TL:DR It's solid, i give it 7.5/10. Played on hard. Not my first "Yakuza" game but is my first in the Kiriyu/Majima era, since I played like a dragon first (Ichiban is just so wholesome)

(I may play through it again on Legendary to see if that makes me feel like the combat forces me to think a bit more, in which case I will update this if needed.)

Kinda mixed feelings. Story? 8.5/10. Characters? Generally speaking, Imperfect and flawed, but human, 8.5/10 (the leads at least, there are absolute scumbags like Oda who are terrible terrible people, fuck Oda all my homies hate Oda, but they are still written well, mostly).

Gameplay? Now here is where my main issue lies with this game. It's not bad, but, it feels repetitive even when I'm trying my hardest to try different essences/combat styles and switching between Majima and Kiriyu when possible to keep it fresh, but the enemy variety left a lot to be desired. The thing is, trying out the different combat styles was fun, but the enemies didn't feel like a challenge even on the hard besides maybe the first time you encounter (spoilers: Kuze, since he will throw a little bit of a curve ball at you by doing what you did to everyone else, be a massive hard rock whose main counter is the rush style to be able to quickly dodge). But even that fight took me maybe 5-10 mins before i figured out I could quickly dodge out of the way and treat it like a boxing match. And it was cool, but those "A-HA!" moments were rare, and as someone whose so used to challenging combat like Sekiro (I am aware these are not even remotely the same genre of games), it felt a bit frustrating. I have heard that Yakuza 3 (?) on hard mode is really difficult so I look forward to that, and I'll probably restrict my item usage to make it even more fun, but this game left a little to be desired in the combat department. It's serviceable, and I did have a lot of fun with the Breaker style and Beast style, but it felt a bit shallow. Not a victory I got by being good at the game, but more so just a satisfying thing to knock around goons here and there. CLIMAX BATTLES HOWEVER, are where the game really shines with scenarios that are a little bit more unique in a way by suggesting certain rules for you, which was super interesting but again, nothing I would say is 10/10, just a solid 7.

Overall this game is a fantastic playthrough that has very dark moments, but showcases hope and re-thinks what it means to be a "masculine man", as cliche as that sounds. Kiriyu shows emotions, he cries, Majima cries, Makoto cries, they laugh, they lose friends, they go through so much pain (Majima and Makoto's backstories are just gut-wrenching) and that scene when the two siblings "re-unite", you know which one I'm talking about, genuinely made me have tears in my eyes. A good solid game overall. 7.5/10 without climax battles, 8/10 with.