It's an exciting week for the Switch on the third-party front with the arrival of a bunch of new games. This includes Yakuza Kiwami, which marks the series' debut on Nintendo's hybrid system.
Although it was originally expected to be a digital-only release on Switch, Limited Run Games has stepped in to distribute the physical versions. If you do want this version of the game, you will have to wait until early next year.
This leads us to the reviews and if you haven't already seen ours here on Nintendo Life, we called it a "decent port of an ambitious, frustrating game" scoring it 6 out of 10.

Right, so what did other critics have to say about the Switch release? Starting with RPG Site, it gave the game 8 out of 10, calling it an "excellent entry" in the series and noting how it was a "very good entry point for newcomers":
"Revisiting it in 2024 on Nintendo Switch played handheld has been a fun experience...This conversion bringing in some quality of life features like auto-save and licensed music including Receive You [Reborn] is also great to see. While there are noticeable cutbacks to visuals and performance, Yakuza Kiwami is an easy recommendation to play on the go on Nintendo Switch with its low asking price."
God Is A Geek also gave the game 8 out of 10, labelling it a good port of a great game:
"Yakuza Kiwami on Switch still holds up, despite some visuals showing their age and movement not feeling particularly smooth. Controlling Kiryu in combat and via minigames feels good, not skipping a beat as you play through the story. The audio is good too, and it feels much like the original Kiwami that game out seven years prior. If you’ve never dabbled in the series, this is a great way to play the game that started it all, and if you’re after a game that blends drama with the occasional touch of humour, you cannot go far wrong with this one."
CGMagazine scored it 6.5 out 10, calling it a "serviceable port of a solid remake":
"Yakuza Kiwami is a good enough way to get your toes wet in the ever-expanding beat-em-up series. With whatever will eventually supersede the Nintendo Switch in the near future, it is more than likely legacy Switch games will be compatible with the new hardware, meaning, despite a lacklustre port, the future for Yakuza Kiwami on Nintendo hardware may still have room to improve."
Gaming Bible gave Kiwami 7 out of 10, recommending it if you're exclusively a Switch player or are keen to play this series on the go:
"If you’re exclusively a Nintendo Switch gamer, then this port is an ideal place to begin your journey in the series. That being said, if you’re a returning fan who has been desperate to play this series on the go, Yakuza Kiwami is a dream come true - especially if you thought this day would never come. Now if you excuse me, I’m off to sing some karaoke with Kiryu and his friends."
And Noisy Pixel felt this port was "a less than ideal way to experience this classic" but still had a good time awarding it 7.5 out of 10:
"Yakuza Kiwami is a terrific opening to the fan-favorite series that is an absolute must-play for newcomers and players of the other games alike. It is bolstered by an effectively layered combat and growth system where you genuinely do sense Kiryu growing stronger as you progress. Yet, if you have any other modern platform available to you, this release simply isn’t worth it. The sloppy framerate can make the action experience underwhelming and frustrating, even if it’s relatively ironed out in handheld mode. Ultimately, if you only have a Switch, you could undeniably enjoy this port, but just be aware that every other version is more worthwhile."
Will you be trying out Yakuza Kiwami on the Switch this weekend? Let us know in the comments.
Comments 31
Easily an 8 out of 10.
And for $19.95? You can't beat a AAA game for that price. Yeah, it's 8-ish years old, but here it is, on the Switch (finally), and you can even play it on-the-go.
@Lone_Beagle I didn't realize it was $19.99. I'm not a fan of the series (too talky), but that's a steal. Price is one of those disconnects with most review outlets. I enjoy reading reviews and seeing other perspectives etc, but it's hard to take a review of some games seriously when a copy was gifted.
I wish some of these outlets would review it exclusively from the viewpoint of Switch-only consumers. If we wanted a comparison, we could go find something from DigitalFoundry or something. I have no other way to play the game, so it sounds great to me.
@Lone_Beagle it's only 20 bucks? Oh yeah I'm buying asap
@YourDaddy The existence of opinions other than your own is enough for you to discount those opinions. Neat.
I don't really understand the bashing of this guys review. They have stated multiple times why they use "we", I think it is silly but whatever. Reviews are aggregate, heck someone liked the new venom movie, I see by the majority of reviews and 2 previous past movies it isn't for me. This game is a known quanity for a lot of people. The person who reviewed it for this one website didn't like it, oh well.
As an example I'm playing jedi fallen order and not being able to skip cutscenes is a drag and is actively working against my enjoyment of the game and my pace of play.
I've been waiting for this for YEARS, I'm so excited! Fingers crossed Zero can be ported soon too!!
