Yakuza: Like a Dragon - Review @ RPG Site

RPG Site has reviewed the upcoming Action RPG Yakuza: Like A Dragon:

Yakuza: Like A Dragon Review

It is hard to believe that the Yakuza series has been around for nearly fifteen years now. From its humble beginnings on the PS2 and having a title on every PlayStation non-Vita platform since then, the series has grown and evolved each step of the way. Despite its long-standing presence, the awareness and popularity that the Yakuza franchise enjoys today in the west exploded with the localization of Yakuza 0 three years ago. To many fans, that game was the ideal entry point into the series and most importantly, it was a damn good game.

There have been recent efforts to expand the series beyond just PlayStation though. Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 were later made available on PC and Xbox One, while the rest remain PlayStation exclusives at this moment in time. Now at seven mainline titles prior to Like A Dragon, there is an understandable concern to reinvigorate the series so more newcomers can give it a shot. In Japan, Yakuza: Like A Dragon is titled as Ryu ga Gotoku 7, which distinctly categorizes it as a mainline game that takes place after the events of Yakuza 6. Despite the western marketing push for Like A Dragon to be a new starting point like Yakuza 0, it feels disingenuous in expecting optimistic individuals to understand Like A Dragon’s narrative without prior knowledge or experience of the series.

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There is a decent game lurking beneath Yakuza: Like A Dragon. Its experimental, numerous half-baked ideas in the shift to a turn-based RPG drag it down from being an excellent experience, but the core ideas are solid enough on paper that they could be amazing if given a future chance. After all, this is the first time the Ryu ga Gotoku Studio development team has embarked on this wild idea to transform this long-running series into something it has never been before. I do disagree that this title can serve as a newcomer’s first foray into the Yakuza series. Yakuza: Like A Dragon is not outstanding, but its vision of what an RPG would look like set in today’s world is fascinating. I played the entire game with Japanese audio and I must say, Ichiban’s voice performance in the finale of his game is phenomenal.

Score: 7/10