It's been 4 years since RGG Studios soft-rebooted the Yakuza franchise, handing the reigns from Kazuma Kiryu's hands to Ichiban Kasuga. Well, sort of... Between the release of the Ishin remaster, Like a Dragon Gaiden and Infinite Wealth, it's clear that RGG weren't quite finished with the Dragon of Dojima. From the way the game was advertised, it seemed as though they wanted to give Kiryu an ultimate final send-off, perhaps to appease those who found the ending of Yakuza 6 dissatisfactory.
One point of criticism I have, not towards this game in particular but more so towards the marketing team is that I feel the trailers showed too much. The main story trailer that aired during the RGG Summit in Fall 2023 showed lots of footage from the final chapter. In fact, one of the first cutscenes we saw of this game in which Kiryu and Ichiban discuss their dating history plays out just before the final bosses occur. One of the Character Spotlight trailers shows the final boss of the game and the Bucket List trailer revealed many cameos that would have been nice to have not known about prior. In fairness, this seems to be an issue with marketing in Japan as a whole due to differences in culture regarding spoilers in media but with the franchise becoming much bigger in the West as of late, going as far as to include prolific Western actors such as Daniel Dae-Kim and Danny Trejo in the dubbed cast, some extra restraint as to what they decide to showcase in promotional material would be appreciated for future entries.
Infinite Wealth is a direct sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, however, this game takes a similar structural approach to Yakuza 0, with a dual-protagonist dynamic. Ichiban is of course still very much present, with his story revolving around his mission to track down his long lost mother in Hawaii, who for unknown reasons has become the target of multiple criminal organisations. Fairly early on, he is joined by Kiryu who eventually returns to Japan during the game's latter half to tackle some newfound issues surrounding his health. After the two split up, the game alternates between Ichiban in Hawaii and Kiryu in Japan and admittedly, it isn't handled with as much grace as Yakuza 0 did. In that game, Kiryu and Majima's stories start out seemingly unrelated but gradually close in on one another as the central mystery unravels. In Infinite Wealth, it feels as though Ichiban's story somewhat takes a backseat once Kiryu leaves his party. In fairness, though, Kiryu's half of the game is essentially heaps of fan-service for previous games, including some neat shoutouts to the spin-off titles and much of the game's emotional core revolves around him. That isn't to say that Ichiban gets the short end of the stick per se. The two newcomers to his party - Tomizawa and Chitose are some of the best characters in the game plus some standout supporting characters and antagonists such as Eiji and Yamai.
Most of the game is spent in Hawaii, marking the first time the franchise has gone outside of Japan and it's, in my opinion, one of the best settings we've had thus far. It's a large, densely-packed sandbox with no shortage of things to do, as is typical for a Yakuza game. For as many side activities as there are, they all manage to be really fun, the personal standouts for me being Crazy Delivery and Dondoko Island, condensed parodies of Crazy Taxi and Animal Crossing, respectively. Kiryu's side content is a brilliant contrast, having less of the trademark Yakuza wackiness and opting to take a more reflective approach. With how often RGG tends to leave characters in the past, it's nice to see them be acknowledged again. If there's one thing Infinite Wealth does a lot better than 6, it's in actually tying up loose ends left throughout the whole series and getting to hear Kiryu's thoughts on the people and events that left such a profound impact on him.
One issue I do have regarding the side-content is that a few times during the game's first half, you are stopped semi-frequently to be introduced to a new side activity. This isn't a problem exclusive to Infinite Wealth but it's something I'd hoped they would have remedied by now. The worst offender is in Chapter 4 where you are halted from main story progression to listen to a spiel about the Sujimon League that goes on for an eternity. This isn't helped by the generic Yakuza sidequest storyline writing we've seen time and time again with yet another league of comical villains (i.e. the Four Kings in Gaiden, the Five Billionaires in 0, the Twisted Trio in Judgment, the Three Musketeers in Kiwami 2, JUSTIS in 6, you get the picture). Whilst these side activities are at the very least entertaining enough for me to actually do them in my free time, I hope future entries keep these pace-killing exposition dumps to a minimum, or at least keeps them out of mandatory progression.