So excited for this. About time!
@Mrkittyhead I could only play for half an hour yesterday so I don't have a solid opinion yet, but during these 30mn the game was running great and the visuals were good. If you're interested by the game, I'd say you can go on with this version.
Coming from someone who got the Platinum of the PS4 release I'd give that version a 7.5/10 so assuming this is a decent port it'll likely be a personal 7.
The more reviews you read, the less sure you are of how a good a port it is lol.
Regardless of the reviews, it will sell to any fans of the series on the Switch or reach new ones.
Kiwami is just an ok game, it's the typical "wait for a sale" game, so it's the only case in the franchise that paying 20 dollars for feels like an appropriate pricing.(It reuses so much from YK0 that it feels like a DLC)
But anyways, Yakuza 0 is a better starting point both plot-wise and gameplay-wise. For me, Yakuza Kiwami was a 7.5/10, but without having played YK0 first it would have been just a 7/10.
It was a very funny behavior, especially when they put the reviews that gave 6 or 7 points like theirs, but did not add the scores of the reviews that gave the normal score they deserved. You failed in scoring the last two reviews. Please don't try to justify yourself.
One of my favourite game series and I have been onboard since the first western release nearly 20 years ago, dodgy dub and all. Having said that, if this is testing the Nintendo waters then Zero would have been a better choice. Being a remake of the original this one feels a bit restricted in some senses, especially the world aspects. Zero is just a more complete and contained game. Still great and definitely worth a try if you're new to the series, and I may double dip myself when my wallet offers up more than flies, but other entries just have a lot more to them.
Now that we've read your review and others' reviews, will the next article feature vox pops on what random retirees thought of the game? 🥸
I mean there is game reviews and there is game reviews. Cant trust any of them, lmao
I've never played a Yakuza game properly - I have memories of maybe playing one on PS3 a loooooong time ago, probably demo of some sort. So this is perfect and £17.99 is a good price, I think. I'm surprised at this price,, so it's probably one of the first games that I'm happy to buy on release day from the eShop. I would have rather had a physical, but I'm not buying from LRG.
It really is utterly stupid how many people get hung up on, "Oh no, how dare this outlet only give it a 6?!" If all you are willing to tolerate without backlash is 9s and 10s then reviews are a completely pointless metric in the first place and you'd be better off not bothering to read them.
And really a rating of a 6 should be perfectly fine. 5 should be the baseline of, "It's okay," instead of the, "Nothing below an 8 is acceptable," dumbness so many people engage in.
@Lone_Beagle already played on the go on my steam deck.
I’ve played most of the Yakuza games and they are great. I don’t have an interest in a downgraded port, however.
The Yakuza series is a bit like the Warriors series from Koei. Loads of people find them fine but mediocre games for the most part but there's a solid seam of people who are absolutely rabid about the games and the world. Under those conditions any review score is likely to be divisive.
Curious to know why the file size is larger on Switch that on PlayStation ... and hard to justify the price when its currently 75% off on the PSN Store (although I fully appreciate it was released just yesterday!)
Happy to hear it got received pretty well outside of Nintendo Life, looking forward to finally playing this as my first Yakuza game when I can - not getting it immediately as I'm waiting to see if there will be any physical releases other than the LRG one, if not I'll then get it as soon as possible digitally also considering its great starting price (while that's the factor that matters the least when it comes to videogames considering discounts etc. as I always say, such pricing should absolutely be commended)!
What an odd way of justifying your review of Yakuza and cherry picking the reviews too.
As far as I’m concerned you’ve tarnished your integrity with the last 2 reviews not to mention how useless some of your no news articles are.
I’ll be looking to other websites now for guidance and news, you’re slow at it anyway so it doesn’t matter.
I hope this game sells wel, so we get more support on the switch 2.
Love the Yakuza games, easily my favorite. Especially the like a dragon games, those are in my top 5 all time.
Some people just shouldn't read reviews lol
Once again I’m astonished about how upset people can get if a review, aka someone else’s opinion, differs from their own.
I think the reason people are shocked by the review score, is because this series has been around for a long time, and people that love it REALLY love it. It's one of those rare franchises that has an immense amount of heart put into every entry. (Also Kiryu is one of the best video game protagonists of all time in my opinion.) They do have their flaws, but I've always found the good far outweighs the bad when it comes to these games.
@Dunan The higher score that this port has gotten is 80/100, I think this article has a pretty good array of opinions. Yakuza Kiwami currently has a 74 on Metacritc.
@Lizuka could not have said it better myself
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