While Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has never managed to let main protagonist Kazuma Kiryu off a very short leash, even with Yakuza 6: The Song of Life being the perfect “out” for the long-running protagonist, they have managed to diversify themselves a bit more with the tales of Ichiban Kasuga, with 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon for PC, Xbox and PlayStation platforms offering an eccentrically well-crafted narrative, and gameplay mechanics that are more akin to an RPG than the action-brawler mechanics of all past chapters. Four years later, SEGA is starting 2024 off on a high note, offering a successor continuing the story of Ichiban, his allies and friends, new and old, in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. While unfortunately burdened with some eyebrow-raising monetization attempts that have justifiably taken over much discourse in recent weeks, what players do get is a more refined, rewarding experience, that manages to out-RPG many of the long-running RPG franchises on the market – complemented by much of the flair and unique offerings which has continued enticing players to revisit the Yakuza / Ryu Ga Gotoku series time and time again.
After being heralded the ‘Hero of Yokohama’, with the yakuza factions more or less dissolved, life has become pretty normal for Ichiban, working at an employment agency helping ex-Yakuza go on the straight-and-narrow despite the legal limitations making that almost impossible. However, falsified claims of criminal acts by him and his buddies, Yu Nanba and Koichi Adachi, at the hands of a popular vTuber, sees them all fired, unemployed and in dire straits. The rise of the newly reformed Seiryu Clan leads them on a quest that will see Ichiban sent to Hawaii for an important mission – to find his mother. From crooked taxi drivers, corrupt police and not only yakuza but the threat of a major mafia organisation – it turns out that Hawaii is far from the holiday destination Ichiban may have expected.
The narrative of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth offers both quality and quantity, with a main story spanning approximately 35-40 hours, alongside the side quests and other opportunities that will likely double or triple that length before unlocking every achievement or trophy. It offers a tale that does require you to have at least played Yakuza: Like a Dragon to appreciate much of what happens but offers much for those who have gone the entire Yakuza series, especially as the narrative revolving around Kazuma Kiryu slowly picks up a few chapters in, when he and Ichiban meet. While the pair were the poster characters for the game, and received arguably the lion’s share of the attention, returning characters and newly introduced party members also received their own fitting arcs, sub-stories and were ultimately there for more than being just another party member.
Ichiban Kasuga continues to thrive as a protagonist, bucking the expectations set by Kazuma Kiryu (although being instilled with some of the very same values that make him a beloved protagonist for so many instalments and years), being an aloof and eccentric yet genuinely warm, optimistic and loyal person who will go above and beyond to help a friend – even if that is a friend he just met and would otherwise be inconvenienced to assist. In Hawaii, he partners up with a motley crew of troublemakers, each contrasting well with one another, from Chitose Fujinomiya, the young and spunky maid of his mother who can hold her own against those burlier than her, to Eric Tomizawa a scam artist taxi driver who turns heel after being inspired by Ichiban’s words, to Kazuma Kiryu – a familiar face with potentially the most heartbreaking of all stories. While emboldened by a large secondary cast across main scenarios and substories, with a few surprises here and there, the main cast is a well-planned assortment of characters who are not carbon copies of one another, not implemented for the sake of needing more characters for combat, but are diverse and bounce off each other effectively.
I have very little negative to say about the story delivery in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, as by the end of the game everything you have done leads to a satisfying conclusion, sometimes in standard Ryu Ga Gotoku affair and others in ways that befit the new tone and vibe this sub-series of the franchise is going down. But I would argue that the prologue chapter was a bit drawn out, again it sets the tone for later chapters and the positions that certain characters from the first game are in, come 2024. This is not a bad thing per se. However, if you are a newcomer to the series and are not necessarily invested in these characters, I would strongly advise playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon first, or at least pushing through the first couple of chapters where things get much more interesting.
While it may be a little hard to come to grips with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s gameplay mechanics without playing it or its predecessor, the game forgoes the traditional action-brawler battle mechanics first introduced in 2005 in Yakuza on the PlayStation 2, and instead favours a turn-based RPG battle system. Combining the stylistic combat long-featured in the series with the imaginative elements supported by the mind of Ichiban, it not only adds a layer of strategy to what could otherwise be another button-mashing game but delivers the experience so seamlessly that it arguably outperforms many long-existing RPG franchises. With their own takes on skills that effectively integrate into the street brawls settings, gear/equipment options including weapon customisation, an easy-to-approach job system adding some versatility to character roles on the battlefield, and even a summoning system a la Poundmates, the combat is satisfying, with skill usage, character positioning and nearby destructible objects both rewarding strategic planning and giving the same level of satisfaction going up against swarms of enemies that (at least look) bigger, burlier and stronger than you.
In addition to general refinements from Yakuza: Like a Dragon which make the combat system feel better than ever, there have been a few new features introduced to the game. This includes the Hype Meter and Tag Team Attacks, which reward party synergy with new devastating attacks without costing a turn, the ability to have more control over the active character’s positioning in battle, and small quality-of-life adjustments, such as the ability to smackdown groups of low-level foes so you don’t need to waste precious seconds dealing with mobs of weaklings.
