Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Review

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth on PS5

As a long-time Yakuza fan, I’ll admit I may by no means fairly get into the earlier Ichiban recreation. It spun the Yakuza format into one thing shockingly new, and I didn’t fairly mesh with it. It felt too inflexible after I would have most popular simply to hammer the sq. button and decimate no matter enemy Kiryu was dealing with. Fortunately, Infinite Wealth has made particular enhancements to the turn-based fight from the final recreation, and I discovered myself having fun with it way more this time round.

Kazuma Kiryu — Image Source: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio through Twinfinite

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth takes place 4 years after the occasions of Ichiban’s first journey, with the fallout from the Great Dissolution nonetheless very contemporary. Ichiban truly has a job with Hello Work to assist the displaced Yakuza discover gainful employment and new which means to their lives. However, a nasty rumor spreads, which misrepresents what he’s attempting to do, and Ichiban finds himself out of a job. Though this implies he can now not assist his Yakuza brethren, it frees him as much as tackle a totally different process.

Summoned by his earlier captain, Sawashiro, Ichiban is tasked with discovering a lady who has a connection to himself and his late household patriarch. This quest takes Ichiban (and the sequence) out of Japan for the primary time, into the island paradise of Hawaii. From right here, it’s the normal Yakuza/Like a Dragon story you may count on, filled with betrayal, surprising allies, and loads of fistfights. I’ll say that whereas it hits loads of acquainted notes, I used to be nonetheless glued to the story from starting to finish, like a terrific cleaning soap opera.

One of probably the most stunning components of the brand new location is that, clearly, it follows a totally different foreign money, so upon arriving, your earned Yen shifts to USD. I’ve to say, placing cash gained from fights into context fully modified how I spent what I earned. Throughout the sooner Hawaii sections, I discovered myself money-conscious for the primary time on this sequence. It’s additionally fairly humorous to win a battle solely to get round $5, and that had me chuckling for a bit.

Having this attitude meant a lot extra after I was holding solely $50, and a well being merchandise I wanted was fairly costly. For this motive, I by no means shied away from a single battle, because it was a good whereas till I felt like I had a comfy wealth, however it by no means as soon as felt infinite. I used to be grateful to the aspect content material for extra methods to make a little additional dough.

Speaking of fights, the very best change finished to fight is that you simply truly get to maneuver and place your occasion members, lending a little bit of technique to each battle. Between two character combo assaults and particular assaults with a particular assault space, it makes every battle really feel like way more than simply tapping the identical buttons till victory. I’d name this the singularly most necessary development from the earlier recreation to this one, and it’s most likely why I used to be capable of dive proper in and revel in myself.

Infinite Wealth Combat — Image Source: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio through Twinfinite

Not that this implies something to anybody however me, however because the setting shifted to America, it meant the names of enemies modified. Getting to defeat an enemy that had my title in a Yakuza recreation is most definitely a spotlight of my life. The screenshot I took of the primary time I noticed my title is my new trophy.

There can also be a new slate of Jobs to uncover for Ichiban and the gang. This made it good and simple to seek out the groove with the occasion, and it was straightforward to change out. There had been a number of characters that I felt had been much better as their default jobs versus new ones. I used to be joyful to seek out that I by no means felt penalized for this lack of experimentation.

As far as aspect content material goes, there’s little doubt in my thoughts that that is the most important Yakuza/Like a Dragon recreation but. The recreation enables you to absolutely discover three separate maps, every with the standard arcades, playing, and outlets. I used to be extremely shocked when the latter half of the story launched the third map, as I hadn’t anticipated it to be an possibility.

Ichiban additionally finally ends up as soon as once more being concerned with discovering Sujiimon. The wrinkle this time is that they’re utilized in a Pokemon-esque means the place you’ll be able to add them to your roster and battle them to battle the “Discreet Four.” As the obtainable Sujimon are simply common enemies, you have got additional causes to interact in each battle obtainable. There can also be a associated gacha to absorb any of Ichiban’s hard-earned cash at $100/roll on probably the most primary tier.

For an added journey, Ichiban finally ends up on Dondoko Island, the place a resort is beneath siege by pirates who’re utilizing the island to dump their trash. Restoring the resort means crafting numerous random objects to enhance the resort’s recognition to fulfill necessities to revive its former glory. This administration sim is extra sturdy than I anticipated and provides you free rein to put all types of wacky props in designated areas.

Dondoko Island Trash — Image Source: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio through Twinfinite

These are simply a number of the Ichiban choices, as properly, because the story additionally focuses on the sequence hero, Kazuma Kiryu. Though it feels a little unnatural to be controlling Kiryu in turn-based, his place within the recreation is a essential one. Infinite Wealth seems like a love letter to followers who’ve journeyed with Kiryu from the start, as a complete part of the sport has you working by way of areas discovering spots for him to reminisce on recollections followers will recall.

The coolest factor is that these aren’t any recollections from the mainline titles both, as there are mentions of spin-offs Ishin, Kenzan, and Dead Souls, all of which Kiryu remarks on as goals he had. While I used to be keen to skip over another content material, I made a beeline for all of those as they had been a welcomed journey down reminiscence lane and reignited my need to revisit the older titles.

My solely slight annoyance with the story was that it took endlessly to acknowledge any a part of The Man Who Erased His Name. In that recreation, Kiryu was very strict together with his alias, however everybody in Infinite Wealth simply threw it round. While the argument may very well be made that there was much less danger in Hawaii, it nonetheless felt too disconnected from a recreation that was presupposed to bridge the story.

I can’t precisely promote Infinite Wealth as an simply accessible JRPG for anybody to get pleasure from. It’s a dense recreation with a minimum of a 100-hour journey for gamers to undertake. However, in case you’re keen to courageous the time dedication, there’s an incredible story right here that seems like probably the most becoming wrap-up for anybody who has cherished Kazuma Kiryu all through the sequence. I don’t know the place a doable ninth recreation may take the sequence, however getting right here has been an unimaginable expertise.