Yakuza Kiwami 2

Another good game of the Yakuza games I've played so far. Being the third one I've gone through it leaves me with a lot of hope for future installments that they'll be as awesome as this one, kiwami 1, and zero.

While I know people have a lot of issues with this game (I do myself plot wise) I think the good outweighs the bad in this games case. I'm hoping I'll like Yakuza 3 just as much if not more once I start it

Theres always some debate over the early dragon engine games this and Yakuza 6. however with my 3 playthroughs (2 on xbox, 1 on steam) i can say this game is really good and well worth investing your time into. but yes it had its faults mostly with attack boosting soda that makes the game very easy but you can just ignore if you desire a tougher game. the story doesnt drag on too much and overall theres not a ton of wait til blank happens then contuine the story kiwami 2 finds a really good balance new players will like or even love

I bought this purely so I could play/legally emulate "Virtual-On: Cyber Troopers"
Highly recommend, great game

Insanely underrated, one of my favorite stories in the series, plus it just looks great

Taking place one year after Kiwami 1, the game delivers on the series' blend of drama, comedy, and over-the-top atmosphere. The combat was simplified a bit by the elimination of fighting styles present in 0 and 1, which I consider downgrade. Nevertheless, a fun entry in the series!

honestly great game but imo, not as good as yakuza 0 or Kiwami 1, yes it is made in a new engine, but you play in one fighting style the whole game which gets boring, its always the same heat action animations, the story is really slow, the side missions aren't as good either, item's are less fun overall just not as good. But you do feel like a dragon

Amazing game, awesome story and the gameplay hits just right.

Kind of mid

While the new engine and activities within the game make this game fun. The story isn’t as good as most Yakuza games. Especially the ending which kind of ruined the game for me.

The dragon engine really does carry this game. I feel like combat, even though it’s now one style compared to 3/4 in previous games, is still pretty fun. The long battles in this game are also amazing with the new changes, and I especially enjoyed the Osaka Castle long battle, as scaling the tower along with all the fighting was crazy. The two main mini-games being the cabaret club and Majima construction, are also incredibly fun. I love seeing the return of the Cabaret Club, and it feels even better compared to 0. Majima Construction is also pretty refreshing. It’s fun to dictate how battles work and find a perfect matchup for each round. While I do feel like RGG does a better job in later games refining this type of system, this is still really fun, and fun to collect and use all the characters. I also enjoyed the stories within these mini-games as there is just enough story to keep me wanting the complete these minigames. The mini-games themselves are good, but the toylet one is so funny that I don’t want to spoil it.

My main issue is the story. While I feel like some people will say,” Yakuza isn’t about the story,” it is called Yakuza, not “Random Japanese Man Has a Night Out.” No spoilers. The story of this game works at times, but my main issue is that it doesn’t stick the landing, which I’ve noticed is a trend among other Yakuza games. Yakuza 2 really built up all this tension with different plot elements coming together, and then half haphazardly tried to tie them up within the final fight of the game. I also felt like they could have used the antagonist better, and I know that RGG knows that. The game director has even said that the antagonist was the one that got away. Not to mention that one of the most impactful characters to Kiryu throughout the whole story just decides to head out at the beginning of the next game. What was the point of it all then!? I also felt like the substory was okay, but if you’re playing this game, then you’ve played the other Yakuza games and know how the substories go. Even tho this is my “negative” section, I don’t feel like substories bad, but I feel like they’re forgettable.


Overall. If you’re playing this in chronological order, this one will probably be the weakest. But it’s only the weakest so far because I believe the next game is worse. Not to push anyone away from the series since I believe that there are still fun things to do in the game. However, I can’t ignore how this story ends and also how the events don’t really impact Kiryu in the grand scheme of things.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 actually HASN'T ruined my life. I love this game because Kiryu is a very sexy and charming character and the supporting cast and antagonists are all sexy men. Unfortunately the dragon engine makes me feel like I got hit by a car after getting punched and I'm weaker than a 1 month old puppy with no legs but the game has a good story and characters. Now I can go cry after playing Infinite Wealth and cuddle with my Kiryu body pillow.

Spoiler free Review!

