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Yakuza Kiwami

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Yakuza Kiwami
The cover art shows a colored render of a young girl walking through a city, framed by a gray-scale render of two men's faces.
European PlayStation 4 cover art
Developer(s)Sega CS1
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Koji Yoshida
Producer(s)Mitsuhiro Shimano
Designer(s)Kazuki Hosokawa
Programmer(s)
  • Koji Tokieda
  • Yutaka Ito
Artist(s)Nobuaki Mitake
Writer(s)Masayoshi Yokoyama
SeriesYakuza
Platform(s)
ReleasePlayStation 3
  • JP: January 21, 2016
PlayStation 4
  • JP: January 21, 2016
  • WW: August 29, 2017
Microsoft Windows
  • WW: TBA
Genre(s)Action-adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Yakuza Kiwami[a] is an action-adventure video game developed by Sega, and is a remake of Yakuza, the first game in the Yakuza series. Yakuza Kiwami was released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan in 2016, and on PlayStation 4 in Europe and North America in 2017. It will also be released for Microsoft Windows. Yakuza Kiwami 2, a remake of Yakuza 2, followed in 2017.

Gameplay

Like the original game, Yakuza Kiwami is an action-adventure game with role-playing elements set in an open world environment and played from a third-person perspective. The player controls protagonist Kazuma Kiryu as he explores the streets of Kamurocho, a fictional district of Tokyo based on the real-life Kabukichō district. In addition to the main story, players will randomly encounter enemies on the street to battle, as well as meet people that will offer Kiryu side quests which can be completed for rewards.

Similar to the prequel Yakuza 0, Kiwami features four fighting styles that the player can switch between in combat: the balanced Brawler style, the slow and heavy Beast style, the weak but quick Rush style, and Kiryu's traditional Dragon style. Players will earn both money and experience points by defeating enemies or completing side quests. Experience points can be used to acquire upgrades for Kiryu such as new techniques or an extension to his health bar. Money can be spent to purchase equipment or healing items, or to play various minigames and side-activities such as gambling, karaoke, and the card battle game Mesuking. Completing certain objectives will also grant the player special Completion Point currency; this CP can be spent to receive additional bonuses, such as special items or character upgrades.

Kiwami introduces a new gameplay system called "Majima Everywhere", in which rival character Goro Majima will appear frequently to challenge Kiryu to a fight. Majima will appear randomly during exploration, as well as in predetermined challenges based on the player's progress in Majima Everywhere. Defeating Majima in different scenarios will increase the player's Majima Everywhere rank and unlock new abilities in Kiryu's Dragon style.[1]

Plot

Main article: Yakuza (video game) § Plot

Similar to the plot of the original Yakuza, the game centers around yakuza lieutenant Kazuma Kiryu and his decision to take the blame for a murder committed by his friend Akira Nishikiyama, spending ten years in prison before being granted parole. A free man, Kiryu discovers that Nishikiyama is now a powerful yakuza boss, his childhood friend Yumi has gone missing, and everyone is searching for ten billion yen that was stolen from his former organization, the Tojo Clan. As war erupts throughout the streets of Kamurocho between many different factions (including government agents and the Triad), Kiryu makes it his mission to find Yumi and the missing money, as well as to protect Haruka, a mysterious young girl whom everyone seems to be after. Eventually, this quest ends with a remorseful Nishikiyama sacrificing himself to kill Haruka's father, a corrupt politician bent on destroying the Tojo, and Yumi dying in Kiryu's arms from a gunshot wound. Rather than give into despair and allow himself to be arrested again, Kiryu leaves the Tojo and becomes Haruka's adoptive father.

However, the story also introduces two new plot lines focused on Nishikiyama and Majima, a ruthless Tojo captain and Kiryu's rival. In the latter's case, he is reintroduced as a sadistic and brutal yakuza who comes to despise Kiryu for his belief in the Tojo's traditional code of honor, which he regards as hypocritical. When Kiryu refuses to allow Majima to provoke him into physical combat, he swears to one day exact his revenge. The same day Kiryu is released from prison, Majima challenges him to a fight and wins, pointing out that Kiryu's once unbeatable combat skills have grown rusty after a decade behind bars. Feeling that it would be unfair to fight Kiryu at anything less than his physical prime, Majima arranges a series of elaborate scenarios to manipulate him into fight after fight, posing as, among other things, a taxi driver, a hostess, a police officer, a bartender, an idol, and even a zombie, as well as repeatedly ambushing him or just challenging him to fight on the streets. Though he initially regards Majima as a nuisance, Kiryu comes to recognize the usefulness of his efforts. He also realizes that Majima (albeit grudgingly) idolizes him for his strength and reputation and considers him his only true equal as a yakuza, to the point that he allows one of his men to stab him rather than Kiryu and gets shot helping his rival fight off an ambush by mutinous yakuza. Once Kiryu regains his abilities, Majima will challenge him to one final fight, after which he vows to continue fighting Kiryu for fun rather than to prove a point.

