This review contains spoilers
A game with incredible highs and some pretty obvious lows, but overall Kiwami 2 was a blast to play through, now this is how you make a Yakuza sequel
Getting into the things I didn't like first, the Dragon Engine definitely felt a bit underwhelming and I can easily see why people hated it. Considering how much I love 0 and Kiwami 1 four style system, it was definitely a bummer, along with the upgrade system which made it the first of the three games which I did not fully upgrade every single skill due to the five orb system, something about the combat just felt very unsatisfying especially when you break a combo after two hits due to guards and every non boss fight feels like you are in a bounce house. Kiryu feels stronger but also a lot more sluggish, I know I'm complaining a lot about the gameplay considering the next few games from 3 to 6 are probably worse (6 especially being the Dragon Engine first game) but if the story is this good I can honestly still go through with it. The game can look absolutely gorgeous most of the time but some of the things like the green filter also did bothered me. Story wise it's definitely an improvement from Kiwami 1 but there are still parts where I think less is more. Some of the new minigames were also like uhhhhh we did not needed this shit. These are really the only things holding it back from me giving it a higher score because everything else basically hits that Yakuza action sweet spot for me.
We finally moved on directly to a grander scale and higher stakes from just the internal Tojo clan conflicts, setting up confrontations and all-out war between Omi and the Tojo Clan, with the Jingweon Mafia being a third party who's true intentions remain undefined until the end having me on the edge of my seat constanty. One thing I was worried was how the story would go forward considering Tojo Clan is washed af at the start and a lot of the investment holding it for me like Nishiki, Kazama and Shimano are gone but Daigo definitely fills that hole for me and I'm excited to see where he will go from here, he's a charismatic character and I love that him and Kiryu has this rebellious son and father/uncle dynamic throughout the game.
Easily the best part of the game though, of course I can't forget to mention the man, Ryuji Goda, what a fucking amazing antagonist he is. He steals the show in every scene he is in and acts as a perfect foil for Kiryu at this point in time. Kiwami 2 explores themes of parenthood and how it shaped Ryuji into the broken man he is, under different circumstances he could have ended up on a different path just like Nishiki and is a reflection of Kiryu if he never had someone like Kazama in his life. Hence another perfection of a final boss, a battle between two dragons and only through winning will Ryuji is able to create meaning in his life. Damn from Shibusawa to Nishiki to Ryuji, Yakuza just can't stop making peak fiction final bosses, the final fight is probably one of my favorite so far in the series as well, A Scattered Moment went so hard. I doubted whether I would like someone as arrogant as him at first but at the end it was him and Kiryu, two broken man beating each other up and wanting to the respect of the other, this shit fucking broke me man, seeing his final words to his sister was just ahhhhhhhhhh painnnn
Speaking of Kiryu he's great as well, in this game he starts having to shoulder the responsibilities and burden of the Tojo clan caused by him in Kiwami 1 and the weight of sins Kazama left behind, further enhancing some of the events back in 0 and Kiwami 1 where we learned more about Kazama, his relationship with Sayama is also great here, I wished she wasn't written out in the next game from what I know later on, bro and Nishiki could never get over Yumi it seems.
Majima is cool as always, his substory felt a bit tact on but seeing Makoto again and their scenes/karaoke made me bawled my eyes out so I will forgive it. He's also such a fun wild card in this game and I'm glad they toned down his crazy psycho shit a bit, Majima Construction Clan Creator is the best thing of all time and as someone who finished all levels, if it ain't peak gaming then idk what is. It was also nice seeing him reunited with Yuki again in the cabaret minigame though yeah the cabaret minigame in Kiwami 2 is pretty bad compared to back in 0.
Overall, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives for me and being a story over gameplay guy I can overlook some of the flaws with it I love the direction of the story too much to not be invested in it and at the end of the day I still found the Dragon Engine fun to play, just a few gripes but otherwise I do welcome the change and looking at how good Judgment is as the third dragon engine game I'm definitely in support of it, the next few games will definitely be an interesting direction from here.
