I give it 4 and half stars because it’s a stellar conclusion to the first main character of my favorite game franchise, but if it wasn’t the last game in Kiryu’s story I’d have given it a much lower rating. I don’t have any problems with the story; it’s cut and dry Yakuza, which is fine. The gameplay did bug me a lot though.

I believe this was the first Yakuza game to use the new Dragon Engine, which opts for more realistic and slower fights instead of what we saw in 5 or 0. It can be pretty goofy which is fine, but there were times the combos just wouldn’t connect when they looked like they should have. I also feel like there’s a lot less variety in Heat Moves due to this push to make the fighting more realistic. I did the same 4 or 5 finishers and moves throughout the entire playthrough. I liked not having loading zones in almost every location. The stamina mechanic while free-roaming is incredibly frustrating, especially because sometimes I had to chase down a guy and take frequent breaks to catch my breath, forcing me to fail the mission. The game was still absolutely beautiful when the frames weren’t dropping. Thankfully Kiwami 2 polished the Dragon Engine up a LOT.