Three years after the dissolution of the two biggest Yakuza factions took place, Ichiban Kasuga found himself attempting to rehabilitate former Yakuza members to integrate back into society. However, despite his best efforts, events transpire that affect not only Ichiban but our other protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu. Little do they know, they are about to embark on a wild journey. Will they ultimately set out to accomplish what they set out to do, or fall in the process? Let’s join our heroes in their adventure, in our review of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
Game: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher: Sega
Series: Yakuza/Like a Dragon
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S
Release date: January 26, 2024
Genres: Role-playing
*Special thanks to Sega PR for providing a review key.*
Intro/story:
In Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, players take the roles of Ichiban and Kiyru as their stories intertwine for infinite fun. Ichiban sets out to find his biological mother, which leads to all sorts of twists and turns. In turn, when we first meet Kiyru, we little know about what he is doing, but we soon learn he is out to find Ichiban’s mom for a different purpose. As the game continues, it is more apparent that their destinies become intertwined.
The story in Infinite Wealth is top-notch. The developers took their time to craft something so special, that for it to be masterfully written, well paced, well delivered, produced, and delivered at such a high quality is no easy task. The Yakuza/Like a Dragon games improve in quality with each release, and Infinite Wealth is the pinnacle of it. I honestly have no idea what they can do in the next entry. The game touches on several themes, such as homelessness, gangs, politics, corruption, and much more. The amazing thing is that it is all well done.
I can gush so much more here, but I rather the players experience it for themselves.
Gameplay:
The gameplay for Infinite Wealth is very much the same as Yakuza: Like a Dragon. There are new additions to the battle, such as having control of Kiyru and some of his moves, plus the many job classes to learn. However, outside of the combat, there is so much in terms of gameplay to experience and discover, that it is kind of insane. There is a plethora of mini-games, side quests, and content to experience. When I say Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a one-of-a-kind experience, it is genuinely a one-of-a-kind experience. That is until the next Like a Dragon game comes out though.
One of the unique things about Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is how balanced the content is. It is literally like the devs went “Hey, let’s just throw all these ideas on a whiteboard and see if it works” and everything on that whiteboard got implemented in the game with no compromise. From one moment, there is a hugely impactful story moment that takes place. The next thing you notice is “Why am I doing this Pokemon Battle?” The baffling thing is that IT ALL FITS. They did it all without compromise. It takes a special kind of developer and development team to accomplish this, and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio accomplished this. They are masters of their craft and one of the best out there.
Audio and visual:
As with everything else in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the audio work is top-notch. The soundtrack is fantastic, the audio mixing is done surprisingly well, and the voicework is good. My only issue, and it shouldn’t be a surprise since it was one of the controversies when it was announced, was Yong Yea being the voice for Kiyru in the English dub. There are some moments where it works and others where it does not fit well. It was hit-or-miss the entirety of the game. It eventually did grow on me. However, the impactful scenes, it was lacking, which was unfortunate.
Yong has a foundation there, that would improve over time as Kiyru, but it will come with time. However, the other voice work of the cast was phenomenal in English. I especially loved the NPCs and enemies just randomly yelling at you. Japanese Voice work had Zero issues for me. It was all fantastic.
Visually, this was on par with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. No real visual changes to me. That is not a bad thing as it still looks incredible. To capture the environment of several different locations and make it feel authentic is fantastic.
Wrap-up/conclusion:
As I was writing this review, I had to be transparent. It was very difficult to write it without being completely biased. Words cannot genuinely convey how much I love this game. Infinite Wealth is easily my game of the year in 2024 and it is hard to top it. It is also on my list of one of my favorite games of all time. I needed time to digest Infinite Wealth. It was difficult to try and write a review in my usual fashion. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a love letter to Yakuza fans. If you haven’t played a. Yakuza/Like a Dragon game what are you waiting for? Even if you haven’t played one and jumped in here, there is so much to appreciate.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is such a wonderful game, and you can feel the love in every single aspect of the game. The developers, the voice actors, to the musicians, put so much love into their craft and it shows in this game. I cannot stress this enough if you read this review, you MUST play this game. I strongly recommend it to anyone who loves RPG games and doubles down on that for those that are Yakuza/Like a Dragon fans.
Until next time, Mgs2master out!
*Special thanks to Sega PR for providing a review key once again*