Yakuza Kiwami Reviews
After years, Yakuza Kiwami has finally arrived on the Nintendo Switch. And the quality of the remake of the first game to tell the story of Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima, is impressive. Apart from the lack of Brazilian Portuguese, there are no other demerits for the title, which delivers in combat, story, setting, fun, narrative, soundtrack, design and everything else.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Although Yakuza Kiwami has some small problems, the game is an excellent choice, especially for newcomers who want to know more about Kiryu and his series. Yakuza 0 would also be another very good choice, but Kiwami manages to stand out well as a unique story that doesn't need others to give it context. If you want to get to know the franchise, this is the perfect chance.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Yakuza Kiwami is a highly recommended game for its narrative, originality, and minigames, but the Nintendo Switch port is the least ideal way to experience it. While playable, performance issues, unstable frame rates, and battery concerns make it better suited for larger screens with better image quality and smoother gameplay.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Don’t get me wrong; at the end of the day, this is still Yakuza Kiwami, and that means you can have a lot of fun with. I loved revisiting it, for instance. The great writing, characters, music, everything is here. But the Switch just isn’t the best place to enjoy this kind of game. From the unstable framerate to the short battery life, this immersive narrative brawler needs to be enjoyed on a big screen, with great visuals and framerate. Which you can do, if you play it on a PS4, PS5, or Xbox.
As a Switch title, Yakuza Kiwami is perfect and feels right at home on this hardware.
Yakuza Kiwami comes to Nintendo Switch with good, solid port that faithfully brings the lights and sounds of Kamurocho onto a handheld. Despite some flaws in performance, Yakuza Kiwami on Switch retains its smooth and fun combat system, rich and compelling story, and all the content of existing console and PC versions.
The Switch version of Yakuza Kiwami might not be the absolutely ideal way to play the first game in the Like a Dragon series, but it runs quite well on the system and remains an absolute delight.
I’ve ended a lot of reviews of Switch ports over the years saying some variation of this may not be the best version of the game, but it’s worth your time if the Switch is your preferred platform. That’s not the case for Yakuza Kiwami. This version simply isn’t worth your time and it doesn’t matter whether you have another way to play the game or not. It isn’t just inferior; it feels terrible to play. Hopefully, the team behind this port will keep working on improving performance because there’s still a solid title underneath this version’s issues. Still, there are too many great experiences on the platform to spend your time on a game that feels like this.
Yakuza Kiwami continues to be a great game. I had as much fun as I did the first time I played it, and I really think it's a good choice for both those who have never played it and those who want a good distraction to pass the time.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Yakuza Kiwami has really brought me back into loving the Yakuza series again by remaking the very game that made me drop it. Now that is exactly what a remake should do. Now I’m really looking forward to the sixth game and the remake of the second. In the meantime, I shall catch up on all that I have missed.
Yakuza Kiwami does a remarkable job of bringing a PS2 era cult classic to modern audiences in a fresh way, even if some poorly aged parts drag it down a little.
Now while I wouldn’t say that Yakuza Kiwami is a perfect experience, it’s damned fun and I can see where other brawlers got their inspiration over the years. With a solid story, great mechanics and characters that you actually care about, I regret having taken this long to get into the craziness of Kamurocho with Kazuma Kiryu.
Yakuza Kiwami is a remake of the original Yakuza, which not only updates it in its technical section, but also knows how to implement all the improvements and possibilities of the most current Yakuzas. Without being perfect or as complete as the last installments, it is still the perfect entry point to the franchise, especially if we have never played any, or made it to its first installment so many years ago.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
With Yakuza Kiwami, SEGA have brought the series starting point up to a modern standard and created the perfectly jumping in point for the series.
If you've never played a Yakuza game before then Yakuza Kiwami is a great place to start.
Yakuza Kiwami follows hot on the heels of the prequal and save for a much more compact narrative nothing is drastically different and that's perfect. Yakuza is still the undisputed king of punching bad people in the face very hard and with more Yakuza games potentially on the horizon, it's never been a better time to flex Kiryu's muscles.
Yakuza Kiwami is a great game. Certainly not everybody’s cup of tea, especially those that aren’t a fan of Japanese culture or media in languages other than English. But I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with Yakuza Kiwami. While not as long as other games in the Yakuza franchise, it’s great story and substories(side quests) combined with it being the perfect jumping on point for anyone looking to dive into the series for the first time make it well worth the asking price.
Yakuza Kiwami has been another great addition to a series with nothing but great games. While I would say that its high notes aren’t as good as Yakuza 0’s, this can be excused for the most part as it technically is the first game of the series. Either way this game will please fans new and old so don’t miss out on it!
Yakuza Kiwami was like a rollercoaster ride with the most satisfying combat, the mini games were fun and exploring Kamuroch was a blast. There’s never been a better time to try out the Yakuza series and Kiwami is definitely the best game to start with.