Yakuza remake has been given an August release

Sega has announced that Yakuza Kiwami, the remake of the original PS2 Yakuza, is arriving on August 29 to the PS4.

It’s been 12 years since the the legendary Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima, made his debut on the PlayStation 2 in Yakuza. And now it’s time to return to where it all started. Get ready to unleash the dragon, because Yakuza Kiwami will be available on August 29.

The storyline for Yakuza is nothing if not epic and if you haven’t played this amazing game yet, now is your chance to experience it at its best. Being retold in Kiwami is the nascent character arc for Yakuza. The game begins with series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu getting sent to prison for the murder of his family patriarch (which he didn’t commit). To make matters worse, during the 10 years of his imprisonment, not only does Kiryu’s clan expel him from the Yakuza, but ¥10 billion goes missing from the clan treasury. Worse yet, Kiryu’s childhood sweetheart is also nowhere to be found, and with the entirety of the Japanese underworld on the hunt for the missing cash, Kiryu is all but lost. That is, up until he finds the orphan girl Haruka, searching for her aunt who shares the same name as Kiryu’s missing love. What follows is a web of betrayal, underworld politics, and redemption, as nothing will stop Kiryu from regaining his honour.

Yakuza Kiwami will feature:

• A Family Patriarch’s Ransom of New Content – “Kiwami” literally translates to “extreme“, and the game was named that for good reason. Not just a simple graphical upgrade, Kiwami adds nearly 30 minutes of cutscenes alone, providing new insight into the game’s plot and creating common threads with series prequel, Yakuza 0. There’s also added distractions (Pocket Circuit car racing, MesuKing: Battle Bug Beauties, new hostesses, and more), side quests, combat updates, re-recorded Japanese dialogue, and more to bring the original Yakuza game into the latest console generation.
• A Place for Newcomers and Veterans – Yakuza Kiwami is the ultimate bridge in the series. Newcomers to the series (or those who started with Yakuza 0) will find familiar controls, top-notch SEGA localisation, and a solid starting point for entering the Yakuza franchise fresh. Veterans will experience a familiar Kamurocho and plot, but with new levels of story depth and graphical polish.
• But it was me! Majima! – Completely new to Kiwami is the “Majima Everywhere” system, where the series’ deranged, one-eyed maniac will constantly surprise and challenge Kiryu to combat when he least expects it. We’re talking “popping out of a goofy costume” levels of surprise, so players must stay on their toes and be ready to defend themselves from Kiryu’s chief rival.
• Extreme Revitalisation – Kiwami is rebuilt from the ground up with all new HD assets, exclusive Japanese voice audio re-recorded by the series cast, and more; optimised for the PlayStation 4 and running in 1080p/60fps. And following suit with SEGA’s commitment to the Yakuza series, the game will release in both physical and digital formats in the west.

Yakuza Kiwami will be released on PlayStation 4, August 29, 2017 and is the perfect starting point for gamers who have heard about the series but have yet to try it out. It preserves the charm of old-school, PS2-era beat-em-up gameplay, but deftly combines it with a hard-boiled crime drama punctuated with the liveliness of Kamurocho (the fictional red-light district of Tokyo the game is set in) and all the distractions that a red-light district can offer. If you want to learn more about Yakuza Kiwami and the Yakuza series, check out the website.