As soon as upon a time, not so very way back, the primary couple of months of the yr have been a lifeless zone for brand new recreation releases. Usually, publishers rushed to get their shiny new titles out in time for the vacation present rush. However then some intelligent genius realized that individuals purchase video games all yr spherical. 2023 kicked off with a sequence of bangers—Hello-Fi Rush, Lifeless Area, and Resident Evil 4. And it seems like followers of iconic Japanese franchises can be consuming awfully good in winter 2024, with remakes of Persona 3 and FF7 within the offing, in addition to a shiny new Tekken. However the first massive launch within the pipeline is the ninth mainline installment of Sega’s Like A Dragon (née Yakuza) sequence: Infinite Wealth, out January 26.
Again in November, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama mentioned that Infinite Wealth was the greatest recreation within the sequence but. He described it to Japan’s Recreation Watch as a “monster-class recreation longer than something we’ve made thus far.” Eep. The sequence is thought for its ostentatious helpings of elective content material, and whereas primary tales often run round 20-30 hours, it’s awfully simple to double that playtime if you happen to get sucked into minigames and sidequests. Do you’ve gotten 80 hours to play a brand new Yakuza recreation? I certain don’t! However I’m certain I’ll handle to search out it one way or the other.
Having spent a number of hours delving into varied facets of Infinite Wealth—exploring Waikiki, constructing an island paradise, and photographing semi-nude dudes—it’s with a mixture of pleasure and dread that I let you know that that is certainly an enormous, huge recreation. I can’t inform but if it’s an excessive amount of of an excellent factor, however I can say there are far worse methods to spend the dreariest month of the yr than moving into bother in Hawaii.
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Island time
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth takes place a few years after the occasions of Like a Dragon, the hilarious and gripping 2020 recreation that noticed the sequence make a tough pivot from motion RPG to plain-old, straight-up RPG. This time, our fluffy-haired hero Ichiban heads to the Aloha State looking for his long-lost mom. There, he meets up with longtime sequence protagonist Kiryu, shortly after the occasions of The Man Who Erased His Identify. On the finish of the November 2023 sidequel, Kiryu seemingly leaves Japan behind for good for a well-earned retirement in Hawaii. He’s there—not less than partly—to moon over his long-dead love Yumi, who died within the very first Yakuza and, so far as I can recall, hasn’t been talked about all that always since.
How any of this pertains to the idea of “infinite wealth” stays unclear to me.
What is evident, nonetheless, is how the sunny open areas of Waikiki handle to breathe new life into the established Yakuza system. The sequence’ standard vicey haunts are (splendidly!) cramped, darkish, and seedy. However the low-rise open areas of Hawaii really feel like a pure evolution of the extra expansive city environments we noticed in 2020’s Like a Dragon. As Ichiban, you’ll be able to amble into memento retailers and cruise by lodge lobbies, straight onto the seashore and into the water. Drop-top sports activities vehicles will honk at you if you happen to bumble aimlessly into the road, and bikini babes will saunter by, cheerfully waving again if you happen to toss them a shaka signal. You may seemingly befriend many random NPCs in Infinite Wealth just by saying good day, although at this level it’s not totally clear what the purpose of this mechanic is apart from vibes. And I can confidently say the vibes are immaculate.
Slightly assist from my mates
It wouldn’t be Like a Dragon with out a gaggle of musclebound toughs itching to choose a combat with you at any given second, and Infinite Wealth isn’t any exception to this rule. However this time, all of them converse with Customary American Meathead Voice and name you “bitch” quite a bit. This, admittedly, is fairly humorous. That mentioned, the English voiceover was the default for my demo, which felt very unusual to me throughout dialogue or story sequences with the core solid, as I choose my Yakuza with subtitles. (Your mileage could fluctuate.) To my chagrin, I attempted on a number of situations to alter this and was not capable of. I anticipate this won’t be a difficulty within the full recreation, however I couldn’t cease noticing it all through the demo, like I’d left the worth tag within the collar of my shirt.
One other factor. Avenue fights match the context of being outdoors a bar late at evening, when everyone seems to be drunk and pissy. They don’t make quite a lot of sense outdoors the ABC Retailer at 11am when everyone seems to be carrying bathing fits. All that is to say that as a lot as I’m digging the luxurious resort setting of Infinite Wealth, it might really feel conspicuously at odds with the entire “stroll round and fuck individuals up” gameplay loop. A person simply bludgeoned me with a surfboard—perhaps this isn’t an excellent time to purchase your child a shave ice! Hopefully I’ll get used to it within the full recreation—or there’ll be a clearer motive why all of the vacationers appear so unfazed by the mayhem unfolding only a couple chaise lounges over.
Talking of combating, my demo of Infinite Wealth got here round roughly the identical time as I used to be additionally taking part in The Man Who Erased His Identify. That recreation excelled at rapid-fire brawls towards big mobs of goons, with Kiryu’s new Agent expertise permitting him to wrangle crowds with ruthless effectivity. The Dragon Quest-inspired, turn-based rhythms of Infinite Wealth really feel way more deliberate and strategy-driven by comparability. For one factor, you received’t be taking over dozens of foes directly, however a handful right here and there. There are a great deal of new social gathering members, jobs, and skills so that you can dive into and customise your crew’s strategy to fight. There are additionally loads of elemental affinities to take advantage of, and your social gathering can work together with objects within the setting for bonus harm.
As an old-school RPG fan, I deeply appreciated that 2020’s Like a Dragon really made standing illnesses helpful, and I’m happy to see that’s nonetheless the case in Infinite Wealth. Not like the Yakuza video games with Kiryu on the helm, it’s important to be extra conscious of your enemy’s particular strengths and weaknesses, and be capable of change up your strategy on the fly. (If you happen to’re itching to let free and hit somebody with a large parking cone, Kiryu’s particular assault principally permits him to briefly be performed in beat-‘em-up mode.)
Because the fruits of my half-day island getaway, I used to be thrown right into a late-game conflict towards an enormous nice white shark, the Tyrant of the Tides. Whereas I might not personally try and punch a snarling shark that’s roughly the dimensions of a personal jet, Ichiban and his friends are fabricated from stronger stuff. After taking a couple of lumps and pulling off a few last-ditch heals, I remembered that outdated acquainted Closing Fantasy and Dragon Quest logic, and scrolled by my social gathering members’ talents to search out something that remotely appeared like lighting. In fact! All fish are weak to electrical energy. Even 40-foot sharks. Duh.
However aside from the actually huge shark, the elements of Infinite Wealth that basically caught with me are more durable to speak about with out moving into spoiler territory. After I’ve evangelized about this sequence to mates and colleagues previously, I’ve suggested them to not fear in regards to the story an excessive amount of, and simply let the batshit expertise wash over them. Spending a couple of hours with the most recent recreation within the sequence has made me notice that—oh no—I’m extra invested than I believed. I’m too invested. This Hawaiian-style installment and The Man Who Erased His Identify are telegraphing a “critically, for actual this time” torch-passing from Kiryu to Ichiban, and I don’t suppose I can deal with it.
What if the actual Infinite Wealth was the buddies we made alongside the way in which?
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth launches January 26 on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.