Step away from the neon-sprawled city of reimagined Tokyo and travel back into the ways of the samurai in feudal Japan as Sakamoto Ryoma in Like a Dragon: Ishin.
Let me preface this by saying Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami are the only entries I’ve played on the franchise thus far and I’m yet to start with the others. I know I know. Like a Dragon: Ishin is a standalone spin-off title, but I feel this game would be better appreciated with the familiarity and understanding of the franchise as a whole. 24 hours clocked in and that point still drives home. The appreciation to the faces you see here and the easter eggs there.
Like a Dragon: Ishin starts out as a revenge story as Ryoma tracks down a Tennen Rishin style user from the infamous elite swordsman group Shinsengumi. Hellbent on revenge, he will stop at nothing except for sidequests to find his pops’ killer because I swear to god the sheer amount of its extra content this game offers is both a blessing and a curse for anyone looking to have a good time. You won’t believe how many of them I’ve ignored, turned down, or pressed A repeatedly just to get past their conversations.
To be clear on that, the game takes its time to build the foundations of its narrative – introduce its strong cast of characters and establish their relationships with one another, set up the conflict, and it makes no excuses for taking its sweet time. To a fault at times. To its credit however, its storytelling is easily one of its key strengths. Yakuza storytelling is evident here – a web of secrets and conspiracies that you uncover as you drive further your goal. There’s just plenty of interruptions breaking you away from moving the plot forward. Wade through its first hours and the payoff is all worth it.
Gameplay-wise, it’s hard not to draw comparisons if you’ve already played the previous installments. The structure is very much the same where you’ll have several fighting styles. It has a bit more depth than picking what suits you and go ham on building it up. Wild Dancer, a combination of gun and sword, looks very cool and is better suited for crowd control with its fast attack speed but with a tradeoff on damage dealt. Swordsman on the other hand is fit for duels with its skillset and emphasis on damage. I find Gunman only useful for dropping bosses so you can perform Heat Attacks when they’re on the ground, lategame however trivializes that with your arsenal of skills available to you at that point. And yeah, why bother with Brawler? It looks fun and all but its lack of efficiency in annihilating thugs takes the fun out of it.
This is a beat ‘em up that locks you in an arena for each enemy encounter, and I so much want to emphasize how that happens in between objectives. Almost very corner hallway you’ll come across thugs attempting to ambush you. I say attempt because they really pose no threat and are more of a way to release your frustrations if the repetitiveness of it doesn’t do that first. There will be that debate on which one steers you away from the main quest more. That or sub stories. I’ll let you decide.
New to the game is the addition of Trooper cards. These are basically skills that can give you the leg up in battles or save you in a pinch. Apparently, SEGA partnered with celebrities for this. Â Kenny Omega, Rahul Kohli, Nyatasha Nyanners to name a few.
And as if that’s not enough, there’s a massive amount of minigames here to kill your time with. You’ll initially be taught how to chop wood, and from that it’s full on random things like karaoke, dancing, fishing, gambling with cards or dice, drinking, rock paper scissors, shogi, and a whole lot more. The sheer number of activities you can do here are both its strength and weakness. It would have been a better idea to position them away from the beaten path. But odds are, some of them will blindside you.
You thought that was over? Not by a long shot. You see, as Ryoma tries to live a double life, that applies to gameplay as well. It’s not all fighting and gambling. If by any chance Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley is your thing, Called Another Life, this sub story/minigame is all about the farm life. Grow crops, adopt pets, fulfill orders, cook. It’s a life of peace that can last as long as you want.
So here we are. Like a Dragon: Ishin is SEGA’s way to make amends for region locking it in Japan when it first came out, and while we can go on arguing about whether it’s a remake or a remaster, that doesn’t change the fact that its combat and some mechanics in general feel a bit dated. My research points out that it was built from the ground up on Unreal Engine 4, and again, that could have been an opportunity to justify its $60 asking price. Quality of life improvements and all that.
Like a Dragon: Ishin is a distant spin-off of the Yakuza games, but it certainly carries the DNA that makes the franchise great – a captivating and gripping narrative, a wealth of side content that can offer you hours on hours of gameplay, and a captivating scenery brought to life. There’s plenty to love here, and those are more than enough to make up for its flaws if you’re patient enough.
Like a Dragon: Ishin is a game best played by those who have plenty of time in their hands. Because it demands it even when you cut out everything optional here. If you don’t, it’s going to be one hell of a drag to play. So take your sweet time when you can and enjoy the ride. Make the journey as fun as the destination whenever you can. And remember, tomorrow is yours!