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You ever look at a game and think “I would probably love that,” and then not get around to it for eight years? I do that all the time, and in this particular case, the underlying title is so good that it retroactively changed how I feel about the last decade of action RPGs.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 is one of the best remakes ever made, and that it was developed alongside a mainline entry in the franchise is startling. It’s more than worth a revisit for anyone interested in a city-set adventure game, and its seamless technical design still holds up stunningly well eight years after its release. It blends great combat with wonderful human-centered storytelling, all set in a world that’s packed with cool little details and graphical flourishes.
I had a lengthy dip in my personal fandom of the Like a Dragon RPG franchise. I played the weirdly localized versions of the first two games on the PS2, as well as 3 and 4 on the PS3 — and then I bailed for a number of years. It wasn’t due to any particular animosity towards the series; there’s only so much time for so many games.
Since those early days, Like a Dragon has exploded in all directions to become a sort of global mega-hit, but I’ve missed out on about half of its…
