RULING DIES OUT
I don't really know how to start this review. It's hard for me to put into words how I feel about this game, it's perception given by others, and my already strong feelings for the source material it's based on. I should preface this review by saying I don't think Yakuza Kiwami is a bad game, but I think it's an absolute failure as a remake and several other things. Everything about the original game that made it so unique is... simply gone. The fantastic atmosphere, stellar soundtrack, rock solid pacing, it's not present anymore.
Visually this game is just extremely bland. The aesthetic is simply copy pasted from Yakuza 0 but now without the 80's flair from that game, making it look so bleak and uninspired. The game still looks good, sure. But none of it's original vibe is even close to being present. The dingy, lived in streets of Kamurocho, filled with a nasty underbelly hidden from the average citizen... missing. Everything feels just a bit too sterile. The residents of Kamurocho no longer feel like individuals who live here and have their own lives to attend to, it's just generic NPCs transiting.
The combat is "technically" better than the original, but I also don't care. It's the exact same as Yakuza 0 with some slight enhancements, that's great! Maybe make your enemies better designed around this. I won't act like Yakuza 1's bosses were particularly amazing, but they were fun and quick. Now these bosses have became absolutely loaded with health, even having the ability to entirely regenerate full bars if you don't have the correct heat action to stop them. Everything is so much more bloated for NO reason. All of these enhancements to 0's combat would be perfect in a game that ISN'T THIS ONE. Every boss is worse than the original, the only one even being close in quality is the final boss... yeah. I'm being serious.
Even the music is worse. They're not exactly bad remixes I guess but they're so much less interesting and several tracks are flat out missing. It doesn't help that this game doesn't ever USE any of the music it has for normal battles aside from like, 3 themes. The remix for the chapter 10 boss, Turning Point, is horrid. It maintains nothing that made the source so atmospheric and emotional, now becoming a lame trap remix pretty much.
Pacing was another major strength of Yakuza 1. While I still managed to finish Kiwami in a similar length of time, everything generally felt more drawn out for no reason. For example, in chapter 3 you pick up this one item pretty quickly and move on. Kiwami, however, decides to slightly draw this out by adding a couple extra steps after finding the item and like - literally what is the point. SERIOUSLY. Thanks for wasting my time, I guess?
Majima everywhere is another detriment to both the pace and tone of the story. Majima in og 1 only appeared like three times, and I a story context it made sense. For some reason in this game however Majima has gone full cockstalker mode and will stop at nothing to fight you in both scripted events and random battles. Now, to be nice for a second, I like the scripted events! They're charming. But why are they in this game? It's extremely inconsistent with his presence in the main story, now being this goofball of a character compared to his gritty maniacal self in the main narrative. Who is this even trying to appeal to? Majima didn't act like this in 0, nor did he in 1. It's like RGG thought the original game was too mature so they needed the game to be sillier like 0, so they threw in a popular character from that game and wrote up a bunch of wacky scenarios. I don't get it man.
And that's sort of just what my problem is. I don't understand what this game wants to be. Is it trying to turn Yakuza 1's story into a sequel to 0's? Well, I'm sorry but... the game wasn't written like that. It was meant to be viewed in it's original context with no future retcons or whatever. Then is it trying to be a remake of 1 that preserves what the original intended to be? Well it surely didn't do that either! Copying 80% of the content and assets from 0 alongside even cutting a couple substories, cutscenes, and songs from the source material is a major red flag and a sign that your remake isn't working. The game is simply just lazy.
I'm tired of this whole common mentality that Kiwami is better than 1 because it has new things to tie into 0, because Kiwami doesn't improve upon... ANYTHING from it's source. I genuinely can't think of a single thing this game did better than the original. "They added Nishiki backstory cutscenes!!" They're superfluous. They elaborate upon things we didn't need to know and isn't enough to warrant a full blown remake of a perfectly solid game.
I don't really know how to structure or end this review at all, because quite honestly I'm just writing off of pure instinct. I'm sorry this review has been so negative but like, I'm just disappointed. It's a pointless remake that isn't worthy of replacing Yakuza 1. At all. Easily the weakest RGG game I've played so far, being ""okay"" at best. And that does not cut it for this studio period. Skip this one. Play the original instead.

So, after playing all of the mainline Yakuza titles prior to this in release order, I’ve finally arrived at Yakuza 0. I do like this game, but I don’t really get it like most others. People online and my friends had kept telling me about how good this game is, but I didn’t always see it. For a while during my playthrough, I was skeptical of all the praise Yakuza 0 had received, although now that I’ve reached the end, I understand it a lot better now.
Starting with the combat, I found myself enjoying it as it feels very arcadey and flows well. Heat actions did feel overly long at times, which isn’t a problem exclusive to this game, however it felt particularly annoying here. Overall, I didn’t have as much fun with Kiryu’s new styles as I did in Yakuza 5. For the record, I didn’t bother with any of the Legend styles. I thought the grinding for them was a bit too much. Majima is simply fantastic though, with a varied moveset that’s very fun to experiment with. As for the bosses, most of them were pretty solid, with only a few that were… just okay. Kuze especially was a fun boss to repeat. Like I said, I had a good time with the gameplay, but I definitely prefer Yakuza 5’s or even Yakuza 2’s.
