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While Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name was supposed to tide us over till Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth hit, players who played that game knew that it did anything but. Two months suddenly became a maddeningly wide gulf.
Thankfully, that gulf has now been crossed and it’s now D-Day for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth!
So, has the wait been worth it?
Read on and find out!
What is Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth?
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is an open world third person turn based RPG. It is the latest game in the Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza) series, and is developed by SEGA’s Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by SEGA. It is out now for the PC, Playstation and Xbox consoles.
Our copies were awesomely provided by the kind folks over at SEGA!
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth stars Ichiban Kasuga, the protagonist from the previous mainline entry in the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon. In the sequel, Ichiban makes his way to Honolulu, Hawaii on a quest to reunite with his birth mother.
Despite the simple premise, things don’t exactly go as planned and Ichiban (and company) is caught up in a whirlwind of intrigue and deception…and lots of fighting. Turn based fighting to be exact, just like it’s predecessor.
If you’ve played Yakuza: Like a Dragon, you’ll feel right at home here.
The battle mechanics are relatively unchanged.
Even if you’re a newbie, you’ll get the hang of it in no time. There’s some depth to it (positioning plays a much bigger role now) but for the most part, you can sleepwalk through the battles (pressing LT activates auto-battle) without a care.
Jobs return again, though it’ll take you quite a while before you’re able to switch to another class. Even then, the latter classes require you to reach a certain rank before they unlock. There are a lot of jobs too (some exclusive to certain characters), so the game certainly gives you room to experiment with your party makeup.
Fighting aside, the draw to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is its kooky cast and the hijinks Ichiban and his gang get up to. In that sense, this game doesn’t disappoint.
Like the other games in the series, the game’s super serious plot is wrapped around hilarious side missions and a very weird cast of secondary characters. Quite a bit of them return from previous games, so if you’re a veteran, you’ll probably get tickled pink at the fanservice.
Fanservice aside, there’s a lot of optional content to divert your attention with in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. From the online dating app Miss Match, to taking pictures of perverts, to befriending locals (and animals) to delivering food to battling Sujimon, to rebuilding DokoDoko Island…I could go on and on and on.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is hands-down the beefiest game in the series so far.
The story is pretty lengthy and the optional stuff is much more involved. Some, like Sujimon or DokoDoko, would’ve be more than adequate for a single Like a Dragon game. To have both in, that’s plain overkill…not that I’m complaining of course.
There is a marked lack of JAV stars this time around, but that’s not a downside to be honest. It’s about time the series stepped away from the seedy underside of Kamurocho or Ijincho and became more.
Unfortunately, despite everything the game has going for it (which is a lot!), there are still some downsides.
The main one’s the visuals.
Even running with everything maxed out on 4K, the game is kind of plain looking.
The streets of Honolulu aren’t super detailed and while the character models look good, the buildings all sort of blend together. The one redeeming factor in the locale is the availability of the in-game tram. Taking it and just gawking at the sights while the characters talk amongst themselves is really fun!
Is it enough though? Not really.
It’s super sad considering how memorable Kamurocho, Ijincho and Sotenbori were from previous games compared to how boring and generic looking Honolulu is. True, the size is bigger but size isn’t everything. I’ve never had to look at the map so much in a Yakuza game before because most parts of the city are indistinguishable from each other!
I also need to point out that the game now allows you to listen to music while Ichiban roams around.
The in-game tracks are cool (there are even unlockable music from other SEGA and ATLUS games) but I’m bummed out that the karaoke tracks (Baka Mitai especially) is only available via DLC. Now, to be clear, you can still sing the tracks at the Revolve Bar, you just can’t listen to them on the go without buying the DLC.
…which sucks.
In fact, the whole DLC experience for the game is crap. I can understand the DLC extra jobs, even the songs…but DLC to unlock New Game Plus? That’s just lame man, especially considering that New Game Plus mode was free in all other games in the series!
Come on, SEGA. I love you guys…but this isn’t the way to endear yourselves to the fans. Hopefully somebody realizes this and stops this insane DLC milking in subsequent games.
The Bottom Line.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a great entry to the series.
It’s jam packed with content (embarressingly so) and the gameplay is still top notch, even if you hate the turn based battles. The story is great, the side missions are funny/heartwarming/weird and the characters all lovable (even the bad ones).
This is Yakuza/Like a Dragon at its finest.
It’s also the series at its lowest.
Honolulu is much more generic than past maps, and the numerous DLC the game is kind of bullshit. Ignoring those is pretty easy (you don’t really need the DLC to have fun) so it’s really not that hard to recommend the game overall.
TLDR:
The best Yakuza/Like a Dragon game yet.
The Good:
- Huge amount of content to play through.
- Awesome dialogue and characters.
- Great story.
- Fun, but basic, battle system.
The Bad:
- Some DLC should’ve been included in the base game.
- Honolulu is bland and forgettable.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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