I always hear people talking about how 2 is extremely mid.

I think this is because the other entries thus far were so strong. This game is not bad and is worth playing. I especially liked the Majima saga that, while short, gives us some really needed closure and ties up some loose ends for the story.

I think the main problem with this game is that the story tries to go to many different places and then tries to tie it all up and doesn't really stick the landing.

Everything just happens to be so convenient and the "surprises" they try to drop on you are so telegraphed it's pretty hard not to see some of them coming from a 100 miles off. It's convoluted and not that interesting where I think we could have really told this story is a cooler way by changing a few things.

The hostess game rules as usual.

The construction mini-game with pro wrestlers is insane and fun for the thematic elements but otherwise just sort of whatever.

There are some incredible substories in this game, but for the most part they're fairly lackluster.

The main antagonist is great, but his whole deal doesn't really make any fucking sense and neither do most of the side antagonists. It's all just sort of chasing its tail and kinda... well, honestly mid.

So it's not the best Yakuza game, but it's still a Yakuza game so we're at least signing up for a wild ride.

A good sequel with a beautiful graphical upgrade with great new characters, enjoyed every hour I got out of Kiwami 2.

Playing through the games in order, started with 0.
So far this one has the best combat yet. Plus the physics in the game are either broken or intentionally overdramatic. I can kick a guy, and he bounces around like a pinball machine, then gets up and I do it again. Sometimes they do it to me! It's like the floor turns into ice when someone gets knocked down, I love it!

Story seems pretty good so far, and the graphics are the best I've seen in the games yet. Took some getting used to brightness though. The past two games were pretty dark, but the cities in this one are REALLY lit up from all the signs. Also, some of the less important/substory dialog is absolutely hilarious!

A bunch of gay fags fucking slapping asses and shit. Gayest shit I've ever seen. 10/10

great game, way too easy. do not interact with fanbase

some gripes!!!
> everything related to guns in this franchise is still retarded. good guy gets shot in the chest multiple times? they either do not die or get multiple minutes for their final monologue. bad guy gets shot anywhere in the torso and dies immediately or springs back to life to get shot again (they are now really dead!)
>i thought the romance was terrible. everytime something terrible happens to this girl we just kiss her and everything is okay???? we kill her brother and we are rewarded by her grasp??? is this how it works fr???
>ragdolls in combat are so bad!!!

Il mio preferito della saga Yakuza, uno dei miei giochi preferiti. Combattimento fenomenale, grafica spettacolare e storia maestosa!

Voto 10/10 a mani basse

85 hours in:

9/10
Hot take: I would argue this is overall slightly better than Yakuza 0... but there are one or two things I miss from that game that aren't here. If you combined the strengths of both games, you'd have a 10/10 game. Still, it's another great Yakuza game.

PROS

- The overhaul in combat from Kiwami 2 is overall successful. Punches and kicks feel much more solid.
- Majima Construction mini-game, where you get a squad of people to fight waves of bad guys, is great and adds like 10 hours of content
- Golf is also a welcome edition, with a few different modes and a simple system that works
- Tedious mini games like fishing and that stupid send an agent around the world are gone

THE MEH

- Some mini games have been done before in 0 or Kiwami but now with some quality of life/balancing adjustments.

CONS

- Weapons are difficult to repair
- Removal of 3 styles sometimes stiffles variety in combat
- Story isn't much to write home about

Probably the weakest game Ive played so far. Combat felt so bad even compared to Yakuza 3 somehow. This is the only Yakuza game I have struggled to find enjoyment in

The plot, the minigames, the the interaction of character to npc, it's so perfect. This one I can assure is the best one of all those yakuza series

If this game had 0's combat instead, it'd be amazing. I dunno how it plays on controller (not a real yakuza, mesupposes) but on keyboard it's ridiculous. Kiryu jumps all over the place so landing hits is a dice roll. I just learned to tolerate it since the rest of the game is pretty dang good. the first person cam is kino as hell, and getting to "wrap up" some stuff from 0... as an unlock, was pretty boss too. Has flaws but I think it surpasses K1 in magnitudes

a real man oughta be a little stupid.

