I finished
Yakuza Kiwami 2.
This is my third Yakuza game, after 0 and Kiwami 1. Where the first Kiwami felt like a small expansion of 0, this one actually has more of an identity of its own. The plot is actually really interesting and gives us more insight into the world of Yakuza, there's two very meaty mini campaigns in the form of another Cabaret Club minigame and the new "Clan Creator", which is really just a tower defence game. The Clan Creator is pretty fun, even if I didn't enjoy it as much as the Cabaret Club or the real estate minigame from Yakuza 0. Those felt literally like actual, complete games within another one.
Another thing that makes the Yakuza games so great is the huge collection of sub stories, which are basically sidequests with their own small stories. While Kiwami 2 has some really nice ones, I felt they were overall far less crazy and often much shorter compared to Yakuza 0. There's also overall less of them. This is probably one of the only real disappointments I have with this game. I am not sure if that is a deliberate design choice, or if they simply didn't have the time to flesh this part out more.
The combat in this one is really great, probably even better than Yakuza 0 since the use of weapons has been greatly expanded. You can even repair them, making weapons a more integral part of the experience. On top of that, this game has more heat actions than ever before. While this has the effect that most normal story battles are pretty easy, there's still ways the game can challenge you. On one hand, there's the Coliseum which often limits weapons, thus forcing you to actually explore things like evading, blocking and even counters. On the other extreme are the bouncer missions, which are very similar to the combat sections you often have in main story bits where you need to fight dozens of enemies in a row, Street of Rage style. The bouncer missions don't restrict you in terms of what you can use in combat, but you aren't able to heal yourself.
One thing that really impressed me about Kiwami 2 is the insane level of detail in the world. There's no loading screens, and you can enter basically any store, and many actual building complexes seamlessly. It really helps to make the locations of Kamurocho or Sotenbori feel like real places. It's really nice to see how these areas have changed since Yakuza 0, especially the return to Sotenbori was quite incredible.
Overall this is a great game, with an insane amount of content and care put into it. Is it better than Yakuza 0? No, but still a very enjoyable game, with a great main story and tons of enjoyable optional content.
I rate this game 3 out of 4 exploding Millennium towers.