Yakuza Kiwami, the PlayStation 4 remake of the original Yakuza title, is now available in the Americas and Europe. Feel like celebrating? Put on your fanciest jacket and watch the official launch trailer above.
As a remake, Kiwami improving the resolution, framerate, textures and loading times of the original. However, the new game also adds al little more story content to resolve a few plot points, and tie the game’s events to the prequel title Yakuza 0.
Sega has released a short introduction for Yakuza’s story, in case you never played the PlayStation 2 version or the prequel.
The game begins with series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu getting sent to prison for the murder of his family patriarch (which he didn’t commit). To make matters worse, during the 10 years of his imprisonment, not only does Kiryu’s clan expel him from the yakuza, but ¥10 billion (~$100 million) goes missing from the clan treasury.
Worse yet, Kiryu’s childhood sweetheart is also nowhere to be found, and with the entirety of the Japanese underworld on the hunt for the missing cash, Kiryu is all but lost until he finds the orphan girl Haruka, searching for her aunt who shares the same name as Kiryu’s missing love. What follows from there is a web of betrayal, underworld politics, and redemption as nothing will stop Kiryu from regaining his honor.
Expect plenty of melee action wrapped in an intense crime drama. The game does have it’s lighter moments, though, like a rousing karaoke session, or lively night on the town Kamurocho – the fictional red-light district of Tokyo the game is set in.
Yakuza Kiwami should be a good entry point for western gamers who never got the chance to try the Yakuza series. Although, Yakuza 0 might be a slightly better choice, for story reasons.
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