It’s incredible that after 19 years and 10 mainline games RGG can still make something so fun to play and with such thematic strength to the point that elevates the Yakuza series to not only one of my favorite game franchises, but also favorite media franchises in general.

Gameplay-wise, Infinite Wealth is a huge upgrade from 7. For starters, the exp curve is really great. The scaling for exp and job levels means that it’s very easy to catch up thanks for the game design choice of granting the player more stat points for leveling up the character itself compared to the points you earn by leveling up your job, which combined with the new inheritance system, gives room to experimentation with your builds.
Job design and skills are also excellent, each new job has a really cool and distinct aesthetic, a really fun playstyle that is way more interesting than they were in 7. The way you unlock them is also hilarious, with Ichiban and the gang doing some tourist activities in Hawaii, resulting in Ichiban having a Revelation for a new job, or Chitose having that revelation when the job in question is female-only.

Speaking of which, Hawaii is a delight to explore, going from urban-packed cities like Yokohama and Kamurocho to a more tropical Hawaii is a nice change of pace, I was constantly exploring the place for various reasons like the minigames, party talks, or even greeting the locals and adding them as your friends, which surprisingly I found myself doing most of the time.
The new combat changes are also great. The fact that you can now position your characters so that you can change the AoE of attacks, the added proximity bonus, back attacks, combo attacks, rebound attacks, all of these changes make the turn-based combat more fun and dynamic.

With the gameplay section out of the way, the game’s themes in this instalment of the series focus on closure, but not necessarily as a way of ending things, rather as a conduit for new beginnings in life.
Along the journey we find new and returning characters that are basically at the crossroads of their lives. Tomizawa is a taxi driver who, despite not having the most comfortable life, still had a happy one with his girlfriend and with a baby on the way, which was unfortunately taken away from him because of him being framed for a crime he did not commit. Only when he confronts who is responsible for it, and reuniting with his ex and seeing that she is now living a happy life if you have done his drink links, can Tomizawa move on.

Chitose is also a new party member, born of a rich family, she never had any type of control in her life until she started the Tatara channel where she could be more herself behind of a vtuber persona, which unfortunately was also taken from her by Eiji to be a means of destroying the lives of yakuza trying to integrate to society, and only when she is motivated by her new allies is when she has the courage to go against Eiji and take back control of her life.

The same can also be applied to returning characters of the series. Adachi wants to redeem himself for not being able to stop a robbery that could have been prevented, Nanba wants to return the job that a coworker of his lost and find out the true reason of why he was fired so that he can lift some of the blame off Ichiban’s shoulders, Seonhee wants to live up to her status as the chief of both the Geomijul and the Liumang, Zhao wants to do what he loves in life and not doing something that was chosen for him, Saeko wants closure with her feelings of love and her feelings for Ichiban.

Yamai was a character that I didn’t expect to like so much when I played the game. He starts off as a regular criminal boss, with a weird tic of always feeling cold, even when dressed in almost winter clothes in a hot location as Hawaii. We later learn that this is because of a lack of closure he has for his previous life as a Tojo clan yakuza and unfortunate ending he had with his love for the patriarch’s wife. Along the journey we see him trying to cope with that, first with setting up the Yamai Syndicate and trying to take over the Hawaii criminal underworld, next trying to defeat Kiryu in battle, but each time he can’t get rid of himself of the coldness that he feels. Only when he meets Ichiban and he starts to warm up to him (no pun intended) is when he finally decides to reunite with his loved one, only to find out that she’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer and no longer recognizes him, “It’s over. There’s nothing romantic left to this” as he says, but when she starts to complain that she is cold and Yamai decides to give her his jacket, it’s the first time when he does something for her where she is genuinely thankful for, giving the closure that Yamai needed. “Yeah… I was too warm anyway”.