For Nishikiyama, his story is told through cutscenes that occur after each chapter is completed, explaining how he went from Kiryu's closest friend in the Tojo Clan to his greatest enemy: following Kiryu's arrest, Nishikiyama is given his own "family" to control, with the expectation that he would look out for Kiryu now that he had been banished from the clan. However, he proves to be an incompetent leader, allowing his men to muscle in on territory controlled by other bosses in order to raise money for an illegal heart transplant for his sister. Humiliated for his actions and learning that the surgeon embezzled the money to pay off his gambling debts before resigning from the hospital (and thus leaving his sister to die), Nishikiyama decides to atone for his failures by committing seppuku. When one of his men interrupts him, Nishikiyama's rage and anger over the realization that Kiryu will always overshadow him as a yakuza boils over, and he stabs the man to death before using the blood to slick back his hair, completing his transformation into the man Kiryu would encounter during the main story.

Development

Kiwami improved the resolution, framerate, textures and loading times compared to the original game, and additional content was added to resolve some of the more confusing plot points, as well as tie the story more closely to the events of the prequel title Yakuza 0.[2] A steelbook edition of the game was released as part of the western launch.[3]

Reception

The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 versions were the top two best-selling games in Japan during their release week, selling 103,256 copies for PlayStation 4 and 60,427 for PlayStation 3.[11] Sega's Chief creative officer Toshihiro Nagoshi stated that the western preorders for Yakuza Kiwami were generally good for the series.[12]

Accolades

The game was nominated for "Game, Classic Revival" at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards.[13][14]

Sequel

Main article: Yakuza Kiwami 2

In August 2017, Sega announced Yakuza Kiwami 2, a PlayStation 4 remake of Yakuza 2 in the same style as Yakuza Kiwami, for a December 2017 release in Japan.

Notes

  1. ^ Ryū ga Gotoku: Kiwami (Japanese: 龍が如く 極, "Like a Dragon: Extreme")

References

  1. ^ Limon, Nicholas. "What's New in Yakuza Kiwami?". Twinfinite. Archived from the original on 7 May 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Linneman, John (7 February 2016). "Kiwami is the next best thing to a Shenmue". EUROGAMER.net. Archived from the original on 10 February 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Strichart, Scott. "See How It All Began with Yakuza Kiwami, out August 29". Playstationblog. Sony. Archived from the original on 29 April 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ "Yakuza Kiwami for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  5. ^ Glagowski, Peter (August 21, 2017). "Review: Yakuza Kiwami". Destructoid. Archived from the original on August 27, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Romano, Sal (January 12, 2016). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1414". Gematsu. Archived from the original on March 2, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Cork, Jeff (August 21, 2017). "A Blast From The Past - Yakuza Kiwami - PlayStation 4". Game Informer. Retrieved March 2, 2018.
  8. ^ Brown, Peter (August 21, 2017). "Yakuza Kiwami Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on March 19, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Kemps, Heidi (August 21, 2017). "Yakuza Kiwami Review". IGN. Archived from the original on October 8, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Hawkins, Janine (August 21, 2017). "Yakuza Kiwami review". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved March 2, 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ コンシューマソフト週間販売ランキングTop20 (集計期間：2016年1月18日～1月24日) [Consumer software weekly sales ranking Top20 (January 18 to January 24, 2016)]. 4Gamer. 27 January 2016. Archived from the original on 10 February 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "『セガなま　～セガゲームクリエイター名越稔洋の生でカンパイ～8月回". YouTube. Sega. Event occurs at [time needed]. Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "Nominee List for 2017". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 9 February 2018. Archived from the original on 15 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "Horizon wins 7; Mario GOTY". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 13 March 2018. Archived from the original on 14 March 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2018. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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