Like Dragon: Ishin! A remake of the 2014 game titled ‘Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin!’ Which had a limited release in 2014. As Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Yakuza series has gained popularity in recent years and the blockbuster success of Ghost of Tsushima brought tons of fans around samurai history, it made perfect sense for the brand to remake it using Unreal Engine 4. While doing its classics. Having never played a game from this studio before, I had an idea of what to expect because I had seen brief gameplay footage from other games in the series. However, I was still unsure of what I was doing. After finishing the mainline story, I can safely say that Like a Dragon: Ishin! Provides a crazy ride even for those playing the series for the first time. However, I must point out that there are some aspects of the game that can be frustrating for players who are used to modern open-world games. Without wasting any time, let’s get straight to what this game has to offer.
main plot
Like Dragon: Ishin! Offers a mainline narrative that is in complete contrast to the light-hearted side missions offered by the game. While there are moments that will strike you as funny, the mainline story is driven by an overarching theme of revenge and justice that sets a harsh tone. The story begins as we follow in the footsteps of the protagonist Sakamoto Ryoma, who has just returned to his home town of Tosa from a year’s sword training in Edo. As we learn more about the Tosa, we learn how society is divided into three classes – goshi (common people), high goshi (one rank above common people), and joshi (upper class). people of). Issues of class division frustrate Toyo, Sakamoto Ryoma’s father and magistrate in Toso, and Ryoma’s brother Takechi Hanapeita, who leads the Toso Loyalist Party. A series of twists and turns that lead to Toyo’s murder result in Kyo fleeing the city to avenge the murder of his father by Sakamoto Ryoma. Without revealing too much of the story, Ryoma has to hide his identity and becomes embroiled in a political mess as the story progresses.
The story is divided into 14 chapters and each chapter keeps you on your toes as the story has countless twists and turns. While the tale deals with themes such as betrayal, empathy, loyalty and friendship, the important message the story conveys can still resonate in most modern societies today – merit should precede the class you were born into. It might make you wonder whether we’ve really progressed much since mid-1850s Japan. While the mainline story campaign is impressive, the character development of the protagonist is a bit questionable. Sakamoto Ryoma feels like a one-dimensional character primarily motivated by hatred more than anything else. In fact, the most interesting character in the campaign was not Ryoma, but Okita Sōji, who felt like a loose cannon and had a wide range of emotions on offer.
But overall, the mainline story offered by Like a Dragon: Ishin! Is catchy and doesn’t feel like a drag. It took me about 30 hours to finish the main story campaign but you can easily finish it quicker if you engage in the lesser side missions.
When it comes to side missions, you can expect a complete reversal from the main story. While the main story is serious, the side missions and mini-games in the game are fun and sometimes downright ridiculous. For example, in a side mission, Sakamoto Ryoma’s clothes are stolen while in the bath and he has to chase the thief through a busy market in his underwear, resulting in him being chastised for obscenity by the local mob. . In another side mission, Ryoma finds a local sumo wrestler who hasn’t had enough food to satisfy his hunger and participate in the competition. He claims that if he can enter the contest and win, he will be able to afford more food and asks Ryoma to help him out of this Catch-22 situation.
You also get to do farming in this game, including mini-games like fishing, chicken racing, and as part of a side mission where you save a girl’s house from being sold by her landlord.
And these are only a few, there are many more. The side missions and mini-games in this game are extremely entertaining and I couldn’t help but indulge in them every now and then.
gameplay
Like Dragon: Ishin! There is an interesting combat system which includes four styles – Brawler, Swordsman, Gunsman and Wild Dancer. Brawlers are for those who love hand-to-hand combat; Swordsman, as the name suggests, is a style focused on sword fighting. With Gunman, you can go for guns (which initially seems odd considering the samurai setting), and finally Wild Dance, which was a personal favorite for me, as it combined sword and gun use. Each style comes with its own benefits and caveats. For example, in the Wild Dancer stance defense is limited to dodging attacks, but in the Swordsman stance you can block enemy attacks with the sword.
