Yakuza Kiwami 2 (Legacy) Review Summary

Engaging Combat Mechanics: The combat system is highly praised for its fluidity, responsiveness, and variety. The Dragon Engine improves combat dynamics, making fights more realistic and enjoyable.

Improved Graphics and Visuals: The game's graphics have seen significant improvements, with detailed character models, stunning visuals, and realistic lighting. The use of the Dragon Engine enhances the overall visual experience.

Excellent Story and Characters: The game features a well-constructed story with engaging characters and relationships. The narrative is praised for its emotional depth, compelling plot twists, and high-level storytelling.

Majima's Saga and Character Development: The Majima Saga is highlighted as a significant addition, providing emotional depth and closure to Majima's story. The character development and additional content are well-received.

Memorable Antagonists: The game features some of the best antagonists in the series, with Ryuji Goda being a fan favorite due to his compelling and engaging character.

Lack of combat styles: The removal of multiple combat styles is a significant downside for many players. This lack of variety makes the combat feel repetitive and less engaging.

Technical and optimization problems: The game suffers from various technical issues, including poor optimization, frame drops, and bugs. These problems detract from the overall enjoyment and smoothness of the game.

Grindy and annoying side quests: Side quests and mini-games are often seen as grindy, annoying, and sometimes poorly designed. This includes issues with difficulty and repetitiveness.

Missing and cut content: The game is criticized for missing content, including cut mini-games, music tracks, and other features that were present in previous entries.

Heat action problems: Heat actions are criticized for being difficult to trigger, poorly synced with audio, and less impactful compared to previous games.

Variety of minigames and side activities: The game includes a diverse range of minigames such as Cabaret Club management, Majima Construction, karaoke, golf, and more. These activities add depth and variety to the gameplay experience.

Enhanced combat mechanics: The game features an improved combat system with a wide range of combos, finishing moves, and environmental interactions. The Dragon Engine enhances combat dynamics and visuals, providing a more realistic and engaging fighting experience.

Engaging storyline and characters: The game offers a well-constructed narrative with emotional moments, character development, and dramatic stories. Majima's saga and the main storyline provide a rich and engaging experience.

Improved graphics and engine: The Dragon Engine provides improved visuals, graphics, and combat mechanics. The new engine enhances the overall presentation and dynamics of the game.

Heat actions and combat improvements: The game introduces heat actions that are faster and more brutal than previous iterations. The combat system includes upgradeable skills and a variety of combat abilities.

Mixed graphics and performance reviews: Players have mixed feelings about the game's graphics and performance. While some praise the incredible detail, smooth animations, and realistic lighting, others report issues with FPS instability, flickering, and the need to lower graphics settings for better performance. The game's high graphics quality is noted, but it requires a powerful PC for the highest settings.

Optimization and performance issues: Many players report optimization and performance issues, including frame drops, poor performance on powerful PCs, and unstable framerates. Some players experience stable performance and no crashes, while others note significant performance issues and technical quirks.

Higher PC specifications required: The game is more demanding in terms of PC specifications compared to previous games. Players note that it requires more resources than usual, which can be a drawback for those with less powerful hardware.

Dragon Engine praised: The Dragon Engine is widely praised for its performance and the beautiful visuals it delivers. Players appreciate the expressiveness of faces, fluid animations, and convincing lighting effects.

Minigame FPS instability: Players report FPS instability specifically with certain minigames, which are often locked at 30-40 FPS. Some minigames require fan-fixes to address these issues.

Highly recommended for fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of the Yakuza series, anime, cinematic storytelling, and beat 'em up genres. It offers extensive content, high replay value, and emotional depth, making it a must-play for those who enjoy long, emotionally dense narratives.

Improvement over previous games: Kiwami 2 is seen as an improvement over Kiwami 1 and is recommended for those who have played previous parts of the series. It offers a very different experience and is suggested for completing the Kiryu saga.

Minor shortcomings but recommended: Despite some minor shortcomings, the game is highly recommended for its overall quality and content. It is suggested for those who enjoy the storyline and gameplay.

Value for money: The game is recommended for its value for money, offering many hours of gameplay and entertainment. It is worth buying at full price for fans of the series and worth picking up on a good sale for others.

Appeals to both fans and newcomers: The game is suitable for both longtime fans of the Yakuza series and newcomers. However, some suggest that newcomers should start with the new version or play previous games first.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals several key issues impacting the Steam Deck experience. Performance issues, including frame rate problems and poor optimization, are significant concerns. Loading screens, particularly black screens during transitions, also detract from the gameplay experience. Additionally, some users have expressed frustration with certain gameplay mechanics. While the game runs well on Steam Deck for some users, others have had to make adjustments, indicating variability in optimization.

Monetization: The game has been criticized for its approach to DLC, with users feeling that necessary content and minor updates are being sold as overpriced DLCs. This practice has led to a negative perception of the game's monetization strategy.

External guides: The primary issues reported by users revolve around technical problems such as alt-tab issues and various bugs and glitches. These problems significantly impact the user experience, requiring external resources and workarounds to mitigate.