While there are a few occasions where you are stuck with just Ichiban in battle, most of the time you will be joined by other party members, whether permanent or guest characters, meaning that you typically have party members filling different traditional RPG roles (or combinations of them), including the ‘Fighter’ (The general damage dealer), ‘Mage’ (Dealing elemental damage like Fire and Electricity) and ‘Healer’. Every character, at least with their base job, has their own defined role that complements the other party members well. In the case of Kiryu, they even surprisingly found a way of incorporating his combat style from past games into the turn-based battle system, with the ability to switch between three fighting styles – Brawler, Rush and Sledgehammer. Surprisingly, despite being featured only a couple of months back in Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, Yakuza and Agent styles do not make a return.
Furthermore, if the experience sounds too involved, you can always turn on auto-combat from a couple of fights into the game, which is a nice option to have although I found the default AI was a bit too lenient on letting Ichiban get defeated while willingly using my low-tier recovery items to replenish 5-10 HP for another ally at almost full health. Furthermore, at least paying attention in battle allows you to respond to QTE prompts, earning slightly increased damage when timed properly, potentially being that extra oomph that wins you the battle.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth features two fully navigable districts to explore, the returning Isezaki Ijincho district of Yokohama and the brand-new Honolulu City in Hawaii. Compared against Kamurocho of games past, these are smaller, more tightly packed areas, but offer a wealth of activities to do and serve as enjoyable locales to explore. Being a locale so vastly different to Japan, you can bet there are a lot of activities to do in Hawaii. Whilst flagship activities such as karaoke, arcade games and a range of card games are back in original and improved forms – new activities such as Crazy Delivery (A food delivery take on SEGA’s Crazy Taxi franchise), a dating app game ‘Miss Match’, a ‘social media’ app revolving around greeting the inhabitants of Hawaii, and more make an appearance. Most notable is the return of Sujimon Battle, a surprisingly in-depth parody of Pokemon, and the newly introduced Happy Resort Dondoko Island – a simulation/island-building game that sees Ichiban managing an island resort which is one of the more in-depth side activity offerings one could spend hours enjoying. Everything can be enjoyed at one’s own pace, and even with the intensity of the story, between major events, players typically can enjoy everything as much or as little as they like.
Players can also look forward to more than 50 substories, unlocked through interacting with the inhabitants of the cities, visiting locations and through general story progression. While the main story of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth does to an extent have to maintain a more serious focus, this is once again where the writing team have managed to deliver some unique, quirky and memorable experiences – often offering refreshing challenges or new gameplay features through them. This is one of those games where, even if time-poor, I would consider it worth seeking these challenges out.
Design-wise, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth lacks a graphical mode selector, offering only the ability to set HDR on or off. I found the HDR settings to be a little bit finicky to set at first, resulting in everything looking over-saturated until I discovered that “sweet spot”, which wasn’t in line with the one-step process to activate it. But once it is set, the game looks very pretty, with beautiful vistas, excellent animations (character, combat and facial) and that attention to detail that often comes with the franchise. I do feel that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio are a bit more comfortable with creating Japanese city locales in comparison to the sun-drenched shores of Hawaii, but they did a solid job, and should they revisit the locale a second time, I would be interested to see where they take it. But more or less, they have captured the spirit of what I would expect Hawaii to be like, coupled with the darker undertones that come with the Ryu ga Gotoku franchise.
On-disc, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth comes with Japanese and English audio options, with additional subtitle languages corresponding with the Japanese voice work. While I could not foresee myself playing a Kazuma Kiryu arc in anything but Japanese purely because almost all games featuring him have come with only Japanese voice acting, I opted to do my playtesting of this game with the English dub. To give them credit, SEGA assembled a stellar and authentic cast to voice their large variety of characters, with Kaiji Tang once again reprising his role as Ichiban Kasuga and Yong Yea doing a respectable performance of Kazuma Kiryu (even if it is hard to picture anyone but Takaya Kuroda voicing the character). Further newcomers to the growing Like a Dragon English dub scene, including Matthew Yang King, Suzie Yeung and Robbie Daymond are competent performing as their respective characters. Arguably one small kink in the English dub being great is the localised karaoke songs, which varied in quality from amazing to a bit too heavily auto-tuned, with two of those cases being Kazuma Kiryu and Ichiban Kasuga, who as main protagonists, feature in a good number of songs. A minor issue, and karaoke is karaoke for a reason, but as a Ryu ga Gotoku Karaoke mini-game aficionado, it was something I immediately picked up on.
Sadly it is hard to ignore the big sore spot in the room, and that is the decision on how SEGA has monetised the game. In 2024, it is a fact that many games will see DLC released for them in the form of costumes, optional items or even additional chapters through season passes and the like. I can understand and even agree with the problems raised by such an approach to monetisation, and, via Steam, all launch DLC for the game costing $249.67 AUD is mind-bogglingly high. What does have gamers irked, and understandably so, is the decision to lock a series staple since the earliest games, actually a staple of past games and RPGs in general, New Game +, behind a $31.95 AUD paywall in the ‘Master Vacation Bundle’. Putting all other contents in the bundle behind a paywall? Sure. But there is frankly no need to lock replayability behind such a paywall, nor would I imagine there being as much development time necessitated to justify such a high cost.
For the last few years, we have seen a game come virtually out of nowhere and end up as a legitimately strong game of the year contender in January or February of that year, which will still keep players talking by November and December. In my opinion Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is that game for 2024. With the emotional backing of multiple decades of development, a genuinely creative combat system and many activities that could engage players for dozens of extra hours, this game proved to not only be a jack of all trades, but a master of what it does as well.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is now available on the PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.
A PlayStation 5 review code was provided by Australian distributor Five Star Games for the purpose of this review.
