Like a Dragon: Ishin review – An exceptional RPG that fulfils the Samurai fantasy

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I spend one Ryo for access to the Gion brothel and take on Rock Paper Scissors on the hardest difficulty. It’s a tough fight but I clutch out a win against a now borderline-naked prostitute, and leave her confused as I walk out the door and back to the street. 30 seconds later, I’m unloading three bullets into the chest of a street thug, only for his friend to join my local police force. Like a Dragon: Ishin is exceptionally entertaining.

That might not be a shock to fans of the Yakuza series, a long-running powerhouse that has thrown players into Kamurocho with numerous games as generous with balls-to-the-wall action as it is with genuinely engaging narratives and a healthy dollop of wackiness. I was glad to discover after over 80 hours of in-game fighting, fetching, and fishing that this 19th Century historical rollercoaster lacks none of the bite of its modern brothers.

Let’s break it down for those of you who aren’t familiar with the Like a Dragon franchise. It’s a third-person action game, with a heavy focus on deep character-driven stories with often political twists and turns threaded throughout. This puts the series in a somewhat unique position among its peers: one second you’re pulling off explosively violent finishing moves, the next you’re learning about the importance of an empty lot. Like a Dragon: Ishin takes that tried and true structure and places it in an altogether different setting: 19th century Kyo.

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