Kamurocho was an unflinching bedrock for 15 years, regardless of the game or the star, and if Isezaki Ijincho is going to be carrying the load from here on, then that’s awesome, because there’s so much of it to explore and get to know that is barely touched in the course of Like a Dragon. It’s big enough to have a number of distinct areas defined by their demographics, architecture and density, along with new stuff like varied terrain levels and even huge crowds, which helps make the place feel so much more alive, and gives it a definite character that’s so important to the setting of these games.Īfter all, the place a Yakuza game is set isn’t just a collectionof textures, it’s the very heart of the series. It’s really big, and open, and feels so much more like a genuine open world that the cramped streets of Kamurocho. This is an all-new location for a Yakuza game, and it’s great. Like a Dragon begins in Kamurocho, home to most previous games, and stops for a little while in one other place, but the vast majority of your time will be spent in Isezaki Ijincho, Sega’s in-universe simulation of Yokohama’s Isezakichō district. So just to be clear before we go any further here, the game’s entire combat system, where street thugs and rival gangsters transform into terrorists and deep sea creatures, exists only in this guy’s head. Ichiban is also the cover story for the game’s shift to JRPG battles, building his character’s heroic impulses around a lifelong love of Dragon Quest, to the point where every time he enters street combat, he imagines that he’s fighting monsters and evil creatures. Ichiban is a more more approachable and flawed character than Kiryu, and I like him a lot. His hair is goofy as hell and I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it (even if the story has an excuse), and at times he drifts a little too far from “earnest himbo” towards “reckless fool”, but I can let those momentary lapses slide. He’s a breath of fresh air, a wild and unprofessional doofus who is as happy punching first as he is getting himself into trouble. Ichiban might wear a similar suit, but that’s where the similarities end. Who I love, don’t get me wrong, but he was also a man who in his old age was starting to feel pretty stiff, a walking caricature of Yakuza righteousness burdened by carrying his own backstory around with him 120 hours a year. I’ve got a lot of thoughts about all of this new stuff, and Like a Dragon’s more traditional Yakuza content, so let’s not make this intro as long-winded as one of the game’s cutscenes and just get straight into it.įor the first time in a mainline Yakuza game, Like a Dragon doesn’t star Kazuma Kiryu. That’s now gone, replaced with turn-based JRPG combat and a very thin - if enjoyable - narrative cover explaining the shift. Since its inception Yakuza has been a brutal action series, with its teeth-rattling physicality one of its main draws. Also new is the game’s setting, which briefly takes in Kamurocho before setting off for Isezaki Ijincho, based on Yokohama.Īlso new is the game’s combat. The star of Yakuzas 0-6, Kazuma Kiryu, snuck off into the sunset in 2018’s game, and now makes way for a new gangster, with a new face, a new haircut, a new backstory and a new personality. After an exhausting run of six main games, some spinoffs and the sandwiched-but-excellent Judgment, the Yakuza series entered a new era in 2020 with the release of Like a Dragon, which is trying to be something completely new, only it’s also not.
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