From what I’ve seen in the community, this game is very under appreciated and that makes me a bit sad. I know the game is a bit messy but I had a blast from beginning to end playing it. The combat is the main thing I see discourse around but honestly I’d say it’s the 2nd best for me. I love that you can’t really button mash to win all fights due to the enemies blocking a lot, really makes the grab and positioning feel rewarding. Worth noting I only played on normal so I have no reference for how hard difficulty feels like. From what I’ve played so far (yakuza 0 up to 3 atm) Kiryu is definitely at his best here. I adore the orphanage sections so much, would love a full game of just doing slice of life stuff lol. The main antagonist is probably my second favorite so far, only behind Ryuji by just a little.
Thanks for reading my ramble, might add more later. Strong 8/10

I think the best word to describe this game would be messy. It’s got really high peaks but also has some things that drag it down a fair bit. Definitely a product of its time in certain regards, would’ve been nice to see some sections get remade. The combat is very similar to 0 with the caveat of having really bad enemy design, particularly the bosses. I’m not sure if I was just playing it wrong or if it’s a skill issue but 80% of the bosses were complete ass to deal with. Most of the enemy encounters were fine and majima’s fights were all good too, I just don’t know what they were cooking with bosses like the red gang brothers and Jingu’s last fight. Overall the good definitely outweighs the bad and this game is still a blast. 7.5/10 Nishiki is phenomenal

Unfortunately this dlc is pretty disappointing for me. 2 new enemies (3 if you count a basic soldier just getting a shield lol), NG++ endgame is extremely grindy, and the new levels are way too short. Out of the new bosses, 1 is completely reused from the base game with no additional attacks, besides summoning 2 other bosses from the base game as adds. I will say that 2 of the new bosses are probably some of the best in the game, so at least there’s that. Hoping that the next dlc is better, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s similar. 5/10 can’t really recommend unless you just adore the base game

Holy shit this game is maliciously cruel, in a good way. The way it uses cruelty on the player is like no other game I’ve ever played. Rain World comes to mind when I think of a cruel game, however it’s cruelty is much different. RW is less oppressive and just harsh due to the simple fact that the world wasn’t made for the player, it’s just a natural world with an ecosystem. This on the other hand feels like it was made explicitly to hurt the player in every opportunity. The cool thing is you can learn and struggle to survive and when you finally do, it gives a feeling like nothing else. I could make a whole essay about my first playthrough experience due to all the crazy shit (and very dumb choices by me lol) that happened. If you pick up this game I HIGHLY ADVISE YOU TO NOT CHOOSE TERROR AND STARVATION! At the time I figured it would only make the game slightly harder but I was very wrong. I pushed through it in the end but this mode definitely feels like you should have prior knowledge for the best experience. There’s a ton of stuff I didn’t touch on like the amazing atmosphere and lore but I’m awful at writing down my thoughts so I’ll leave it here. Fantastic experience 9/10

My first classic survival horror game and also 2nd RE game completed! I ended up enjoying this game so much more than I thought I would, I see why people love it. The environments and aesthetics are so nice and have aged extremely well. The horror elements are pretty much perfect, I was on edge the majority of the time despite all the backtracking and getting used to the enemies. Getting to a save room and hearing that music really hits different the first couple of times. The core controls were annoying but once I adjusted to them, I realized they aged decently well. The enemy variety was good for the length of the game and overall well designed. My favorite enemies have gotta be the crimson heads. I love that killing the normal zombies and not burning/decapitating them sets a timer that allows them to become crimson heads. 10/10