Moving onto the story, it was great and serves well as a prequel without needing to retcon past stories for fanservice. The pacing in the beginning is a bit slow, though I can look past that since the rest of the story is so engaging. Each of the new characters are also al interesting in their own right. I really love Tachibana and Makoto’s roles in the narrative. Characters are killed off in a meaningful way, which similarly reminded me of Yakuza 1 in ways. And oh boy the finale. It’d be difficult for me to put my thoughts on it into words, so I’ll just say it’s done extremely well.
Looking at the presentation, it is insanely colorful and stylish, much like the previous entries. I was wholly surprised at how consistent it performs on PS4 due to this too. Yakuza 0 doesn’t have my favorite aesthetics in the series, especially compared to Yakuza 2 and 5, but damn is it amazing nonetheless. The music has prominent electronic and dubstep, with some great themes on top of it. Although I would still say it’s not as memorable as 1-3’s to me.
In summary, I really do owe this game a lot in the end, as it’s the entire reason I even got interested in this franchise in the first place. Yakuza 0’s popularity is what sparked my interest initially, and it’s led me to this point where I absolutely fell in love with the series as a whole. While I may not have appreciated this as much as others have, it was still a blast to play through. It’s an excellent Yakuza title all the way through. Next I tackle Yakuza Kiwami. And boy, do I have some things to say about that fucking remake.

Genealogy of the Holy War is almost less of a game and more like a story that you interact with. If it wasn’t for the near unrivaled mix of worldbuilding with gameplay I would not like FE4 as much as I did. Despite birthing some elements that would be integral to Fire Emblem as a franchise going forward, it’s also the most unique entry in the series by far. Even with all of its influence and acclaim, not ONE game past this has ever tried replicating everything this game did. Some of that could be attributed to the new systems being seen more as flaws rather than benefits, or the sheer complexity maybe too scary for newer players. I’m not sure.
I finished this game over a week ago, and I’ve been banging my head on the wall trying to figure out what to say. I feel like I need to get the word out of what this game is, but it’s just not fully coming to me. I’d love to write a review as long as a single enemy phase in this game but I really can’t do that as much as I try. So I’ll suffice by writing something shorter while explaining why YOU should at least experience this game once.
War. Legacy. Succession. Betrayal. Tragedy. These are all themes that Genealogy of the Holy War focuses on. Fire Emblem has.. well obviously always been about war. However Genealogy, out of all the games I’ve experienced, delves the most into the pure tragedy and unfairness of what war is. There are so many moments where you just.. can’t save everyone. The other games have similar moments, but this one melds it into the gameplay so perfectly and precisely. Every map is vast with history, communities, and density. They genuinely do feel like actual locales rather than “a video game level”. That goes both to its benefit and detriment from a gameplay perspective, but from a story perspective, it’s pure bliss. We follow our heroes through lush forests, sprawling plains, harsh mountains, scorching deserts etc. You slowly proceed through this seemingly endless war, each map becoming more and more hopeless.
I should also preface that you need to experience this story blind. I know it’s very hard to do as such with how much the middle plot twist is spoiled to everyone, but I encourage you to stay as blind as possible. Genealogy’s narrative is fantastic, not only for a Fire Emblem game but for a piece of media in general. Seliph is one of my favorite video game characters of all time because of how we follow his journey from suffering a harsh young life, but growing to become a fine young man himself capable of what his mission is. Once again, I’m not going to elaborate so the reader can find out what happens themselves, but the story is, no exaggeration, simply masterful.
Generational storytelling is one of my favorite tropes of all time. Seeing how descendants of a generation will remedy the mistakes, regrets, or failures of their predecessors has always been so engaging to me. While Genealogy's latter half isn't nearly as narratively complex as the former half, it's story about the next generation of heroes is among one of my favorites for this trope. Ily Seliph.
Presentation also goes a long way, of course. Every music track in the game adds to the atmosphere so heavily, it’s easily one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard on the Super Famicom. Some tracks were so masterfully composed I nearly shed tears, I couldn’t believe how well it played me especially when I can rarely cry at soundtracks anymore. The graphics can be hit or miss, especially with the character portraits, but the maps and environments are top notch. I could really look at them for so long.
I think that’s pretty much all I could think of to say about Genealogy of the Holy War. As a game… it’s a mess. Possibly even objectively bad. But as a story, a piece of artistry… it’s an undeniable masterpiece. It’s certainly not for everyone, I’m aware, but it is worth experiencing in full at LEAST once. Not my favorite Fire Emblem because of the gameplay, but definitely the best narrative and cast of characters in my eyes.
Also ever notice how so many of the people who say this game sucks (or other classic FE games for that matter) are Three Houses fans or have Three Houses pfps? curious ….