Yakuza Kiwami 2 is the second remake in the long running Yakuza series, based off of the original PS2 action adventure title Yakuza 2. Yakuza Kiwami 2 is the story of Kazuma Kiryu, a hardened Yakuza who will do anything to go bowling, sing some karaoke and have some wacky adventures with a zany cast, with a main story about preventing Japan from erupting into a gang war.
Yakuza Kiwami brought the original games story to the PS3 and PS4, and fleshed out some of the more confusing plot elements. Yakuza Kiwami 2 is expected to do much the same, updating the 2006 PlayStation 2 title, Yakuza 2 to a modern gameplay standard and visual presentation. The game will run on Yakuza 6’s Dragon engine.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 is releasing in Japan on December 7th, 2017. Sega did a survey in August 2017 to determine western interest in the release, but there is currently no official word on localization.
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- 1. Development
- 2. Story
- 3. Gameplay
- 4. Characters
Development
Yakuza Kiwami 2 was leaked on August 24th, 2017 via a unplanned listing on the Taiwanese Playstation Store, with the official announcement two days after. The game was announced alongside Shin Ryu ga Gotoku, Yakuza Online, and Hokuto ga Gotoku.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 was announced to run on the Dragon Engine, which originally powered Yakuza 6. The Dragon engine affords the game a modern presentation and feel, stripping away the constant loading screens of the PS2 original and creating a seamless world.
Several characters had to be recast for the remake, such as Hakuryu now playing Ryo Takashima, Houka Kinosh*ta as Wataru Kurahashi and Susumu Terajima now voicing Jiro Kawara.
Story
The game will largely lift and improve upon the original plot of Yakuza 2, taking place largely in Tokyo’s Shinjuku ward, and a fictionalized version of its district, called in game as Kamurocho. The other half of the games world is a fictionalized Osaka, with the created districts of Sotenbori and Shinseicho.
Taking place a year after the events of Yakuza, and thus Yakuza Kiwami, the Tojo Clan is on the brink of ruin and at risk of starting a turf war against the Osaka based Omi Family, which backed Akira Nishikiyama in the first game. The desperate Tojo clan goes to their former leader, Kazuma Kiryu for help. Kiryu accepts the task, and heads to Osaka to find a peaceful resolution before an all out gang war erupts across Japan.
Kiryu recruits his former comrade, Daigo Dojima to replace Kiryu in the Tojo family, though Dojima doesn’t necessarily want the responsibility and is yet another conflict for Kiryu to resolve. During a trip to Osaka, Kiryu also first meets a rival in Ryuji Goda.
As a side story exclusive toKiwami 2,players get to meet up with fan favourite characters from the original Yakuza 2 and fill in some of the blanks between the games. “The Truth of Goro Majima” takes us through how Majima Construction came to be, what exactly Goro Majima was doing between the games when he left the Tojo clan and gives some additional backstory. Fan favourite Yakuza 0character, Makoto Makimura makes an appearance in this extra chapter, now a chiropractor and somehow overcame her being blind. Video Games!
Gameplay
Much like its predecessors, Yakuza Kiwami 2 is an open world, Third Person Action-Adventure game with combat elements and a mission based structure. Exploring some fictionalized but nonetheless fairly authentic recreations of the Tokyo areas of Shinjuku, Dotonbori and Shinsekai districts.
The gameplay has three fairly distinct parts. Minigames dot the map, such as Bowling, Karaoke and others, which earn you money and XP to unlock more moves for the brawling. Brawling is the meat of the game, where players swap fighting styles on the fly, stringing together impressive combos with environmental attacks to build a meter which unleashes more devastating attacks.
Minigames have been a huge part of the charm of the series according to fans, and the nature of the game as a remake suggests that most of those minigames should return alongside a few new ones. Currently confirmed are Karaoke (because it’s not Yakuza without it), Golfing, Battling cages, and many others. Also confirmed as one of the cooler secrets, somewhere in Kiwami 2’s world exist fully playable versions of Virtua Fighter 2 and VIRTUAL-ON for those deeply devoted Sega nerds. Who even remembers VIRTUAL-ON?
Through using the Dragon engine from Yakuza 6, Yakuza Kiwami 2 allows itself to use a modern presentation with new models and environments, and the fighting engine of Yakuza 6, which was one of its most praised elements, and a huge leap over the stiff PS2 system of the original Yakuza 2 game.
Characters
There’s a wide cast of characters that Kiryu interacts with as the game progresses, but only a handful of major cast members to keep track of. These people all help or hinder his progress to prevent the gang war.
Kazuma Kiryu is the protagonist of the series, an orphan who would rise through the ranks of the Yakuza’s Tojo clan. Entering intoKiwami 2, Kiryu is trying to leave behind his life of crime until the leader he installed in the Tojo clan is brutally murdered, and he is forced to return and find a successor to maintain stability and keep a gang war from spreading across Japan.
During his quest, Kiryu will try to recruit Daigo Dojima to the Tojo clan to take up Kiryu’s mantle of leadership, though the younger Dojima isn’t very enthusiastic about the responsibility following his 5 year stint in prison. He isn’t too broken up about the death of his father, following Kiryu to Kansai more to get his revenge on Goda who set him up and landed him in jail 5 years ago.
Goro Majima is something of a frenemy to Kiryu, with a twisted sense of loyalty that says only Majima is worthy of killing Kiryu. Between the events of the last game and YakuzaKiwami 2, Majima establishes himself and his men as a construction company, while taking over a secret underground society called Purgatory. He’ll help Kiryu fend off the Omi family during the events of the game and both Majima and his construction company are featured in the game’s expanded story.
Kaoru Sayama, colloquially known as “The Yakuza Eater” for her hard work and results in bringing down Yakuza members, the young woman is a rising star in the Osaka Police Department’s 4th division. A detective at only 25 years old, her skills in her line of work are undeniable. She will take Kiryu into protective custody during the game, so she can watch the movements of his clan.
The Dragon of Kansai, Ryuji Goda is the main force behind the impending gang war in Japan and the most powerful person standing in Kiryu’s way. Goda is a proud, possibly psychotic man who hates that he shares his “Dragon” title with Kiryu and will strive to destroy Kiryu so that there can only be one. He is the one behind the death of Daigo’s father, set up Daigo to go to prison and while Kiryu is away on his peace deal, stages the coup that he hopes will ignite the gang war between the Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance.
Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.