Pacing in general seems to be a widespread issue surrounding this game and I definitely don't completely disagree. Ichiban's half can feel meandering at points but it moves swiftly enough and has sufficiently engaging character interactions and plot developments to keep it interesting. My only real issue is that two party members join very late into the game's runtime, one of which shows up in the second-to-last chapter and was very underlevelled by the time he joined. Considering how little they actually contribute to the plot, I feel as though they may as well have joined a bit earlier. However, character writing is just as strong as it was in the previous game. That being said, I do think Yakuza 7 was definitely better at keeping things moving and was much more focused overall on top of having some better villains. Infinite Wealth introduces a lot more threads and some of them unfortunately do not get wrapped up as neatly as I would have liked them to have. The ending, especially, leaves some things to be desired in how much either occurs off-screen and is told to us via passing mention or simply doesn't get acknowledged at all. Without delving too deep into spoilers, it does feel as though Infinite Wealth is setting up for future entries, both spin-offs like a third Judgment or second Gaiden and the next mainline entry whenever that comes around. I suppose a part of me was hoping for this game to feel like a complete package, with a definitive end to allow RGG Studios to begin fresh moving forwards with Kiryu out of the picture but that isn't the impression this ending left me with, for better or worse. That being said, I don't fault the game for not going in the direction I thought they would. Gaiden's more somber tone gave me the impression that Infinite Wealth would be going for a similar vibe but it's quite clear that it's trying to be anything but dire. The game constantly pushes themes of hope and what it means to live life regardless of the hand you've been dealt with. This not applies to Kiryu but to a large majority of the game's central cast, party members and villains alike. Considering that this is an Ichiban-centric game and with the parallels drawn to Yakuza 7, it's refreshing to see this kind of tone after how dismal Yakuza 5, 6 and Gaiden could at times be.
Gameplay-wise, Infinite Wealth trounces the previous game in every way. The ability to move during combat is a game-changer and additions such as combo attacks and everyone being able to use objects from the terrain makes for a much more robust system. Graphically, the game is also gorgeous with the odd green, yellowy filter from the last game thankfully not returning, with the game looking a lot more in line with entries such as Lost Judgment and Gaiden. The soundtrack is potentially my favorite yet, with some stellar battle themes, boss music, remixes of tracks from previous games and one particularly great use of licensed music at the end of the game. The karaoke selection is also the best it's ever been, with every song from Yakuza 7 returning (minus Eri's Like a Butterfly) plus an array of new tracks which are all fantastic (personal favorites being Baka Darou and Honolulu City Lights) and what is essentially a best-of selection of Kiryu tracks from throughout the series including Baka Mitai, Pride From Despair, Machine Gun Kiss, Hands and making its grand return - Judgement from Yakuza 0. Story-wise, as said before, is very strong as it always is though I do think Yakuza 7 may have the slight edge in that department but Infinite Wealth still delivers plenty of great moments. Though I think it does have more standout setpieces than 7, I think that game brought everything together in a much more cohesive and satisfying way, Mirror Face aside. As I also alluded to earlier, I do think 7 also edges Infinite Wealth out on villains though that's more so due to the fact that many of Infinite Wealth's villains leave a lot to be desired due to limited screentime. That being said though, I do like every villain in the game. I simply wish some of them had a greater presence, especially the final boss, Dwight and Wong Tou. Yamai was easily the biggest standout in terms of antagonists and I hope he continues to show up, I have a pretty good feeling he'll end up becoming a party member in the next game, if Seonhee was any indication.
Overall, Infinite Wealth is a fantastic package. It may not have delivered everything I wanted from it exactly but in most other aspects, I got what I desired and then some. The whole experience took me nearly 100 hours and I enjoyed every minute of it. I've yet to decide if my preference leans towards Yakuza 7 and it doesn't quite take the crowning position from Yakuza 0 for me, but it's still one of the best products to come out from RGG Studio and I commend their efforts on this massive game whilst still delivering content regularly in between mainline entries, such as Lost Judgment, Ishin Kiwami and Gaiden. I am both excited and a little nervous to see what they do next. Whatever they do, I sincerely hope SEGA doesn't mandate locking New Game Plus behind a paywall. Low-hanging fruit, I know but it had to be said.
