Yakuza Kiwami

Kiryu has taken the fall for a crime he didn't commit and now, 10 years later, he emerges into a world he doesn't recognize. Just like others in the series, Yakuza Kiwami will see you running around Kamurocho follow an exciting, dramatic, and humorous story, and completing side quests with cinematic hand-to-hand combat. You will have to upgrade Kiryu and acquire new skills and boost your stats to overcome your enemies and find out what happened in this exciting chapter of the Yakuza series.

Yakuza Kiwami is a complete remake of the original game that came out in 2005. With enhanced gameplay, an expanded story, re-recorded audio, uncapped framerates, and customizable controls, this remaster feels closer to a full remake that expands the incredible game it already was. The gameplay and story follow closely to Yakuza 0, which is a Best on Deck game, but can Kiwami follow the same performance on Steam Deck?

Yakuza Kiwami: Max Performance

Just like Yakuza 0, Kiwami doesn't start at max settings and turning them on brings the framerate below 30 without any caps. The game looks gorgeous like this, but it isn't playable. But just like its predecessor, the game runs like a charm out of the box.

Best on Deck Performance

Once you boot up the game, you should be ready to play! With no setting changes, you will be getting 60 FPS with some minor stutters when going in and out of combat, going into some buildings, and a slight framerate drop to 56-59 when navigating bigger areas of the city. Without any caps, the game can hit up to 21W drain, but with 2 changes, we can conserve battery without sacrificing any performance!

With a TDP of 9 and a GPU Clock Speed Frequency of 1200, we can bring battery down to an average of 13W with a max drain of 16W. This will bring the battery life to around 3 - 3.5 hours while keeping performance at a smooth 60 FPS. The minor stutters and drops are still around even with these changed settings, but they don't interrupt the flow of the game at all.

I also put together a quality build that brings SSAA to 4X. This makes the game look a bit more sharp and details are easier to see, but it is much harder on the system and requires a 40 FPS cap. The game still feels pretty smooth like this, and the battery drain and temps are very similar, but pre-rendered cutscenes feel a little slower. Regardless of this, it is a great way to play the game if you want to push the graphics as far as they can!

I did try to experiment with a battery focused build again, but I felt the trade-offs weren't worth the graphical and framerate downgrade. Overall, the 2 builds provided here have pretty low battery drain for a game of this scale, and it is fantastic!

Cutscene Framerate and Menu Resolution

Just like its prequel, the menus and cutscenes in this game have a resolution of 1280x720 and have bars at the top and bottom of the screen. The actual gameplay of Kiwami is in 1280x800 and the screen will expand. All pre-rendered cutscenes are 30 FPS and seem to scale with the framerate that is being pushed, which means lowering the framerate lowers the framerate of the cutscenes too. Overall, this isn't an issue and didn't impact my enjoyment of the game.

Conclusion

SEGA has started off strong with the Yakuza series. Kiwami is an incredible game that continues the prequel story that started in Yakuza 0, keeping the incredible depth, humor, and longevity to make this feel like a premium gaming experience. On top of that, Kiwami is another Best on Deck game that shines perfectly on the Deck. Just change the TDP and GPU Clock Speed Frequency to maximize battery life, but otherwise, nothing else is needed to enjoy this masterpiece optimally.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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