Every game I wonder how they're going to top the previous entry and they always find a way. I shed real tears for this game and whether that was because of the Osaka Tower dungeon or because of the touching story is up to viewer discretion. 10/10 would Yakuza Kiwami 2 again.

Loved the game, I played this game immediately after Kiwami 1 and it was a very different experience, took a bit to get used to the new engine and mechanics but afterwards I was left with a beautiful game, good story, fun side content, and of course, Majima Construction.

Whole new engine, whole new experience!
Compared to Yakuza 0 and 1, this game is mechanically quite different.
While I missed it at first, after playing the game, I like what they did with it.
Yakuza 2 is a qualitative addition to the Yakuza series.

So first, the bad, it keeps crashing whenever i try to boot it up, the karaoke makes jingling sounds when you hit a great so you cant really focus on the music with the DING DING DING DING going off, the enemies have uhh ALOT of health, there's only 1 style, you cant unlock the ability to not sugarcoat it until CHAPTER 12 (as iv'e heard), also Kiryu's eyes are scary now.

Now the good: Majima is in the game, the graphics are good, the combat is decently smooth, you can peacock somebodies mother, you can DESTROY every movable object in your way which can be funny, you can FINALLY vault over objects which help traversing alot, THE END.

I don't understand the hate for this game, sure it's green in some places but who the hell cares! Combat is more fun than ever, the Dragon engine physics are incredibly funny, and it's probably the most fun I've had so far with the completion list, I highly recommend this one.

amazing games as always but if you played 0 and did not like it just stop playing the series

Peak story like always especially on majima's saga

Kiwami 1 was disappointing to me so Im glad Yakuza 2 has a much better story.

Might have just become my favorite game. They story is PEAK. Amazing game!

The story in Yakuza 2/Kiwami 2 took longer to enable unlike the previous games in the chronological order of the series but what stood out better here is the way the story gripped me that I felt had the closest drama beats like 0 did.

With this being the first Dragon Engine game I've played, getting to experience both Kamurocho and Sotenbori in the quality this game presented was breathtaking for sure for someone who's so into Japan these days thanks to the series.

Unlike Kiwami, I actually gave some points out due to my personal experience of grappling with the much more streamlined combat system where I expected to have the same complexities as the modern Yakuza games (0 and Kiwami 1) as I personally found the initial adjustment period clunky due to how new the system is apparently in the release history of these games but in the end I found the combat manageable though I heavily prefer the past game engine's combat.

Kiryu's legend maneuvers more into paths less travelled by the one's who aren't chosen but I'm sure to be with Kiryu all the way seeing these through. Even if the massive downgrade of gameplay systems and fidelity will be expected. But I trust myself not to judge the Remastered games just because of what Kiwami 2 accomplished.

best fucking game ever i fucking cried (just like on every single other yakuza game)

The combat is beyond horrible, the game makes you grind for hours to have a fraction of your power from previous game and this degradation of Kiryu isn't explained in any way, even after 10 years in jail he still remembered four fighting styles and here your first enemies are the guys with unloaded pistols... and there is a lot of bullshit like this in the game but the story is TOP TIER, there are still some questionable main quests but a lot less then in kiwami 1 and everything else is very engaging. There are some dumb unrealistic moments but i can close my eyes on them. Fun fact: there is a side quest in this game that criticises itself for combat, side quests are fantastic too, not every one of them turns into a fight like in kiwami 1 and most of them are hillarious.

the main antagonist in this game is one of the most likable in the whole series
combat feels great and the boss fights are unique with lots of style in them
story is emotional with better turns than most of the games
unfortunately the ending is instantly ruined by the intro of 3

Only 7 h in the game and I'm already convinced this is better than 0 and kiwami. Yes, you didn't misread, BETTER THAN 0... fight me about it. :3
It has better storytelling, better fighting mechanics (the ragdoll is hilarious, dragon engine all the way) and it has that japanese anime humor which made me cackle a couple of times. :>

Aight, cya.

The game overall was a big jump in graphics, style, and feel from Yakuza Kiwami 1 and everything felt more realistic. The combat is still not that great, but they've changed it from how it was previously by making it more streamlined. The side stories and minigames are fun as always.

