I’m glad I gave this one a chance because it went from literally making me fall asleep after 10 minutes of playing to holding my attention for days. As a package, this Yakuza adventure still falls short of blowing my mind in the way 0 did. However, it redeems a lot of things I considered abject failures in Kiwami, such as the character writing, cutscene presentation, and combat system.

The story isn’t perfect—there are some choices that feel silly, or at worst, rushed—but I ultimately can forgive most of those missteps because of how high the peaks go. (i.e. thinking “holy shit, [this character] is fucking badass” every other cutscene)

Which I think is a good sign—when, regardless of the destination, you’re just satisfied with how the journey went.

Super happy I got to this one after being intrigued way back when it was announced on DS. This definitely belongs in the TWEWY camp as an incredibly stylish game that would’ve taken full advantage of the DS hardware, from the incredible animations to the gorgeous art to the catchy music.

The gameplay is also super well designed; I loved how the puzzles are designed, especially how they continually tried new ideas well into the endgame.

Only major complaint is that, while I enjoyed the writing and characters as a whole, the story felt choppy at times. It’s strongest when you’re discovering a mystery in real time; it’s actually weakest when revealing its plot twists.

Overall though, this really scratched an itch and I fully credit it for getting me back into singleplayer games. Oh and I truly hope there’sa sequel.