Like A Dragon: Ishin! Early Hands On Impressions

Initial Release Date: February 22, 2014

Developers: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Sega

Engine: Havok

Series: Yakuza

Genres: Action-Adventure, Hack and Slash

Platforms: Playstation 5, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3

My history with Ryu Ga Gotoku’s games spans most of the Yakuza games and both Judgment games so naturally I had to try Like A Dragon: Ishin! Like A Dragon Restoration was the original 2014 game that ishin! is based on that never made it to western shores.

In retrospect, Like A Dragon: Ishin! is basically a remastered remake that we can play on our new current gen consoles. For reference, I am playing this on my Playstation 5. As of writing this article I am currently on Chapter 4: Joint Struggle.

The story so far goes you play as Sakamoto Ryoma a self exiled ronin samurai who is on the hunt to avenge his father from a mysterious masked man who uses Tenshen Rishin style. What shocked me the most about this game’s story is that it’s based on real-life people and historical events.

Sakamoto Ryoma was a reallife samurai from the Bakumatsu period in Japan (1853-1867). Much like in Yakuza and Judgment and Like A Dragon: Ishin!, the game is heavily story-based with dialogue cutscenes galore. As for performance I did notice pop-in and occasional long loading times when battle sequences initiate.

Visuals look like a good last gen game to me. Nothing special. I did enjoy the scenery in Kyoto during the Bakumatsu period. Gameplay centers around various combat stances like the older Yakuza games. I went with Wild Dancer dumping all of my XP points into it.

I love Wild Dancer because you can use a gun and a sword at the sametime. Great for crowd control. Other stances include Brawler, Swordsman and Gunman. You can upgrade and collect various guns, swords and armor sets for Sakamoto Ryoma.

Blacksmiths and merchant stores of all types are scattered about the city and in small towns. Substories are interesting and quirky. Today I completed The Barking Dog Sub-story. You guess it. I had to make a dog quit barking or else he would be put down by the townspeople.

So I bought him a bone from the pawn shop. Case closed! I must emphasize how good the story is so far in up to Chapter 4 in Like a Dragon Ishin! The fact it’s steeped in Japan’s reallife history makes it all the more entertaining.

Something anybody who played past Yakuza games would notice in Ishin! is how characters from past Yakuza games are used as the appearance of these historical figures. For instance Sakamoto Ryoma’s appearance is Kazuma Kiryu himself.

My main gripe with this game are the constant forced stops when trying to progress the main story. Random battles and substories are the main culprits. I don’t have much time and I would like to progress the main mission at a pace I choose. The map’s navigation is garbage as well.

I’m not sure if you can change the map or encounters in the options. All I know is that it would help a hell of a lot with frustrations in regards to backtracking through maps. Despite the latter, overall, Like Dragon: Ishin! is a great game early into it’s campaign.

Like A Dragon: Ishin! compared to the Yakuza and Judgment series due to it’s reallife historical aspects. With that said I am only like a quarter through the campaign so a lot can change for better or worse. Thanks for reading – Jason not ChatGPT