The story had more plot twists than a Bollywood drama, but I guess that's what you come to expect from Yakuza games. I think the story wasn't as good as the previous game. Spoiler: the plot regarding Sayama and all her family dying was trash, many deaths took me out of the immersion with how stupid they were. The ending was mid asf too.

The bonus story in the Majima Saga was awesome. Spoiler: Majima meeting Makoto again had much more meaning and feel than the whole plot of the game.

Overall it was aight.

A good Yakuza for sure, but the Majima Saga is a very meh experience IMO and the cabaret club of Yakuza 0 is somewhat still a better experience (not saying it's bad tho')

Holy Molly! what an experience, If you played the others Y0 and Y1 You would be happy to continue your journey through this game as well, this also has much needed improved combat over 0 and 1 and faster pace of combat! side activities are just as fun.

Terrific story, the game draws you in to actually feeling conflicted about defeating the other dragon. The game play was very fluid even with the removal of the stance system, however, I think the single fighting form was dynamic enough to still flow well. Kiryu is just the most badass character, he take hits like a champ and smashes his way through enemies like they are flimsy plywood.

I immensely enjoyed this game. It's such a good sequel both in story and gameplay. The heat actions in this game are really fun; I particularly enjoyed all of the grappling variations in this entry. All of the big reveals that happen towards the end of the game totally caught me off guard, but at the same time they felt like very satisfying and I think were ultimately justified with the narrative buildup and payoff they're associated with. Moreover, I really liked the small but fun role that Majima played in this entry, especially in the Majima Saga chapters. (9/10)

10/10, my favorite game in the Yakuza series so far. The combat and story are just amazing. Ryu Ga Gotoku just doesn't miss.

Decent Yakuza game (I've only played Y0 Y1 Y2 so far)
Combat starts off fun as you unlock a lot of moves but by the 70% mark kinda gets stale.
Story has some pacing issues (and some asspulls).
Majority of the substories and side content were great as usual. And that makes it worth the playtime if you're into chasing these side content. As for the major side content chunks: Loved the Cabaret section/questline. The Clan Creator section/questline could've used a lot more polish tho.

7/10

It's not an action game, it's a dice simulator. you roll 1-3 - your atack is blocked. you roll 4-5 - your atack is evaded. You roll 6 - congratulations, you hit an enemy.

More of the same amazing content in line with Yakuza 1 and 0. I did not play the original, but I really love how amazing this game looks and feels. Definitely only play if you at least played 1 first as it is a direct sequel. Small gripe is the ragdoll effect in fights - unrealistic, but funny.

I will never get the Majima construction theme out of my head for the rest of my life.

This is a really great game, it's very addicting. Just don't use the in-game V-sync, use Nvidia control panel, as it worked way better for me.

5 minutes spent on gameplay, the rest on mahjong

Basically a newer version of yakuza 0 with yakuza 2 story.

love the Yakuza games. great rich story with great fighting.

Love the improved combat system and seamless world. The combat is SO MUCH better than yakuza 0 and kiwami 1. The plot and presentation is extremely inconsistent oscillating between very captivating to absolute dogshit with idiotic story beats and setups that go nowhere. Thoroughly enjoyed all the Majima bits as usual. As with previous games, all of the side content feels like it was written by a toddler.

I continued my playthrough of the Yakuza franchise, which was highly recommended to me, by diving into Yakuza Kiwami 2. It took me almost three months to finish the game because I played it on and off. However, each time I returned, I quickly remembered what I needed to do to progress.

I enjoyed experiencing the Dragon Engine, although I'm not ready to go back to the PS3 era for Yakuza 3 Remastered. I appreciated all the callbacks not only to Kiwami 1 but also to Yakuza 0. The way they tied up the loose ends from Yakuza 0 provided a perfect send-off. The story itself has been quite thrilling and revealed many unexpected twists that kept me engaged.

If I were to have a saying for this game, it would have been "I don't kill people!" or "Harkua, please stop requesting me to gamble. I don't know how to play Koi!".

Now that all that business is finished, I wonder what’s next for Kiryu’s adventure!

Love this series, it's probably my favourite series of games and I can't recommend them enough.