Which brings us to our main protagonists. Ichiban is trying to continue the legacy of Arakawa by trying to integrate every yakuza back to society after the great dissolution, which has not been easy thanks to the new 5-year ex-yakuza clause, and adding the stigma that society has for ex-cons then you have a recipe for disaster. People later accuse him of using these new hires for committing different types of crimes, which results in him being fired from his job. He then finds a new purpose when Sawashiro makes a return and asks him a favor of reuniting with his mom and give her Arakawa’s ashes. During the trip he meets Eiji, who at first, we are led to believe that he’s wheelchair bound and this obviously starts a relationship that parallels the one Ichiban had with Ryo Aoki, almost like he’s trying to redeem himself for not being able to save him and giving the chance of redemption that he needed. Later we learn that this was all an act to prey on Ichiban’s emotional vulnerabilities, but this does not stop him, in each turn Ichiban tries to save Eiji from going down this path of hatred and revenge, and only in the end, where Eiji’s ploys are revealed to the world, is when Ichiban can convince him to turn himself in and start life anew.

Kiryu is a man who lived a life full of regrets. We have seen his journey since 0 and along each iteration we’ve seen how the yakuza life has changed him, first inspired by Kazama and the luxuries of this lifestyle, it quickly turned on its head leading to a life full of violence and sadness, each time trying to quit and living a normal life it has been failed, and since the end of 6, Kiryu faked his own death to separate himself from his loved ones. And now it is revealed that not only he has cancer, but also that he only has 6 months left to live. Kiryu in the beginning is at peace with this, he is supposed to be dead after all, and even if he fought back, it would only result in him living a life that is not his own. But when he starts to hang out with Ichiban and later when he returns to Japan starts to do his bucket list is when he finally gains reasons to keep on living (which is juxtaposed with the awakening mechanic, each thing you do for the bucket list is more points to upgrade his combat styles). With this said, I think it’s fair to say that the first sparks to truly fight back is when he visits Daigo, Majima and Saejima. The three of them started a security company in Osaka to serve as a safe net for the ex-yakuza so that they can integrate back to society, but when the company is exposed, the company went under. This left them devastated and since their presence alone destroyed any type of chance that their new employees had at having a normal life, they decided to remove themselves from society, and if they got their way, they would be forgotten by everyone. When Kiryu sees this, he calls them out for being cowards, instead of fighting back and earn their place that they would rather die in a desolate cold place, which is ironic since it is what Kiryu was also doing until now, and this moment is imo where the will to fight back truly begin. At the final battle, Kiryu wears his old suit which fabric colors have faded along with the time, and also rocking with his classic haircut, signaling the return of the Dragon. And in the post-credits scene we see a frail Kiryu, but one that has decided to fight and live on. We see a man who has regained his name.

The final confrontation in this game is against Ebina. He is the son of Arakawa and the daughter of his family patriarch. We of course know that Arakawa didn’t love her, which resulted in Hikawa raising her son alone and falling into sickness. This fueled Ebina to go through a path of revenge, trying to kill every yakuza that he could thanks to the deal he made with palakana. This is further indicated with the tattoo on his back that represents an Oni, violent creatures that are fueled with bloodthirst and rage. This all ends when Kiryu defeats him in battle and then begs him for forgiveness, that is the moment where all his rage is gone. His mother’s final words were of her begging him to forgive his father and the yakuza, and Kiryu’s “final” words are of him begging Ebina to forgive him.

Which brings me to the final topic. What is Infinite Wealth? The answer that the game gives (or at least my interpretation of that answer) is that infinite wealth is the life that you choose to live. During the game we meet character that face many adversities in their lives, and we see how society treats people that live in the rock-bottom, in Japan we have the 5-year ex-yakuza clause, and in Hawaii we have the Island that has been repurposed as a nuclear waste deposit, these both used as means to not rehabilitate them, but to cast them aside and ignore them. You can only take back control of your life and change for the better if you fight for it. As Kiryu says to Ebina, “You can’t change anything if you’re dead”.

The final cutscene plays a song by Sheena Ringo called “The Invaluable”. The song is about the value of life, of how even if the world takes something from you, it cannot take away or destroy the way you live your life, because it’s something that has no equal value.

I’ll leave this review/analysis/thoughts/whatever you want to call this with something that Kazuhiro Nakayama (Ichiban’s VA) said before the game released:
"I think there are a lot of things that happen in life, but when you play Like A Dragon 8, you can look up and see the shining sky with a smile on your face."