THEY’RE BACK
OLD GAMES REVISITED by Matthew Elliott
Riches to rags in YAKUZA: LIKE A DRAGON
This feels like a weird one to re-review, since Like A Dragon, according to my mental timeline, is the ‘new’ Yakuza game. Except it definitely isn’t, and, in the time you’ve taken to read this, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has released at least one spinoff or sequel. But losing years of your life, and, by extension, a global pandemic, is a very Yakuza thing.
Perhaps it feels new because it’s so different. The Yakuza games have always had an interesting approach to reinvention. The series changed from being a focused tale about a single hero to something grandiloquent and sprawling, with multiple protagonists in interlocking tales. But, even then, there was always commonality, whether it was recurring characters, the seedy, neondrenched streets of Kamurocho, or the fact that the same moves and character models were present in numerous games.
NANBA AND GRANDAD Like A Dragon, then, is a bold move. For starters, it introduces an irreverent, eccentric cast of entirely new characters. You can still expect fist-pumping cameos from established Yakuza faves, but, for the most part, the protagonists here are all new. This isn’t a bad thing, since Like a Dragon’s core cast of tinnedsake swigging demi-failures are quite refreshing. Most of the characters from previous games are reassuringly proficient: Saejima is the strongest; Majima the most unhinged; Akiyama the most fiscally aware. But Ichiban, Nanba, and Adachifeel very much like the Yakuza B-team. It’s actually quite fun playing as characters who, at the start of the game, are simply struggling to exist.
Part of the appeal is the chance to live vicariously
The other obvious element is the location. Anyone who’s played more than one Yakuza game will know the winding alleys of Kamurocho better than their ow
