Analyze like a dragon: Ishin! – An incredible spin-off to enter or return to the franchise

I’ve been a HUGE fan of the franchise for a few years now. Yakuza, to the point that as a video game franchise it’s my favorite today. Can you trust my opinion then? Well, that depends on how everyone understands it, but I’ve also had some pretty “heavy” times in the franchise (how lazy Okinawa gave me) and here I am. And it is that in fact, with the release of Like A Dragon: Ishin! there were reasons to throw myself back into this very particular universe… what a delight it left me.

Therefore, below I will tell you why I consider this a dragon: Ishin! is another great installment in the Yakuza franchise, and already not only for those of us who missed all their games, but also for those who want to try this franchise for the first time.

Why like a dragon: Ishin! It’s great if you’re new to the franchise.

Obviously there are pros and cons to entering the Yakuza franchise with Like a Dragon: Ishin!, but it still seems to me that the positive side wins massively:

• In the first place, you enjoy almost every iconic character in the franchise all at once, albeit with very different identities and personalities. This means that you can already familiarize yourself with faces that will later be extremely important.
• Second, you can fight like we’ve done our whole lives in the Yakuza with punches, wrenches, and kicks, or give the cane to the pistols and katanas. Besides, You can’t imagine how awesome it is to be able to use the latter completely naturally with your own fighting styles.Because if I have something to reproach the franchise, it is that the weapons in general do not seem very implemented to me.

• In third place, You’re going to be so crazy with minigames, side stories and so on, you won’t be able to believe similar things exist in the rest of the games… but they exist, yes they do (in this game there’s even a nod to the classic Resident Evil inventory, let’s see who can spot it).
• On the other hand, I will emphasize above all that obviously a lot of things change in the main games. You can literally forget about katanas and pistols as you know them here, and it can be a little confusing to see characters from this game in a totally different role later on. In any case, as I say, it always seems to me that the positive outweighs the negative.

Why like a dragon: Ishin! it’s also great if you already know Yakuza

I also understand that many are interested in Like A Dragon: Ishin! they are precisely because it’s one more game in the Yakuza franchise. And if, there are also reasons to enjoy the game as a veteran from IP:

• To start, the characters that we have always had with us are present. Of course, things change a lot. Ni Kiryu is the usual Kiryu, in fact he occupies the role of a well-known historical figure from the Meiji era of Japan but in a “fictional” narrative, in the context as it happened. come on we have to put aside the notions that we have of the franchise and open yourself up to what Like a Dragon: Ishin really has to offer!
• Even if this time the gameplay mixes bladed weapons and firearms, the different styles keep familiarity with the franchise’s more action combat (The one that combines a pistol and a sword should seem the most fluid and agile that you almost always find). Anyway, it’s a unique opportunity to properly use weapons of this type, and there are ways to buy and upgrade. It’s something that’s been seen before in Like A Dragon!, but traditionally in Kiryu’s Yakuza these were non-existent features (at least it really worked).

• As for the story, you will find the typical intense drama that the Yakuza franchise always carries under its arm. And yes, this is combined with our more familiar nonsensical mini-games and the typical secondary ones in which they even end up seeing how Kiryu (yes, I’ll keep calling him that) dances in the most traditional way.
• Negatively, going back to the characters, more than one can quite disagree with how they are known in the main games.. On the other hand, it is possible one of the slowest starting Yakuzaalthough with a few more hours things speed up.

Things to keep in mind for new and old players

There are some things I have already mentioned, but anyway I think it is necessary put a little more general emphasis in some respects:

• Like a dragon: Ishin! It has a lot of content to offer a variety of very different hours of play: there will be those who pass it in 20 hours and there will be those who throw 40, 50; the hours you want. Because? Well, because you have the intense main story, the side quests, and most importantly those typical completion tasks (talk X times, do Y so many times) that give rewards. Yeah, if you’re tired of doing everything, Like A Dragon: Ishin! maintains this element of offering 4,000 different tasks to the player.
• Technically, the game has more or less flashy points, but nothing that veterans don’t know. The secondary faces don’t have much work on them, but the main characters and grosser cutscenes are as exceptional as any other opus. It should also be taken into account that Like a Dragon: Ishin! It’s really a remake of a game that only came out in Japan almost 10 years ago, so it’s appreciated that they spent a good handful of hours making it look pretty in general, and especially when it SHOULD be pretty.

• I think it’s clear, but just in case: this game has absolutely nothing to do in terms of continuity with the Yakuza franchise. Like a dragon: Ishin! is an experience that reimagines historical characters from Japan with the faces of characters from the Yakuza franchise, making it a new proposition for everyone.

Like a dragon: Ishin! A very interesting game

In conclusion, I can only say that Like a dragon: Ishin! It is another game from Yakuza franchise.. Is it bad? Not at all, in fact I find it quite flattering, because Carrying so many games and having the ability to be “the same” that we all love, but revamping the experience like this…it’s truly amazing.. So as far as I’m concerned, the only thing I can do is recommend Like A Dragon: Ishin!.