Like the four Yakuza games I have played before this, I finished Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth emotionally exhausted, but more than I had ever had been before.
I can't say with certainty to what extent those feelings are all positive, but the game juggles such a handful of emotions with such deft and nuance that you don't realise they're crashing out of your hands and all over you until the game is quite literally playing you out, a tear running down my face.
There's a weird mix at play here, thematically and literally; in spite of Kiryu getting an epilogue title to the old days of Yakuza in Gaiden, this game, really, is his send off. Where you might expect Ichiban to be central voice here, the narrative and gameplay are progressively stripped back from the future of the Yakuza to instead ask you to look back, and remember. And this is what Kiryu does, through the main story and through the unusually straight-faced substories, as you relive decades of Kiryu's life, focusing particularly on the impact he has made so poignantly on all of the people he has interacted with throughout his life, and those that didn't make it.
Ichiban, on the other hand, feels a little swindled. While Hawaii makes a refreshing change of pace and invites a new energy into the Like a Dragon formula, the hook that drives Ichiban out of Japan never truly feels realised, and as a player it's hard to feel emotionally invested in Ichiban's half of the dichotomy when Kiryu's asks so much more personally of you as a player and of the characters themselves.
But that's not to talk to the wider enjoyment this game brings as a game. Like all Yakuza games it lives and breaths in its scope and whimsy; like 0, this game features two significant minigame substories, and I found myself in a frenzy 100%ing them both and taking up nearly 50% of my playtime on these alone. In each mechanical area the game is the best this franchise has ever been - the combat and gameplay is refined, chunky, intelligent and charming; the substories are diverse and rewarding; the enemy design enters its most ambitious and bosses in particular will catch you off guard.
And as always, the writing remains in a league of its own. Every substory is moving or hilarious. The party is rounded and moving, but in particular the two new party members are so well performed and realised that it's hard to imagine a franchise without them. The inter-party dynamics and relation-building are energetic and sincere. And Ichiban continues to cement himself as infinitely lovable, endearing, and the perfect host to take over this franchise.
But while Kiryu calls Ichiban the future of the Yakuza, it isn't his time yet. Narratively, the balance of dual protagonists never truly lands as masterfully as it does in 0 - this is Kiryu's game, really - and it is slightly too ambitious in trying to smash together both the new and the old with both weighted so prominently. So the game is sometimes messy, and unfocused, but there's no doubting it's another fantastic entry in a franchise that barely misses.
I can't say with certainty to what extent those feelings are all positive, but the game juggles such a handful of emotions with such deft and nuance that you don't realise they're crashing out of your hands and all over you until the game is quite literally playing you out, a tear running down my face.
There's a weird mix at play here, thematically and literally; in spite of Kiryu getting an epilogue title to the old days of Yakuza in Gaiden, this game, really, is his send off. Where you might expect Ichiban to be central voice here, the narrative and gameplay are progressively stripped back from the future of the Yakuza to instead ask you to look back, and remember. And this is what Kiryu does, through the main story and through the unusually straight-faced substories, as you relive decades of Kiryu's life, focusing particularly on the impact he has made so poignantly on all of the people he has interacted with throughout his life, and those that didn't make it.
Ichiban, on the other hand, feels a little swindled. While Hawaii makes a refreshing change of pace and invites a new energy into the Like a Dragon formula, the hook that drives Ichiban out of Japan never truly feels realised, and as a player it's hard to feel emotionally invested in Ichiban's half of the dichotomy when Kiryu's asks so much more personally of you as a player and of the characters themselves.
But that's not to talk to the wider enjoyment this game brings as a game. Like all Yakuza games it lives and breaths in its scope and whimsy; like 0, this game features two significant minigame substories, and I found myself in a frenzy 100%ing them both and taking up nearly 50% of my playtime on these alone. In each mechanical area the game is the best this franchise has ever been - the combat and gameplay is refined, chunky, intelligent and charming; the substories are diverse and rewarding; the enemy design enters its most ambitious and bosses in particular will catch you off guard.
And as always, the writing remains in a league of its own. Every substory is moving or hilarious. The party is rounded and moving, but in particular the two new party members are so well performed and realised that it's hard to imagine a franchise without them. The inter-party dynamics and relation-building are energetic and sincere. And Ichiban continues to cement himself as infinitely lovable, endearing, and the perfect host to take over this franchise.
But while Kiryu calls Ichiban the future of the Yakuza, it isn't his time yet. Narratively, the balance of dual protagonists never truly lands as masterfully as it does in 0 - this is Kiryu's game, really - and it is slightly too ambitious in trying to smash together both the new and the old with both weighted so prominently. So the game is sometimes messy, and unfocused, but there's no doubting it's another fantastic entry in a franchise that barely misses.
greatsupper
2 months ago