The ‘Yakuza 2’ Remake is Real and Closer Than We Think

Fans looking forward to Yakuza Kiwami’s release next week will be heartened to know that Yakuza Kiwami 2 is apparently already on the way. That’s according to a premature listing on the Taiwanese Playstation Network storefront showing the game’s title treatment, a general description and a release date of December 17th.

NeoGAF user sinonobu initially shared the link, and although the page has since been taken down Twitter user Wario64 has posted screenshots taken while it was still active in addition to a quick Google translation of the page’s contents.

Based on this translation it seems Yakuza Kiwami 2 uses the same engine as Yakuza 6. This engine was built for the PS4, unlike the engine used for Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami, which both came out in Japan for the PS3 and PS4. Since the Kiwami games are complete remakes and not HD remasters, that upgrade will translate into a serious facelift for the PS2 classic.

A lot of things remain to be seen, of course. There’s a chance that the given release date was just an end-of-year placeholder and not meant to be concrete, which isn’t uncommon. There’s also no word on localization, but given that the series is currently on a roll here (with two games out this year and one in early 2018) it seems unlikely that Kiwami 2 won’t make it westward eventually.

Most important of all, however, is the question of what will be added to the remake. As I said, Yakuza Kiwami is far from a plain remaster, and much of that is in revamped or completely redone systems as well as brand new story content. Having recently reviewed Yakuza Kiwami I’d say that the new material is easily the strongest reason to play, so I’m deeply curious about what could be in store for Kiwami 2.

At least one thing is certain, though: There will without a doubt be karaoke, and it will without a doubt be great.