Like a dragon: ¡Ishin! is the latest farming simulation from retro game compilation developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. In it, you’ll play as the familiar-looking Ryoma, rebuild a farm, and become a father figure to orphan Haruka. There are also other things like fights and storylines, we suppose? Read on for our full breakdown.
to be disturbed by Were? This is quite understandable. As Sega continues its unenviable effort to try to rename the Yakuza franchise in the West to its original Japanese name, it’s going to happen, and doing it with a game in a different time and setting compounds the problem. (After all, the story of the seasons the team is still struggling with lingering issues harvest moon confusion!) What do you need to know? Yes, it’s the same franchise, and going back to the original name makes a lot more sense when many games are much less organized crime focused.
Were is, despite its Western debut, a remake of a 2014 game with the same general premise and gameplay. Same as him Kiwami versions, this has seen updates to accompany the remaster, including a move to Unreal Engine 4. This has a number of effects on the player experience! It looks good, clearly. However, it suffers from some of the same issues as 60fps movies. There’s plenty of detail and great lighting, but with environments that aren’t as cluttered as modern titles, things end up looking more like a movie set or theme park than an actual location. because its artifice is more noticeable in high definition. .
Were it also suffers from a number of technical issues. The tactical reuse of the franchise’s withered technology has brought with it some of its own problems in the past, but here we’ve seen different pain points. Sometimes the menu selections just wouldn’t load and I could still blindly choose to continue, but that wasn’t ideal. Playing for a long time at a time (which, surprise, people have to do a lot of reviewing) led to serious lags when loading a scripted sequence or chatting with a vendor. It’s tolerable, and we bet RGG Studio can solve many of these problems! But you should know they are coming in.
It always takes a little for one Ryu Ga Gotoku I play to open up and be good, and Were is no exception. The first few hours are a chore that tries to get you invested in the story, and we think that’s far less effective than the open-ended bits that let you opt into the main narrative whenever you feel like it. And hey, by doing some of the side activities, like becoming a samurai cop and exposing your mentor’s killer, you can unlock some cool upgrades for your farm!
You may need to exercise patience or boredom tolerance to deal with some of the Like a Dragon: Ishinthe substories of . One asks you to listen to very long stories from a gossipy woman and answer questions to make sure you’ve been paying attention. You are made to cut a pile of logs over and over again.
Perhaps the most blatant? The ones that make you keep doing the same research missions over and over again. There is a boy who loves vegetables, and he is endearing! But how many times do you have to follow the same instructions to give him a vegetable? Too high. The same goes for the beaten defender, who only needs you to fill his throat with medicine about 50 times. Yet in some of these side stories lies the true charm of the franchise. Were It even includes a story explaining why you can find items in jars and why you can take them.
In case you want to take a break from the clear basic gameplay of farming on the outskirts of town with your best friend Haruka, and we don’t know why you would, it’s good to familiarize yourself with the system of fight! You can switch between four styles almost anytime. The Brawler’s hand-to-hand combat wasn’t to our liking, but you end up using it when you catch yourself without your weapons to hand. The Swashbuckler style is probably what you’d most expect to see in a backtracking context, and we found it most useful for one-on-one boss fights. Gunslinger lets you shoot with reckless abandon, and we used it a lot in low-level fights to end them before enemies close in.
But let’s take advantage of the luxury and prestige of a paragraph break to talk a little about Wild Dancer. The fourth combat style is our favorite and works in many environments. Sure, using a gun and a sword at the same time is great, but what makes Wild Dancer so great is dodging. Ryoma turns around and dodges almost all attacks, even at close range, as long as you’re alert. It’s definitely the one to use against a group of fighters, but we action game fans certainly get through boss fights untouched in a way that we just couldn’t handle in other games. similar. Wild dancer? Gets our seal of approval.
Accompanying all of these styles is the new Trooper Card system. You can equip additional effects, such as special attacks and heals, and upgrade these cards like a gacha mobile game. We found the effects useful enough without too much micromanagement, and at the time of pre-release review we couldn’t determine how badly these DLC maps could be damaged. So if you’re put off by the system, it’s probably okay not to mess with them too much and enjoy a little health regeneration or whatever appears by default.
Like a dragon: ¡Ishin! he uses the likeness and mannerisms of fictional protagonist Kiryu Kazuma to portray real-life historical figure Sakamoto Ryoma while impersonating a man named Saito Hajime. It’s exactly as confusing as it sounds for newcomers and returning fans. It’s fun to see familiar faces as characters in the adventure, but you may need to take notes or check the relationship chart in the menu frequently. There’s even a “Dragon of Dojima” skin for the protagonist, and equipping it just makes things even more confusing.
There are many references to the real-life story in Were It certainly won’t land with Western audiences, but we’re glad it’s here for the curious. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and Sega even put together a helpful contextual glossary that defines region- and era-specific terms. It’s completely unobtrusive, but when you want clarity, you can hit the button in the middle of the dialog.
With the old faces playing these roles, their story feels more like a play than ever. And we’re no experts, but we feel the game is approached the same way as sticking with the story. Many characters are named after real people, and those names usually have something to do with how they are portrayed. But, and we’re sure you didn’t need us to tell you this, Please please do not use it as a serious educational tool. The localization adds some chuckles, especially when modern phraseology is used in this ancient context. But it works well with the game’s other weird juxtapositions.
At its best when its focus is divided, Like a dragon: ¡Ishin! is a fun Bakumatsu sandbox. It doesn’t have the compelling cabaret-like mini-game or business management challenges of previous titles, and its time frame means it doesn’t include a fun arcade either. But his multifaceted approach still resonates.
Like a dragon: ¡Ishin! will launch on February 21, 2023 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox. It is developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. Deluxe pre-orders include early access for players, allowing them to start playing on February 17, 2023.