Play Yakuza: Like a Dragon before diving into Infinite Wealth

If Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will be your entry point into the Like a Dragon series (formerly known as Yakuza), first of all welcome. You’ll probably have a good time. However, I implore you to consider playing its predecessor. Yakuza: Like a dragonbefore moving on to the newer version. While you could certainly still enjoy it Infinite wealth without playing Like a dragonIt lays the groundwork to make the most of the latest installment of one of gaming’s most entertaining franchises by introducing you to adorable characters and a bizarre world in which you have to rescue people stranded in public toilets without toilet paper and against one another Tigers fight with bare hands. And it’s also included in Game Pass, which never hurts.

Tonally, Yakuza: Like a dragon isn’t all that different from the previous games in the series. It offers a dramatic – often violent – story of betrayal and the search for innocence, mixed with the most diverse side quests in gaming. It borrows many of the same activities you can indulge in when you’re not fighting, like spending time in an arcade full of elaborate Sega mini-games or getting into character doing PaRappa the Rapper’s rhythm-style karaoke to face challenges. There’s even a whole business simulator you can come across (I highly recommend it). For new and even returning players, it’s a lot to wash over you, but it feels so good to bathe in it.

This variety spoiled me in a way that no other role-playing game has managed to achieve. As I ran through the streets of Yokohama and Kamurocho for nearly 76 hours, it wasn’t the temptation to earn more XP that kept me going or completing side quests just to tick boxes. On a surprising number of street corners, my curiosity was rewarded with something unexpected. Often it was a bit silly, but sometimes the protagonist Ichiban Kasuga meets people in situations that emotionally disarm him and therefore the player, which can be really heartwarming. And just as quickly you’ll go back to beating up punks with a vibrator or a wok.

Instead of Yakuza’s long-time protagonist, tough guy Kazuma Kiryu, you take on the role of Ichiban Kasuga, a goofier, more lovable character from the start. Ichiban was abandoned as an infant, then taken in and given a fairly comfortable life by a man who turns out to be high up in a Yakuza clan. Ultimately, Ichiban is asked to accept murder by his father figure and serves an 18-year prison sentence for it. They take control of him after he’s back on the streets following the tech boom of the 2010s. It’s a whole new world and the power structure of his father’s Yakuza clan has changed drastically while Ichiban was imprisoned.

In addition to laying the foundation for Infinite wealthcharacters and plots, Like a dragon marked a small reinvention of the series. The game foregoes the repetitive real-time combat of previous Yakuza games and instead features more strategic turn-based combat with select party members, each delightful and flawed in their own way.

The turn-based combat works similarly to Dragon Quest (Ichiban’s inspiration for taking the hero’s path), as battles are made easier by exploiting elemental weaknesses to gain an advantage. These constant battles avoid becoming too repetitive, thanks in part to the game’s job system. Instead of the huge skill trees of previous Yakuza games that you slowly work on, in Like a dragon You can level up a class (or job as it’s called) for your party members such as Killer, Fortune Teller, Musician, Cook, Pop Idol and more, gaining new class abilities in the process. You can change them all the time, and some of them drastically change your role in battle, giving your party a freshness that’s a little reminiscent of them the dragon’s belief.

Compared to the real-time combat in older Yakuza games (as well as the newer ones). Like a dragon Gaiden And Was) The turn-based system makes it easier to focus on making your characters completely turn into fools. The animation and sound design work together brilliantly, and there are so many clever ways to wreak all kinds of mayhem on your enemies. Like many other role-playing games Like a dragon includes subpoenas, but with a distinctive twist. Instead of demons and gods, call upon “poundmates” such as a sumo wrestler, a giant crawfish, a lady who works in a soup kitchen, or a masochist who cannot feel pain. Ryu Ga Gotoku twisted the “ridiculous” meter until it broke.

Yakuza: Like a dragon has its flaws, including difficulty spikes in the middle and end of the game that almost require completing levels in a maze-like underground dungeon that doesn’t match the fun of the rest of the game. And it’s frustrating that the game’s many classes are gendered and sometimes specific to certain characters. Depending on the player, this is either an advantage or a deterrent Like a dragon New features and game types continue to be introduced dozens of hours into the adventure. I don’t necessarily expect Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to fix any of this Infinite wealthbut that won’t stop me from playing it.

Like a dragon proved that reinvention can be a good thing, even when you’re on the umpteenth entry. And with Infinite wealth Just around the corner, the franchise that was once an underdog could finally – deservedly – ​​gain popularity.

Yakuza: Like a dragon is available on Game Pass for PC and Xbox, as well as on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.