that explains some background before the main game's events. Its story is alright, but Majima only has his mad dog style and like 3 moves and is not that fun to play as unlike in 0.

All in all it's a solid entry, but the original is much better.

Absolutely bonkers story that somehow works.

Gorgeous visuals.

Great characters.

My only complaint is the combat, the dragon engine combat kinda sucks.

literally soul vs. soulless. every single bit of the original's presentation has been crushed into some sloppy paste. whatever it can't recycle from yakuza 6 is recycled from yakuza 0 and then recycled from the PS2 game, and everything else that's actually original is horrifically unpolished even by this series' standards.

if slapping PS2 animations on 2017 models, gutting set pieces, substituting Norihiko Hibino's score (MGS2 and 3 composer) for dull song loops, and awkwardly crowbarring in uninteresting side content into the main story is your idea of a good remake then you should probably be put out back and shot

First of all I've gotta say this is a MASSIVE improvement over Kiwami 1, I played 0&K1 back to back and it turned me off so bad it took almost a full year for me to get around to this game.

That being said this game almost eclipses 0 for me, but falls flat in a couple areas. The main thing is that it's clearly a very low budget remake. The most obvious tell is that most of the animations are ripped from the PS2 original and slapped onto new models which is very jarring. Secondly, it has some pretty severe pacing issues - the chapters with the Florist's son, the tattoo artist, and Haruka all stop the momentum of the plot dead in its tracks. Lastly, BOY ARE THOSE EMO ROCK SONGS REALLY BAD! I haven't even played the original Yakuza 2, but they took me out of a couple scenes so bad I had to go back to watch the original cutscenes to see what changed.

Those gripes aside I do think there's a lot to love in this game. The absolute best thing about this game is the antagonist, he doesn't have a lot of screen time but literally every word that comes out of his mouth is incredible. By extension OH BOY is the final boss the best in the series up to this point, and I really didn't think they could top Kiwami 1 in that regard. The Dragon engine also isn't nearly as bad as people say, Kamurocho and Sotenbori are gorgeous and super densely populated which adds a lot to the atmosphere. The combat is still fantastic, despite not having the styles like in Yakuza 0 I still found tons of options and fun moves to mess with. I also feel like this is the perfect length for a game like this, even with doing most of the side content I still didn't feel like it overstayed its welcome at all.

Overall this is a great follow-up to Kiwami 1 and a great game in its own right. I can see how people could take issue with certain aspects as a remake though.

Yakuza rocks. Ever since Yakuza 0 came out in the west, it's been enjoying a little renaissance where people have had a second chance to jump into such an iconic series. Kiwami 2 maintains the legacy of quality, and provides another solid Yakuza experience. That experience is admittedly pretty formulaic by now, but the new engine makes the game beautiful, and enhancing the combat with ragdoll physics is exactly what Yakuza deserves. If you already liked Yakuza, you'll like this, if you haven't played any, go play 0.