Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a role-playing game developed and published by Sega. Released in 2020, it is the eighth main entry in the Yakuza series. The game introduces a new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, and departs from the traditional action combat system, instead featuring turn-based combat with a party of characters. Set in the city of Yokohama, the game follows Kasuga's quest for revenge and his journey through Japan's criminal underworld.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon proves that, the more the franchise changes, the more it stays the same - effortlessly excellent.
I absolutely loved my time with Like a Dragon. Ichiban was just too charming, Isezaki Ijincho too interesting and its story too irresistible (in its own pulpy way), proving once again that the strength of Yakuza’s heart can easily overcome any of its gameplay shortcomings. Every time I got mad at its RPG failings, I couldn’t stay mad, because every...
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is bursting at the seams with things to do and goes out of its way to make so much of it worth doing.
From a studio that's never really ventured into the genre of traditional JRPGs, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an impressive inaugural effort. It's not perfect by any means, as the turn-based combat still has some growing pains in its current iteration. Coupled with repetitive dungeon design and an unfair endgame grinding requirement, these downsides cast...
Even with these minor annoyances - not least those carried over from previous games in the series - what brief frustrations that do surface are quickly and easily eclipsed by everything else going on in Like a Dragon. Or more appropriately, by the sheer scale of deviation and conviction that this year's entry shows in proving that this genre of gameplay...
