Yakuza Kiwami Switch review – Kiryu-chan! Today

On a dark and rainy night in Kamurocho, a figure in a striking white suit is found standing over a dead body. That’s Kazuma Kiryu, the star of the show in Yakuza Kiwami. Here, we follow his story through Japan’s criminal underground – with some frequent breaks to eat beef bowls or play arcade games. Now, finally, I can play Yakuza on Switch. This is all I’ve wanted since the console came out in 2017.

Before I get stuck into the Switch version, let’s take a little look at what this entry to the longstanding series is. Yakuza Kiwami is Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s remake of the original Yakuza (2005) game, which first appeared in 2016 on PlayStation 3 and 4. Since then, it’s made its way to PC, Xbox, Amazon Luna, and now the Nintendo Switch. While it stays true to the first game, it expands on the fighting systems and has some adjustments to bring it in line with Yakuza 0, and subsequent games in the series.

Yakuza Kiwami introduces us to Kazuma Kiryu and the Kamurocho setting, which is based on the real-life Kabukicho area in Japan. Here, you’re thrust right into issues between the Dojima and Kazama families under the Tojo Clan name. Kiryu, the endless good guy that he is, takes the fall for a murder he didn’t commit and spends ten long years in prison. The game takes place after he’s released and it turns out that ten years in the clink made him soft.

That’s where my favorite character, Goro Majima, comes in. Even if you’ve never played a Yakuza game before you’ve definitely seen this man – he wears leather trousers, an eye patch, and a snake–print suit jacket, usually paired with a weapon and a high-pitched exclamation of “Kiryu-chan”. If you (somehow) don’t like Mad Dog Majima and his jazzy coat, this may not be the best game or franchise for you. As, in order to re-learn your Dragon style, you have to fight him. A lot. Every day. This is known as the ‘Majima Everywhere’ system. Sometimes he’s dressed as a cop, other times he has a knife or a bat – he pops up anywhere and everywhere and demands a fight.

Other than being harassed at every free moment by Majima, Kiryu makes it his job to find the woman he had his eyes on ten years ago, who’s now mysteriously disappeared. This leads him to find a scared and lonely little girl Haruka – and pretty soon a dog, too – who he takes care of because he’s just an angel, really. There’s a lot more to it than that, like finding out what happened to Kiryu’s old friend Nishikiyama and fixing the rifts appearing in the Tojo Clan, but that’s for you to discover on your own.

So what can Kiryu do in combat without his signature Dragon style? He has four combat styles – Brawler, Rush, Beast, and Dragon. Each offers a different way of beating up gangs of neerdowells on the street, and it’s down to personal preference which one you use most. Rush style, as the name suggests uses quicker attacks to jab at your foes, whereas Beast is slower but hits harder. For me, Brawler is the best overall as it allows for more movement and the grabbing of objects – it’s really fun cracking someone over the head with a traffic cone or a street sign.

Playing the main story takes around 15-20 hours, and it’s almost like a TV show at points with the amount of cutscenes. This isn’t a bad thing, by the way, you’ll likely find yourself engrossed. Some of you may not enjoy the first few hours due to the sheer amount of cutscenes and information to take in, sprinkled between fetch quests to get you used to finding things in Kamurocho. While it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it does set up your need to go looking around the city during most quests.

Simply following the main story is not how you play a Yakuza game, however. You go down every street, go into every business, talk to everyone – there are so many side quests of all kinds to pick up from the mundane to the downright foolish at times.

Perhaps all this street brawling has you in need of a rest. Well, Kamurocho is brimming with activities for Kiryu. Why not go eat a beef bowl, hit up Club Sega, play Pocket Circuit for several hours, indulge in some shogi, spend all your yen on UFO machines, or stop off for some karaoke? Let it be known that Dame Da Ne is an absolute banger and the karaoke minigame is excellent all through the series – but I truly suck at it so I apologize for making Kiryu look bad. You can easily spend upwards of 60 hours on one playthrough by messing around in the local businesses.

The leisurely side of Yakuza is where my other favorite character comes in – Bun-chan! Bun-chan is the name of the very round Java sparrow toys found in the UFO machines. Fun fact – my partner and I actually bought each other real-life Bun-chans off Etsy one Christmas, completely unbeknownst to each other. Bun-chans are just delightful little guys and I highly recommend you get one to accompany Kiryu on his journey.

Now, given that the original game came out on the PlayStation 2, and the remake has come to all modern consoles, how does it hold up on Switch? In my experience, it’s perfectly fine. It’s not incredibly crisp and seamless, but it holds up very well considering. I expected a couple of frame drops or stuttering, but really the only ‘issue’ I found was that during busy fights with lots of dudes, especially indoors, the frame rate dropped a little. Even then, it’s barely noticeable and I’ve certainly played a lot worse.

Obviously, gameplay isn’t as HD as you can get on PC, but on such a small screen, it’s fine. If you look closely you can see faces of passers-by load in as they approach, but as you’re surrounded by thugs, side quests, beef bowl shops, and the ever-looming threat of Majima, it’s hard to notice it.

Regardless of whether you’re new to the franchise, a returning player, or already own all the games – I highly recommend picking up Kiwami on Switch, even if it’s just so you can play it on the go, especially for $19.99. It’s a good place to start as it sets up the feel and tone of what else comes in the series but is different enough for those who played the original to offer something new instead of just a replay.

If this has you in the mood for more action games on Switch, we’ve got some recommendations for you. Perhaps you yearn for some fighting games? We’ve got some of those, too.