You don't have to play Yakuza: Like a Dragon before Infinite Wealth, but you should

As Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios Like a dragon: infinite wealth will be your starting point for the Like a Dragon series (formerly known as Yakuza), first of all, welcome. You'll probably have a good time. However, I implore you to consider playing its predecessor, Yakuza: Like a dragon, before moving on to the newer release. While you could certainly still enjoy it Infinite wealth without playing Like a dragon, it lays the foundation for getting the most out of the latest installment of one of gaming's most entertaining franchises, introducing you to wonderful characters and a bizarre world where you're asked to rescue people left without toilet paper in public toilets are stranded and fight a tiger with your bare hands. And it's on Game Pass too, which never hurts.

Theatre, Yakuza: Like a dragon isn't all that different from previous games in the series. It offers a dramatic – often violent – ​​story of betrayal and the pursuit of innocence, mixed with the most varied side quests in gaming. It borrows many of the same activities you can enjoy when you're not fighting, like spending time in an arcade full of elaborate Sega mini-games, or getting blissfully out of character at karaoke with rhythm-based PaRappa the Rapper style. challenges. There's even a whole business simulator you can run into (I highly recommend it). For new and even returning players, it's a lot to take in, but it feels so good to bathe in it.

This variety has spoiled me in a way that no other RPG has yet matched. As I ran through the streets of Yokohama and Kamurocho for nearly 76 hours, it wasn't the temptation to earn more XP that kept me going, or to complete side missions just to check boxes. It was that my curiosity was rewarded on a surprising number of street corners with something unpredictable. Often it was something wacky, but sometimes protagonist Ichiban Kasuga encounters people in situations that emotionally disarm him, and in turn the player, which can be truly heartwarming. And just as quickly you go back to clubbing punks with a vibrator or a wok.

Instead of Yakuza's long-standing protagonist, the badass Kazuma Kiryu, you play as Ichiban Kasuga, a crazier, more sympathetic character from the start. Ichiban was abandoned as a baby, then taken in and given a pretty comfortable life by a man who turns out to be high up in a yakuza clan. Ultimately, Ichiban is asked by his father figure to take the blame for a murder, and he has to serve an 18-year prison sentence for it. You take control of him after he's back on the streets following the technological boom of the 2010s. It's a whole new world and the power structure of his father's yakuza clan changed drastically when Ichiban was imprisoned.

In addition to laying the foundation for Infinite wealth's characters and plots, Like a dragon marked a minor reinvention for the series. The game eschews the repetitive real-time combat of previous Yakuza games for more strategic turn-based battles with chosen party members, all of whom are delightful and flawed in their own way.

The turn-based battles work similarly to Dragon Quest (Ichiban's inspiration for following the hero's path) in that battles are made easier by exploiting elemental weaknesses to gain the edge. These constant battles keep them from becoming too repetitive, thanks in part to the game's job system. Instead of the huge skill trees of previous Yakuza games that you slowly start to work on Like a dragon you can level up a class (or job, as it's called) for your party members, such as assassin, fortune teller, musician, chef, pop idol and more, gaining new class skills along the way. You can change them constantly, and some of them drastically change your role in battle, giving your team a freshness somewhat reminiscent of Dragon dogma.

Compared to the real-time combat in older Yakuza games (and the newer ones too Like a Dragon Gaiden And Ishin) the turn-based system makes it easier to focus on your characters being absolutely fooled. The animation and sound design come together beautifully, and there are so many clever ways to wreak all kinds of mayhem on your enemies. Like many other RPGs, Like a dragon contains summons, but with a distinctive twist. Instead of demons and gods, you call on “Poundmates” like a sumo wrestler, a giant crawfish, a lady who works in a soup kitchen, or a masochist who can't feel pain. Ryu Ga Gotoku turned the “ridiculous” meter until it broke.

Yakuza: Like a dragon has its faults, including mid- and late-game difficulty spikes that pretty much leave you grinding levels in a maze-like underground dungeon that doesn't live up to the joy of the rest of the game. And it's frustrating that the game's many classes are gender-specific, and sometimes specific to certain characters. Depending on the player, it can be an advantage or a turnoff Like a dragon continues to introduce new features and game modes dozens of hours into the adventure. I don't necessarily expect Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio to fix any of these things Infinite wealthbut that doesn't stop me from playing it.

Like a dragon has proven that reinvention can be a good thing, even when you're on the umpteenth entry. And with Infinite wealth just around the corner, the once-underdog franchise may finally – deservedly – ​​explode in popularity.

Yakuza: Like a dragon is available on Game Pass for PC and Xbox, and on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series