One point of criticism I have, not towards this game in particular but more so towards the marketing team is that I feel the trailers showed too much. The main story trailer that aired during the RGG Summit in Fall 2023 showed lots of footage from the final chapter. In fact, one of the first cutscenes we saw of this game in which Kiryu and Ichiban discuss their dating history plays out just before the final bosses occur. One of the Character Spotlight trailers shows the final boss of the game and the Bucket List trailer revealed many cameos that would have been nice to have not known about prior. In fairness, this seems to be an issue with marketing in Japan as a whole due to differences in culture regarding spoilers in media but with the franchise becoming much bigger in the West as of late, going as far as to include prolific Western actors such as Daniel Dae-Kim and Danny Trejo in the dubbed cast, some extra restraint as to what they decide to showcase in promotional material would be appreciated for future entries.
Infinite Wealth is a direct sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, however, this game takes a similar structural approach to Yakuza 0, with a dual-protagonist dynamic. Ichiban is of course still very much present, with his story revolving around his mission to track down his long lost mother in Hawaii, who for unknown reasons has become the target of multiple criminal organisations. Fairly early on, he is joined by Kiryu who eventually returns to Japan during the game's latter half to tackle some newfound issues surrounding his health. After the two split up, the game alternates between Ichiban in Hawaii and Kiryu in Japan and admittedly, it isn't handled with as much grace as Yakuza 0 did. In that game, Kiryu and Majima's stories start out seemingly unrelated but gradually close in on one another as the central mystery unravels. In Infinite Wealth, it feels as though Ichiban's story somewhat takes a backseat once Kiryu leaves his party. In fairness, though, Kiryu's half of the game is essentially heaps of fan-service for previous games, including some neat shoutouts to the spin-off titles and much of the game's emotional core revolves around him. That isn't to say that Ichiban gets the short end of the stick per se. The two newcomers to his party - Tomizawa and Chitose are some of the best characters in the game plus some standout supporting characters and antagonists such as Eiji and Yamai.
Most of the game is spent in Hawaii, marking the first time the franchise has gone outside of Japan and it's, in my opinion, one of the best settings we've had thus far. It's a large, densely-packed sandbox with no shortage of things to do, as is typical for a Yakuza game. For as many side activities as there are, they all manage to be really fun, the personal standouts for me being Crazy Delivery and Dondoko Island, condensed parodies of Crazy Taxi and Animal Crossing, respectively. Kiryu's side content is a brilliant contrast, having less of the trademark Yakuza wackiness and opting to take a more reflective approach. With how often RGG tends to leave characters in the past, it's nice to see them be acknowledged again. If there's one thing Infinite Wealth does a lot better than 6, it's in actually tying up loose ends left throughout the whole series and getting to hear Kiryu's thoughts on the people and events that left such a profound impact on him.
One issue I do have regarding the side-content is that a few times during the game's first half, you are stopped semi-frequently to be introduced to a new side activity. This isn't a problem exclusive to Infinite Wealth but it's something I'd hoped they would have remedied by now. The worst offender is in Chapter 4 where you are halted from main story progression to listen to a spiel about the Sujimon League that goes on for an eternity. This isn't helped by the generic Yakuza sidequest storyline writing we've seen time and time again with yet another league of comical villains (i.e. the Four Kings in Gaiden, the Five Billionaires in 0, the Twisted Trio in Judgment, the Three Musketeers in Kiwami 2, JUSTIS in 6, you get the picture). Whilst these side activities are at the very least entertaining enough for me to actually do them in my free time, I hope future entries keep these pace-killing exposition dumps to a minimum, or at least keeps them out of mandatory progression.