Getting into the things I didn't like first, the Dragon Engine definitely felt a bit underwhelming and I can easily see why people hated it. Considering how much I love 0 and Kiwami 1 four style system, it was definitely a bummer, along with the upgrade system which made it the first of the three games which I did not fully upgrade every single skill due to the five orb system, something about the combat just felt very unsatisfying especially when you break a combo after two hits due to guards and every non boss fight feels like you are in a bounce house. Kiryu feels stronger but also a lot more sluggish, I know I'm complaining a lot about the gameplay considering the next few games from 3 to 6 are probably worse (6 especially being the Dragon Engine first game) but if the story is this good I can honestly still go through with it. The game can look absolutely gorgeous most of the time but some of the things like the green filter also did bothered me. Story wise it's definitely an improvement from Kiwami 1 but there are still parts where I think less is more. Some of the new minigames were also like uhhhhh we did not needed this shit. These are really the only things holding it back from me giving it a higher score because everything else basically hits that Yakuza action sweet spot for me.
We finally moved on directly to a grander scale and higher stakes from just the internal Tojo clan conflicts, setting up confrontations and all-out war between Omi and the Tojo Clan, with the Jingweon Mafia being a third party who's true intentions remain undefined until the end having me on the edge of my seat constanty. One thing I was worried was how the story would go forward considering Tojo Clan is washed af at the start and a lot of the investment holding it for me like Nishiki, Kazama and Shimano are gone but Daigo definitely fills that hole for me and I'm excited to see where he will go from here, he's a charismatic character and I love that him and Kiryu has this rebellious son and father/uncle dynamic throughout the game.
Easily the best part of the game though, of course I can't forget to mention the man, Ryuji Goda, what a fucking amazing antagonist he is. He steals the show in every scene he is in and acts as a perfect foil for Kiryu at this point in time. Kiwami 2 explores themes of parenthood and how it shaped Ryuji into the broken man he is, under different circumstances he could have ended up on a different path just like Nishiki and is a reflection of Kiryu if he never had someone like Kazama in his life. Hence another perfection of a final boss, a battle between two dragons and only through winning will Ryuji is able to create meaning in his life. Damn from Shibusawa to Nishiki to Ryuji, Yakuza just can't stop making peak fiction final bosses, the final fight is probably one of my favorite so far in the series as well, A Scattered Moment went so hard. I doubted whether I would like someone as arrogant as him at first but at the end it was him and Kiryu, two broken man beating each other up and wanting to the respect of the other, this shit fucking broke me man, seeing his final words to his sister was just ahhhhhhhhhh painnnn
Speaking of Kiryu he's great as well, in this game he starts having to shoulder the responsibilities and burden of the Tojo clan caused by him in Kiwami 1 and the weight of sins Kazama left behind, further enhancing some of the events back in 0 and Kiwami 1 where we learned more about Kazama, his relationship with Sayama is also great here, I wished she wasn't written out in the next game from what I know later on, bro and Nishiki could never get over Yumi it seems.
Majima is cool as always, his substory felt a bit tact on but seeing Makoto again and their scenes/karaoke made me bawled my eyes out so I will forgive it. He's also such a fun wild card in this game and I'm glad they toned down his crazy psycho shit a bit, Majima Construction Clan Creator is the best thing of all time and as someone who finished all levels, if it ain't peak gaming then idk what is. It was also nice seeing him reunited with Yuki again in the cabaret minigame though yeah the cabaret minigame in Kiwami 2 is pretty bad compared to back in 0.
Overall, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives for me and being a story over gameplay guy I can overlook some of the flaws with it I love the direction of the story too much to not be invested in it and at the end of the day I still found the Dragon Engine fun to play, just a few gripes but otherwise I do welcome the change and looking at how good Judgment is as the third dragon engine game I'm definitely in support of it, the next few games will definitely be an interesting direction from here.