It’s a new console generation and there is a new Yakuza game to usher us into next gen. Available now on Xbox Series X/S and in March for PS5, Yakuza: Like A Dragon (YLAD) represents a major turning point for the series as a new lead character is introduced, as well as a new city, and significant changes to the gameplay. Still, YLAD maintains much of its charm that has made this franchise so good over the last fifteen years since it began on the PS2.
Kazuma Kiryu was the protagonist is the series up to this point. I’ll always appreciate his character and the amount of development and great story arcs we got to lead him through over the course of a half dozen or so games. The ‘Dragon of Dojima’ was always a stoic badass that erred on the side of good and as far as videogame characters go, he’s one of the best in my limited opinion. When I started up YALD, I knew Kazuma was not going to be in this game, but, a fresh start can do everyone some good and better this than the franchise coming to a halt.
Admittedly, Ichiban Kasuga, the new face of Yakuza, has taken a little bit more time to like than Kazuma, but I have come around. His hotheaded nature is a little annoying in the first several hours of the game, but his dedication to his family and sense of honor is commendable. The first two (of fifteen) chapters in YALD are heavy on cutscenes and dialog, and give us a great start to understanding Ichi’s history. After his parents die while Ichi is a teenager, he gets onto the wrong path and finds himself picking fights in the street. One day he unknowingly beats up a member of the yakuza, and suddenly finds himself captured, beaten, and on the brink of death until he lies and claims to be part of another yakuza family. Without spoiling too much, he is rescued and raised and trained by Arakawa Family patriarch Masumi Arakawa. Being willfully and fiercely indebted to Masumi, Ichi takes the fall for a murder that one of Masumi’s top men committed. This lands Ichi in prison for fifteen years, but he is proud to do this for his yakuza family and father-figure. With great anticipation on his release day, Ichi steps out into a Kamurocho that is no longer what it used to be. His modest yakuza family is now practically extinct, and stranger still is that Masumi is now head of the rival clan, the Omi Alliance. If that weren’t enough, word has it that Masumi apparently betrayed not only the Arakawa family, but the entire Tojo clan.
One thing that the Yakuza games have always been successful in doing is presenting a pretty darn compelling story with a lot of good characters. And, even though the stories are about mafia in-fighting and crime, there is always room for some tongue-in-cheek humor and zany-ness, and I’m glad that all of that is still intact with YALD. Sometimes these characters are hard to keep up with, but this level of story crafting and telling is impressive, no matter the form of media, and especially in videogames. As always, I chose to play it with Japanese audio and English subtitles as I feel it gives the experience more authenticity, and I find it more enjoyable that way. Regardless, I appreciate the Yakuza tradition of a strong, compelling story with multiple interesting characters that develop over the course of the next twenty-to-thirty hours of play (or even longer, as has been the case with YALD). With YALD, there is a lot to dive into. In addition to the main story, there are about fifty side stories, some of which I have yet to even discover. As with previous Yakuza titles, players have a large sandbox to roam around, this time in the city of Yokohama, with plenty of diversions to explore like Sega arcades, kart racing, and even business management. Some optional side gigs can also improve Ichi’s stats and his relationship with the other characters.
Indeed, not only is there a new lead character and city, but the gameplay for Yakuza has changed with Like A Dragon. Combat is now turn-based instead of free-flowing, and there is a RPG subsystem as well, featuring nineteen different “jobs” (or character classes/types). I liked that a lot of the RPG element stuff is handled automatically, such as when you level up your stats are automatically updated rather than players having to spend time choosing what to upgrade. The various jobs can be a little hard to decipher in as far as what help they will bring your party, which can be a little stressful because it can be hard to know when to bail on a job and to instead switch to a new one, and all of that takes time to iron out.
Ichi’s supporting cast are quite the ragtag group and include Adachi, an aging rogue cop looking to get some higher ups fired. Nanba is a homeless ex-nurse, while Saeko is a hostess who can charm the bad guys to distract them and lower their defenses, for example. The combination of jobs and the trade-offs between characters makes for a really cool and interesting team that proves very capable for most of the game. Having this bunch at your side as you take on side missions to improve their stats makes the game all the more engaging, and as I came to find out you will benefit from every bit of leveling up you do early as the game gets quite difficult in its final stages.
Like many Yakuza fans, I had my reservations when I heard YALD was going to use turn-based combat instead of the free-flowing combat the series has previously had. Fortunately, the turn-based combat promotes speed and it’s easy to navigate and execute your options during play. Players can still use their environment for some attacks and there are bits of extra interaction beyond just pressing your action button, too, such as being able to press additional buttons for extra damage. So, if you were concerned like me that the turn-based nature of the fighting would be a major step back for the series, I would offer the encouragement that it’s not bad at all, and actually works very well.
Playing on the Series X with my new Sony X900H, I was wowed by both the graphic fidelity as well as the load times. In fact, the load times were so fast that those handy tips that display on the load screens go by too quick; I couldn’t read but just a few words. Most load times are under two seconds, which is just awesome. On a related note, I liked that I could save my game at any point, and, during the long cutscenes you can pause them. The Series X Quick Resume function works beautifully as well.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a rousing success. The timing is excellent, too. It’s the dawn of a new console generation and it’s an exciting time for this storied franchise to turn a new page. As far as launch games go, this is one of the best, for several reasons. It offers some presentation ‘wows,’ but even more importantly it offers a deep, long, compelling story with memorable moments and characters, with strong gameplay and lots to do. It’s built off of the success of the previous fifteen years of Yakuza, but Like A Dragon blazes its own path, too — you need not have played any of the previous games to fully enjoy this one, yet I appreciate that this game honors the past while forging its own future. PS5 owners have something great to look forward to in March, but if you’re lucky enough to have the new Xbox, this is a great game that is also very well priced right now at just $50.
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