Gaming Reference & Reviews

Yakuza: Like A Dragon sticks the landing in a new genre

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio & Sega had found fantastic & consistent success with their established Yakuza action brawler game format that they had continued to refine since the very first game’s release back in 2006. Such success is the main reason why it was such a shock to learn that series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s saga would conclude with 2018’s Yakuza 6: The Song of Life & the 7th main instalment would shift genres away from the beat ’em up combat to become a fully fledged turn based RPG. While many fans were displeased by the change & some still find themselves lamenting the franchise’s new direction, the success of the title as well as the overall quality of Yakuza 7 makes it hard to argue that RGG Studio made a mistake in their approach.

The Yakuza series mainly creates stories focused on conflict brewing in the underworld politics of the Japanese Yakuza, often taking Kiryu down spiraling webs of conspiracy & betrayal. The conclusion of Kiryu’s saga left him finally managing to escape the clutches of the Tojo Clan with a future unknown, leaving a vacant spot for a new protagonist to take the spotlight. Yakuza 7 continues the franchise’s trend of political conspiracy plots, but changes things up by heavily involving aboveground politics as well, placing the main party up against the likes of Japan’s very own governor. The aforementioned protagonist vacancy was filled by one Ichiban Kasuga who manages to be a polar opposite to Kiryu’s cool, tough demeanor while also being just as likeable, if not even more so, than Kiryu on his debut. Making a drastic change in an established franchise that fans will accept is no easy feat, & many AAA franchises have tried & failed to deliver new leading characters that fans would accept. Despite that trend, RGG Studio pulls it off with aplomb, creating a brand new main cast to fit amongst the previously established fan favourites. Yakuza 7’s narrative also happens to be one of Yakuza’s best, standing alongside pinnacle games like Yakuza 2 with fantastic characters, interesting conflicts & emotional engagement.

Yakuza 7 plays much like you would expect from an RPG, with your party & your enemies taking turns attacking, defending, using items or performing special moves until one side is dead. The main spice Yakuza 7 brings to the RPG format is the sheer bombastic flashiness of the combat, featuring some of the craziest animations & most comical enemies & abilities in a franchise already filled with nonsensical feats contrasting brilliantly with the otherwise grounded & realistic world. Players will find the gameplay most entertaining once they can change their party’s jobs, as the job system allows every member of your team to unlock new moves & roles in combat, from wiping out groups of enemies by breakdancing to healing allies with the power of song as a pop idol. Ichiban can also use the poundmates system to call in assistance from side characters he meets over the course of the game, as well as giving legacy characters from Yakuza games past a chance to flaunt their strength in incredibly dramatic ways. Ichiban isn’t the only star of the show, though. Throughout the game he forms a truly ragtag bunch of allies such as a disgraced detective, a homeless man, a hostess & more unassuming folk to form a truly inseparable team by the game’s conclusion. In typical Yakuza fashion, Like a Dragon is jam packed with mini games & substories that can keep a player busy for hours if you let them, & many recurring minigames have their best iteration to date in this instalment.

Yakuza 7’s soundtrack is solid all around, with more tracks that are focused on a techno sound than previous entries. Like most RGG Studio games, there are plenty of quality tunes to pump you up for a big fight or make you laugh along with the outlandish subquests. Yakuza 7 may have gracefully made the change in playstyle, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t stumble in places. While the new RPG combat is a spectacle to behold, mechanically it’s really quite basic with only 4 primary actions you can find in almost any other turn based RPG. Once you get later in the game combat commonly becomes a cycle of spamming your special moves until you need to use an item to restore MP so you can keep spamming special moves until the enemies are dead. Special moves give button prompts like mashing or pressing with precise timing to gain extra damage which makes combat a little more engaging, but the system as a whole could use a little extra something to make it really stand out. The midway point of the story also holds a startling difficulty spike which will almost guarantee the need to grind out XP to keep your party’s level on par with the opposition which will cost the player a few uninteresting hours. Visually, the game is quite good with flashy particle effects galore & yet another beautifully rendered city, this time the Yokohama district Ijincho which marvelously realizes the real world district of Isezakichō, & it may be one of Yakuza’s greatest locales rivaling even the ever present Kamurocho. As an RPG, Yakuza 7 naturally will take a longer time to finish than previous titles, requiring a minimum time of roughly 45 hours if the player ignores most if not all side content. Completionists beware, the Yakuza series has always been a mountain to scale for 100% completion & this game is no different, jumping up to over 100 hours needed to finish off every single piece of side content. The game sells for the usual AAA price of $80 CAD, but it often goes on sale along with all of RGG Studios’ other games which makes it an easy recommend even for gamers on a budget. With this game as a proving ground for the franchise’s new direction, the future looks bright for Yakuza if it can continue to uphold this level of quality in the next mainline entry.

Since assigning a numerical value to art seems somewhat pointless to me, instead included below is a handy list of pros & cons to help you come to your own conclusion

Pros	Cons
A gripping narrative that will keep players invested	Rather basic RPG combat that won’t change your mind if you don’t enjoy RPGs
A fantastic new cast that fits in perfectly with the series’ legacy characters	A bad grind around the mid game
Extremely entertaining spectacle that keeps combat & side content fun	The best equipment will require additional grinding to gather all the necessary materials
A fantastic yet realistic world to explore & get familiar with, essentially on par with digital tourism	Players with shorter attention spans may find themselves bored with long dialogue heavy scenes breaking up the action
A solid soundtrack that will keep you pumped up during gameplay