Review- Yakuza: Like a Dragon

 The thing about Yakuza: Like a Dragon is that it is simply one of the coolest games ever made. After around 50 hours into the game, I am nearing the end of my journey and after reflecting on everything and in its totality, Like a Dragon stands as one of my favorite games that I have played this year, and a game I will continue to think about long after finishing it.

 

Speaking first on the characters and the story, this is the backbone of the game in a lot of ways but also the place where the game can stumble a bit, especially when it comes to pacing. The first few hours, like most JRPG’s, is very exposition and dialogue heavy, setting up all these narrative threads that won’t reappear for almost 20 hours sometimes. This is the place where I was the most unsure of the game, not knowing what to expect other than the fact that there must be something more than this for so many people to recommend it. Thankfully there was, and I now can call Ichiban Kasuga, the main character of the game, one of my favorite videogame protagonists, up there with Batman and Tony Hawk. Ichiban is an ex-yakuza, being set free at the end of an 18-year prison sentence for a murder he did not commit but agreed to take the fall for. Ichiban is loyal to his clan leader Arakawa, who is like a father to him, as well as the friends he meets along his journey and over the course of the game. Like a Dragon is interesting because Ichiban is interesting. He imagines the games combat to be more fantastical than it is, because fighting 3 guys decked out in tactical gear with machetes and laser eyes named “The Arminator” is a lot more fun than just three regular rival yakuza brawlers.

 

Speaking of combat, the most surprising aspect of this game is how much I enjoyed the turn-based combat of Like a Dragon. Disclaimer: I have played maybe 3 other turn-based games, and I always put them on the lowest difficulty setting because I just cannot be bothered. What makes this game have the most interesting turn-based combat that I have played so far is just how out there all the attacks are. In the game, you are allowed to take on different jobs for your friends/party members, and this gives you different combat abilities based on what job they have. So, if your friend Nanba is a hobo, he doesn’t just use a regular attack, he instead throws bird seed and you’re left to watch as birds swarm an enemy, dealing damage. You want to keep rotating the different jobs everyone has not only from a combat advantage perspective, but just from a visual one, as part of the enjoyment of the game comes from watching all these insanely creative ways to deal damage.

 

And speaking of insanely creative, did you know that Yakuza: Like a Dragon has some of the most interesting side quests and minigames in any game ever. There is poker, a Mario kart rip-off, claw machine game, mahjong, a side quest where you pick up exploding action figures, a mini game where you help a struggling small business reach success, and so much more I could not even fully play them all if I invested another 50 hours. This being my first Yakuza game, although I knew of the series’ reputation for fun minigames, I was not prepared for just how much was packed in here. While the map still clearly marks where a lot of these games are, you still feel a sense of discovery running around Ijincho and talking to a theater owner, who has you play a mini game where you must stay awake during an old and boring movie.

 

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is masterful at injecting personality into its different gameplay mechanics and systems, making for a creative and often unforgettable experience. This review doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what this game has to offer, but know that I highly recommend playing it, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.