Pacing in general seems to be a widespread issue surrounding this game and I definitely don't completely disagree. Ichiban's half can feel meandering at points but it moves swiftly enough and has sufficiently engaging character interactions and plot developments to keep it interesting. My only real issue is that two party members join very late into the game's runtime, one of which shows up in the second-to-last chapter and was very underlevelled by the time he joined. Considering how little they actually contribute to the plot, I feel as though they may as well have joined a bit earlier. However, character writing is just as strong as it was in the previous game. That being said, I do think Yakuza 7 was definitely better at keeping things moving and was much more focused overall on top of having some better villains. Infinite Wealth introduces a lot more threads and some of them unfortunately do not get wrapped up as neatly as I would have liked them to have. The ending, especially, leaves some things to be desired in how much either occurs off-screen and is told to us via passing mention or simply doesn't get acknowledged at all. Without delving too deep into spoilers, it does feel as though Infinite Wealth is setting up for future entries, both spin-offs like a third Judgment or second Gaiden and the next mainline entry whenever that comes around. I suppose a part of me was hoping for this game to feel like a complete package, with a definitive end to allow RGG Studios to begin fresh moving forwards with Kiryu out of the picture but that isn't the impression this ending left me with, for better or worse. That being said, I don't fault the game for not going in the direction I thought they would. Gaiden's more somber tone gave me the impression that Infinite Wealth would be going for a similar vibe but it's quite clear that it's trying to be anything but dire. The game constantly pushes themes of hope and what it means to live life regardless of the hand you've been dealt with. This not applies to Kiryu but to a large majority of the game's central cast, party members and villains alike. Considering that this is an Ichiban-centric game and with the parallels drawn to Yakuza 7, it's refreshing to see this kind of tone after how dismal Yakuza 5, 6 and Gaiden could at times be.
Gameplay-wise, Infinite Wealth trounces the previous game in every way. The ability to move during combat is a game-changer and additions such as combo attacks and everyone being able to use objects from the terrain makes for a much more robust system. Graphically, the game is also gorgeous with the odd green, yellowy filter from the last game thankfully not returning, with the game looking a lot more in line with entries such as Lost Judgment and Gaiden. The soundtrack is potentially my favorite yet, with some stellar battle themes, boss music, remixes of tracks from previous games and one particularly great use of licensed music at the end of the game. The karaoke selection is also the best it's ever been, with every song from Yakuza 7 returning (minus Eri's Like a Butterfly) plus an array of new tracks which are all fantastic (personal favorites being Baka Darou and Honolulu City Lights) and what is essentially a best-of selection of Kiryu tracks from throughout the series including Baka Mitai, Pride From Despair, Machine Gun Kiss, Hands and making its grand return - Judgement from Yakuza 0. Story-wise, as said before, is very strong as it always is though I do think Yakuza 7 may have the slight edge in that department but Infinite Wealth still delivers plenty of great moments. Though I think it does have more standout setpieces than 7, I think that game brought everything together in a much more cohesive and satisfying way, Mirror Face aside. As I also alluded to earlier, I do think 7 also edges Infinite Wealth out on villains though that's more so due to the fact that many of Infinite Wealth's villains leave a lot to be desired due to limited screentime. That being said though, I do like every villain in the game. I simply wish some of them had a greater presence, especially the final boss, Dwight and Wong Tou. Yamai was easily the biggest standout in terms of antagonists and I hope he continues to show up, I have a pretty good feeling he'll end up becoming a party member in the next game, if Seonhee was any indication.
Overall, Infinite Wealth is a fantastic package. It may not have delivered everything I wanted from it exactly but in most other aspects, I got what I desired and then some. The whole experience took me nearly 100 hours and I enjoyed every minute of it. I've yet to decide if my preference leans towards Yakuza 7 and it doesn't quite take the crowning position from Yakuza 0 for me, but it's still one of the best products to come out from RGG Studio and I commend their efforts on this massive game whilst still delivering content regularly in between mainline entries, such as Lost Judgment, Ishin Kiwami and Gaiden. I am both excited and a little nervous to see what they do next. Whatever they do, I sincerely hope SEGA doesn't mandate locking New Game Plus behind a paywall. Low-hanging fruit, I know but it had to be said.