Yakuza Kiwami 2 review for Nintendo Switch 2

System: Switch 2
Release date: November 13, 2025
Developer: RGG Studio
Publisher: SEGA

SEGA’s series of Japanese underworld epics continue to release on Nintendo systems with Yakuza Kiwami 2 on Switch 2. Much like its predecessor, it’s a remake of a classic title in the series built from the ground up for modern hardware. With it, you have the best version of that story and that game available to play. Much like the remake of the previous entry, this game similarly adds plenty of new quests, new cutscenes, and builds on the core of what the most recent mainline release did. If Yakuza 1 is like a crime drama, Yakuza 2 is closer to an action film, which has Kazuma Kiryu again in the spotlight – though we won’t spoil the story here. The narrative this time around isn’t too difficult to follow, but it still follows on directly from the previous one, so if you haven’t played that yet, please do.

Incidentally, an updated version of Kiwami for Switch 2 alongside Kiwami 2 is available on the eShop, much like the Japanese Wii U collection from back in the day. That means 0, 1 and 2 will all be readily available if you wish to play chronologically. Even so, there is an optional recap in the first gameplay section narrated by series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, voiced again by Takaya Kuroda, should players want to jump straight into 2 with the background info.

Kiwami 2 is significantly different to the original Kiwami, in that this remake has actually come in a brand-new engine featured in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. As a result, a lot of things from 6 have made their way over to this remake of 2. This includes the expanded Kamurocho map, an expanded Sotonbori map, Extreme Heat gameplay mechanics, autosave, a redone inventory system that allows items to stack, brand new physics to fights that allow for more fluid movements with CPU enemies having ragdoll physics, improved lighting, more enemies appearing on-screen at once, allowing Kiryu to enter buildings seamlessly without a loading screen (there are a select few areas that have them, but shops, minigames, restaurants and many more transition smoothly), and an entirely new level up system. Here, Kiryu gains experience points to level up his heat, health, attack, defense, and other useful abilities like improved EXP gain, resistance to gunshot wounds and stabbing, improved mobility in his dashes, and allowing for more food to be eaten in restaurants to improve his stats. The methods to gain experience points include eating food, completing quests, winning fights, playing minigames and progressing the plot. There are Bouncer missions that Kiryu can do in Debolah, which also nets him some EXP.

Substories this time around include some popular ones from the original PS2 release, including Be My Baby, where a Yakuza patriarch shows Kiryu’s his generosity in a rather bizarre fashion, The Legendary Dragon, a story about a fake Kiryu and a fake Shinji who have been roaming around Kamurocho scamming people, and Crazy for Cathy, in which a low-grade Yakuza holds a special attachment to his car. There are also brand new ones such as That’s No Joke, where Kiryu meets a comedian but is incapable of catching on to the set ups for his jokes, We’re All In This Together, where he helps some fresh out of college kids get through a group interview, and Welcome to the Modern Age, where Makoto Date wants to buy an internet set-up for his home to look cool in front of his daughter Saya, only to have Kiryu play guinea pig and get the set up first, and Kazzy soon discovers the internet company aren’t exactly who they seemed to be. Substories can be found like in the classic Yakuza games, by just roaming around the Tokyo and Osaka maps and stumbling across them. An item can be unlocked that makes all substories appear on the map as they become available, as the more recent Yakuza titles have handled the side stories. There are 75 optional substories to play away from the main plot, and they are all worth your time, as the Yakuza 2 main plot goes quite quickly if you’re just progressing the story.

Other major side activities include the Clan Creator mode, where Kiryu helps everyone’s favorite tanto-wielding mobster Goro Majima protect his new construction company, Majima Construction, from attacks from other shady construction companies, who are trying to damage Majima’s material and stop him from completing the Kamurocho Hills construction effort, which Majima has managed to get the contract to create, despite the fact his Majima family gang have no professional experience in the world of building. Kiryu can recruit people he meets through substories after completing them into Majima Construction to help in the defence effort. This is an inverse of the Yakuza 6 Clan Creator mode, which focused on attacking the enemy. This is closer to tower defense, where the goal is to keep the opposition enemies from attacking Majima’s construction items. Majima is also running purgatory now in place of the Florist of Sai, so if players want to get into some fights, the Coliseum has 12 or so courses for Kiryu to punch his way through.

Speaking of Majima, he stars on his own little bonus saga here in Kiwami 2, which can be unlocked as player’s progress through the main plot of Yakuza 2. I recommend beating the main game first and then playing the Majima mode as chapters are unlocked one-by-one as you progress in Yakuza 2, and it feels more satisfying to play it as one story, rather than stopping to go back into 2 to unlock the next Majima chapter, and then jumping back into the Majima mode. The story here serves as a little epilogue to Majima’s story in Yakuza 0, so if you have played that game (original release or the Switch 2 Director’s Cut), you’ll get the most out of this. Here, Majima fills us in on how he came to leave the Tojo Clan and set up Majima Construction between the events of Yakuza and Yakuza 2. Then chairman of the Tojo, Yukio Terada, is thinking about promoting the highest family patriarch’s earner to a better position in the family. Majima’s family is one of the three biggest earners, alongside two younger guns, Ibuchi and Uematsu. Majima doesn’t care much for the position and leaves the race, but when an incident takes place, Majima has to travel to Osaka to find Kawamura, a Majima family member who has gone rogue. There, Majima runs into Makoto Makimura, a once-blind woman he met during the events of Yakuza 0 who is now married, and while trying to keep his identity secret from her, his old feelings resurface.

Gameplay-wise, Majima doesn’t have too many heat actions as this is a short 3-chapter campaign, but he moves faster than Kiryu and can string more attacks together. He uses his classic style of combat which he utilizes in most boss fights against him with knife in hand. He doesn’t have any substories to complete, so that is why I refer to this as an epilogue. RGG used the remake as an opportunity to tie in his story from 0 to Yakuza 2 retroactively by giving both a more satisfying finish to 0’s Majima story, while providing context to why he left the Tojo in time for 2’s campaign. Although short, the narrative here is very strong and it’s a welcome addition to the overall package here.

From a technical standpoint, the game runs really well. In docked mode, the gameplay feels as solid and consistent as the PS4 version with no major sacrifices. One of the things that had me most curious about this release was how the Dragon Engine would run in handheld mode, and to my surprise, everything was great. I played 6-8 hours of my campaign in handheld and only suffered very seldom frame drops, and an extra second or two to load a significant amount of enemies in some battles. Some of the lighting effects don’t look as good on handheld also, but this is a borderline non-issue as it doesn’t impact gameplay at all. The title otherwise runs perfectly, and I was very impressed with it. This bodes well should RGG decide they want to release Yakuza 6-8, the Gaiden side-games, or the Judgement titles on Nintendo Switch 2, which all run on the same engine.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 on Nintendo Switch 2 runs exceptionally well, is a content-packed video game with lots to do with a fun story and great acting where players can sink dozens upon dozens of hours without even realizing it. I was initially concerned that the Nintendo Switch 2 version wouldn’t be able to hold up against previous console releases, but much to my pleasant surprise – save for some very minor issues that almost never affected me – it runs great and I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone itching for a fun action game to keep them busy. With Yakuza Kiwami 3 already confirmed for a Nintendo Switch 2 release, it looks like Kiryu’s adventures will be here to stay on Nintendo systems.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 copy provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.