While the Wild Dancer stance has better attack speed, the other stances do more effective damage per move. However, it’s fun to choose the right style for a particular match. I mostly found myself making the most of the Wild Dancer and Swordsman styles. The skill tree for each of these styles can be invested in training and using style ornaments. You can choose to go all in, whatever style you prefer.
A notable aspect of the game is the Trooper card. In this system, you can have multiple squads of soldiers who bring with them different abilities and help you during battles. This help can be in the form of an offensive move or in the form of restoring your health. Especially in boss battles, these can really come in handy. You can edit and upgrade these soldiers as you progress through the story.
Another aspect of the game is collecting virtues. You can cultivate virtue by doing good deeds for the Why and its people. This can be earned by helping them solve problems or by making purchases at their local stores. Virtues can be exchanged for blessings. Cultivating virtue increases prestige in the city, easing the way you do business. The works mentioned in the Diligence Records are helpful in earning virtue quickly. You can get blessings in return for virtues. Blessings increase your inventory capacity and provide other benefits.
There are prize tickets lying on the streets all over Kyo… collect them and you can participate in prize drawings. These tickets can also be bought at some shops. Spectacular items are available through prize drawings and can be entered at lottery stands. Eventually, another stand opens up that lets you exchange 5 tickets and offer better prizes. Both of these stands feel gimmicky and don’t offer good value. Once you get the prize, you can’t get it again and end up with 95 percent of the prize as scrap paper.
Now let’s talk about the issues. Movement in the game is highly restricted. For example, you can’t even jump in this game. You can only go in designated areas and this is where the problems start to emerge. When navigating the city, there’s hardly any way to avoid unnecessary battles with the local bandits. These battles give you little or no advantage and offer no real challenge. After a while, they start to feel more like a hindrance than engaging. One way to avoid some of these battles is through fast travel, which comes in the form of palanquin bearers. However, these are rarely found and offer limited options for travel. As a whole map of Like a Dragon: Ishin! Not big, you go back and forth between the two locations for almost the entire length of the mainline story campaign. While the world seems alive when you walk around the Kyo Market, elsewhere NPCs are standing by all over for you to interact with for side missions. However, you can put all of these issues aside in comparison to the most disappointing aspect of Like a Dragon: Ishin! I’m talking about the loading screen that appears when you move between two areas. And I’m not even talking about a large area. Even when the protagonist walks into his house or back out, a loading screen pops up. Whether it was a stylistic choice to pay homage to the original game or an overlooked aspect for a game on PS5 in 2023, presenting a loading screen every time you walk in and out of a house feels like torture.
GRAPHICS
Like Dragon: Ishin! Doesn’t let you change any graphics settings, which is surprising. As far as the visual settings options are concerned, you can enable cinematic mode and some gameplay elements but other than that, there’s nothing here. Does this mean the game doesn’t look good? Absolutely not. The city of Kyo looks beautiful in the game and if there was an option to explore the city further, it would have been a very attractive addition. However, don’t expect the game to compete with other visual stunners over the years as it cannot compete with the likes of Ghost of Tsushima among others. However, if you’re heading to the Like a Dragon series, you pretty much know what you’re coming for, so your expectations will be tilted in the other direction anyway.
In particular, in the chapter ‘Kyo Ablaze’ where the entire city of Kyo can be seen burning, there were frame drops in the areas depicting the fire. You’ll notice that the animations become smoother as you move to areas that aren’t lit. This sounds like an optimization issue and may be addressed in a future update. Other than that I didn’t have any performance issues in the game.
Decision
Like Dragon: Ishin! is a crazy ride that offers incredible storytelling and some enjoyable combat experiences. While the game has struggled with some issues, as it is a remake of a classic, some of these issues are understandable. With some engaging and downright ridiculous side missions, the game has a lot to offer beyond its main story campaign and will keep you hooked for a long time. For fans of the Yakuza and Like a Dragon series, the inclusion of gun battles may be one of the biggest appeals for this game. As someone who has never played a game in this series before, I can safely say that I can’t wait to see the other titles.
Rating: 3 / 5
Pros:
- engaging story
- combat gameplay
- fun side missions
Shortcoming:
- restricted movement
- Loading animation when moving between regions
- disabled fast travel
