"They say you're some legendary Yakuza, but for me, that just doesn't fit the bill. The Kiryu I know? He loves good booze and karaoke, and he throws a hell of a punch. He's also a friend like no other. You're carryin' way too much on your own. And why bother, when you've got us? Isn't that what friends are for?"

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the 8th mainline title in the Like a Dragon (formerly known as Yakuza) series and a direct sequel to both 2020's Yakuza: Like a Dragon and 2023's Like a Dragon: Gaiden - The Man Who Erased His Name so it's strongly advised you at least play those games before Infinite Wealth, but to get the full experience I would say it's best to play all mainline Yakuza games first.

Following both Ichiban and Kiryu as co-protagonists taking place in the franchise's first ever overseas setting of Honolulu Hawaii (Which is also the series largest location to date being 3X bigger than Kamurocho) in addition to series staple locations across Japan like the Isezaki Ijincho district of Yokohama and the Kamurocho district of Tokyo in a globetrotting adventure to help Ichiban reunite with his mother while Kiryu comes to terms with his mortality and looks for a purpose and reason to keep on living. It wouldn't be incorrect to say Infinite Wealth is both the longest and most ambitious Yakuza narrative to date, but that's not without its problems.

I think at times the narrative gets a bit too over-convoluted since there are so many different plot points and narrative threads introduced and some feel less fleshed out than others by the end of the game and most of the antagonists were weaker than previous ones in the series as well, but despite all this Infinite Wealth just like Gaiden felt like a big love letter to the fans and the franchise and has some of the best and strongest moments in the whole series. Combine this massive love letter to the franchise's history with strong overarching themes of redemption, learning how to rely on your friends and not shoulder everything by yourself and finding a reason to keep on living alongside social commentary on the dangers of social media virality and the homelessness epidemic and even for its flaws you still have an incredibly strong narrative.

However where the game truly excels is the cast of characters and all their individual smaller arcs. It's not an exaggeration when I say by the time I finished Infinite Wealth this cast of characters had become one of my all time favorites among all the video games I've played. Between the walk-and-talks, the table-talks, the bingo-bond and all their individual Drink Links there are so many interactions between the characters that make them feel more realistic and the friendship they share all the more believable even just walking around town hearing them have casual conversations together and learning small details about them like how Zhao is addicted to mobile gacha games or how Tomizawa reads a Quantum Mechanics book to fall asleep because it's so boring to him. All these little details you learn about the characters really give them so much more personality and make them that much more relatable and human.

Now nicknamed the "Live Command RPG" Battle System the combat is another aspect where Infinite Wealth excels at which improved upon the foundation that Yakuza 7 built in every way imaginable. So many small quality of life improvements have made one of the best turn-based combat systems even better like being able to move your party members freely in combat without taking up a turn or how if you position your characters properly you can attack your enemies in the back for extra damage, do combo attacks with your friends and use items on the battlefield as weapons, there's also a new "Hype Meter" which lets Ichiban or Kiryu do tag team attacks with their friends alongside Ichiban's special ultimate tag team attack which is a party wide attack that expends everyone's Hype Meter. Kiryu can also use his Hype Meter to go into "Dragon Resurgence" mode and break out of the turn based combat for a few seconds allowing you to control him in a simplified version of the beat 'em up style of past Yakuza games. Combine all this alongside the in-depth job system (Which now lets you inherit more skills from different jobs easier), the Poundmates summons and all the over-the-top special moves and you have both one of the most flashy and stylish turn-based combat systems I've ever experienced in a game, but also one of the most in-depth, detailed, diverse and varied combat systems as well.

Much like its predecessor Infinite Wealth also gives Ichiban Persona-like personality stats (Style, Charisma, Confidence, Intellect etc) to upgrade by completing various in-game challenges, but this system has also been improved because now these stats also make some of Ichiban's attacks stronger as they also get stronger, the same goes for Kiryu's more simplified Soul, Body and Tech which help to strengthen his individual fighting styles so you always have incentive to increase these stats since they actively help you in combat.

What would a Yakuza game be without side content? And Infinite Wealth easily has both the most and some of the best since Yakuza 5 as well. You've got all the staples like various Sega arcade games, darts, karaoke (featuring a few new songs as well), various gambling games like Mahjong, Blackjack, Poker plus Shogi, Bingolf and many other smaller activities to keep one distracted, but there's also the Pac-Man-like Can Quest mini-game from Yakuza 7 brought back alongside a new Crazy Taxi-style fast food delivery mini-game and two massive 10+ hour long storylines tied to a wacky Animal Crossing resort building management game with Dondoko Island and a Pokemon parody (Complete with Gyms and everything) in the Sujimon League. That's not even counting all the various sub-story side quests that range from wacky and comedic to heartwarming or feely and Infinite Wealth has some of the best in the series (Special shout-out to the "Let It Snow" sub-story for making me cry). Also all of Kiryu's "Life Links" sub stories which deal with his past will really pull on your heartstrings as well especially if you've experienced Kiryu's journey since the beginning. There's certainly no shortage of meaningful side content to keep you entertained for hours upon hours even beyond the 50+ hour main story campaign, it's easy to sink 100+ hours into Infinite Wealth and still not even complete all that it has to offer. Infinite Wealth? More like Infinite Content.

While it's true that the main narrative can sometimes stumble over the weight of its own ambition and there are some plot points that don't get nearly as fleshed out as others, there's still plenty to love and appreciate in Infinite Wealth between its deep narrative themes and social commentary to its unabashed love and celebration of the franchise's history alongside one of the most diverse, fun and enjoyable turn-based combat systems developed to date, an unforgettable cast of characters and an almost near infinite amount of side content to explore makes Infinite Wealth not only one of the best games in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise, but one of the best games of 2024 and an RPG that no RPG fan will want to miss out on.