Like a Dragon: Ishin! Review – PC

Summary
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sega have teamed up once again to bring us an epic, historical Japanese tale based in Kyo, Japan, in the 1860s. It took 29 hours to fully clear the Like a Dragon: Ishin! story on hard with only 13% total completion at level 42. I am going to estimate this game would take 90 hours to come even close to 100% completion. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio did such a great job bringing the city of Kyo to life graphically. The ambiance was on point, and the map itself was not too big, making it feel empty. Everywhere you turned, there was something to do, interact with, or even run into. This game is packed with engaging content from wall to wall, and this is some of the best storytelling I have ever witnessed. There is no doubt in my mind that you will get your $59.99’s worth and then some.
Good
  • Once combat system is developed its very dynamic
  • Trooper system uplifts combat out of standard beat’em up genre
  • Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio top tier story
  • Phenomenal cinematic production
  • Full immersion in city of KYO
Bad
  • Ultrawide settings adds graphic placeholder on edges
  • Some UI elements out of place
  • To many unavoidable mini skirmishes on the streets
  • Pause game mid-combat to heal with inventory items
  • No fast travel. Walking simulator
8.2
Great
Gameplay - 9
Graphics - 8
Audio - 10
Replayability - 7
Controls - 7

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sega have teamed up once again to bring us an epic, historical Japanese tale based in Kyo, Japan, in the 1860s. Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a spinoff of the former Yakuza series developed in Unreal Engine 4. Join a star-studded cast featuring Nishikiyama, Majima, and other Yakuza celebrities to save Japan from itself and the British. Kazuma Kiryu, the protagonist from earlier entries in the franchise, might ring a bell with fans. Become Sakamoto Ryoma, a low-level samurai on a mission of vengeance, at a triple-A price tag of $59.99.

I just want to start off by saying the only other Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio game I have ever played was Yakuza: Like a Dragon. In all honesty, I did not even finish it because the vibes just weren’t flowing for me. Not the case here! It took 29 hours to fully clear the Like a Dragon: Ishin! story on hard with only 13% total completion at level 42. We did use the difficulty reduction option twice to get the review out faster. I want to give mad props to the production crew. Over 30 voice actors and who knows how many countless hours to make this story feel so alive. If you are into Dragon Ball or Kung Fu movies like IP Man, you will love this game from start to finish.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio did such a great job bringing the city of Kyo to life graphically. Models and textures built into the scenery really made you just want to chill out and drink some sake at a local bar. It’s a fair-size map, and although there were a few places where the developers slacked on textures, they were few and far between. The ambiance was on point, and the map itself was not too big, making it feel empty. Everywhere you turned, there was something to do, interact with, or even run into. Even though the graphics themselves were not the best I have seen in this generation, it was the combination from all sides of production that made Kyo so immersive.

In version 1.0, which is what we played through, there were some issues with the display settings. When using our 3840 x 1600 display resolution, the game added a graphic placeholder around the edges. We encountered the same issue when resizing down to 2560 x 1600, but it was only a small strip on the top and bottom. I was truly disappointed that I could not experience this game in full ultrawide. We also encountered some UI elements out of place when playing the game in 3840 x 1600 resolution. Dropping it down to 2560 x 1600 did fix these UI issues, and it looks like patch 1.03 just came in just as we were writing this review addressing these issues with more patches to come.

We are going to take a step back and talk about the lifestyle portion of the gameplay. I am going to estimate this game would take 90 hours to come even close to 100% completion. Aside from the main story, there are over 60 substories and 14 mini-games like karaoke, gambling, and dancing. This doesn’t even include other activities like reputation grinding, cooking, crafting, farming, fishing, weapon training missions, and more. There is even an entirely separate currency system called Virtue, which allows you to upgrade these non-combat systems. I did think there were too many unavoidable street battles. I understand you need the experience, but they really do slow you down. Just add more options to avoid them if you’re working on something else.

I was a little disappointed with combat at first; it felt like just another one-button combo beat’em up. But that was just at first. The game features four skill trees that include Brawler, a hand-to-hand combat style, Swordsman, which wields a katana blade, Gunman, which uses various handguns, and Wild Dancer, which is a combination of a handgun and a katana blade. Both Swordsman and Wild Dancer both have a special weapon tree that allows you to wield a spear or an Odachi. These skill trees add talents that give you options to add variety to your cinematic style moves. It’s these options that take combat way beyond your normal one-button combo beat’em up style. Keep in mind that some of the orbs on the skill trees are quest-gated, so you will need to search out the substories to unlock them.

Once you progress far enough into the story, you will unlock an even deeper level of combat. The Trooper system is essentially a card collection game. Each card represents a trooper that can be earned by defeating enemies and then leveled up to increase their stats. Each of your 4 main weapons can be equipped with up to four cards that provide different buffs, combat abilities, or even healing. There are so many options to create different play styles that can be swapped on the fly for different encounters. Once again, it takes some grinding to get all these systems working as intended. At the time of our story completion, I only had one and two-thirds of the four trees completed. Even at this point, combat was getting super juicy and very dynamic.

I must admit pausing to heal in combat felt super janky; I am not sure why they don’t allow you to hotkey a healing item. It would also be nice if food items give you an idea of how much health they restore when you buy them. Also, at times, I did feel a bit like I was in a walking simulator. There were also a few one-shot mechanics that really felt out of place, but it’s possible that they were bugs and could be fixed in upcoming patches. This game is packed with engaging content from wall to wall, and this is some of the best storytelling I have ever witnessed. There is no doubt in my mind that you will get your $59.99’s worth and then some.

Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

Written by
Gaming since Nintendo! Entrepreneur, gamer, wine lover, America! Come join the fun on the GL Discord!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Lost Password

Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.