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Way, way back in early February 2016, Digital Foundry ventured to the Japanese PlayStation Store and picked up a digital copy of Yakuza Kiwami. We hoped that Sega would consider bringing this excellent PS4 remake to the West and just over 18 months later, it's finally happened. To mark the occasion, we've decided to republish our original analysis. If you've enjoyed the Yakuza titles, or want to check out the series for the first time, we reckon it's well worth a look.Ten years and millions of units later, the Yakuza series - or Ryu ga Gotoku as it's known in Japan - has risen to become one of Sega's most popular franchises. It's a series that draws from the glory days of Sega's developmental expertise with the original team formed by members of Amusement Vision and Smilebit. In many ways, it's one of the few games left from the publisher that feels like it could have originated during the Dreamcast era.
Unfortunately, the series hasn't quite taken off in the West to the same degree and as a result, a good number of titles in the series remain exclusive to the Japanese market - including the game we're examining here, Ryu ga Gotoku Kiwami - or Yakuza Kiwami, to give it our own English translation. However, things are looking up for Western fans of the series with Yakuza 5 having been released late last year and Yakuza Zero announced for North American release. Between these recent releases and the success of PlayStation 4 worldwide, the chances for localisation have never been higher.
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