I’m glad I gave this one a chance because it went from literally making me fall asleep after 10 minutes of playing to holding my attention for days. As a package, this Yakuza adventure still falls short of blowing my mind in the way 0 did. However, it redeems a lot of things I considered abject failures in Kiwami, such as the character writing, cutscene presentation, and combat system.

The story isn’t perfect—there are some choices that feel silly, or at worst, rushed—but I ultimately can forgive most of those missteps because of how high the peaks go. (i.e. thinking “holy shit, [this character] is fucking badass” every other cutscene)

Which I think is a good sign—when, regardless of the destination, you’re just satisfied with how the journey went.