All images via SEGA/RGG Studio unless otherwise noted (press kit)

 

For many, the Yakuza game franchise, now officially going by the Like a Dragon moniker, has been a gateway to Japan, acting in part as a sort of virtual tourism for Tokyo, Osaka, Okinawa, and basically wherever the series had taken us over the past 20 years. One of those gateways was to late Edo-era Kyoto, where samurai roamed the streets and trouble was rife as the Americans pushed to open borders to the once-isolated country.

 

This was Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!, a 2014 title that never saw a release outside of Japan — until now. Like a Dragon: Ishin! releases today in a remade form, finally giving fans of the franchise the chance to not only play one of the missed games in the Like a Dragon franchise but take their first steps into a historic rendition of Kyoto.

 

Strolling Around Kyo in Like a Dragon: Ishin!

 

 

As previously mentioned, for many, Like a Dragon is a way to experience Japan without having to step foot on its streets. For me, I used the series as a way to connect with the city I lived in during the pandemic. While Kyoto today has a century and a half of difference compared to its pre-Meiji days, Ishin!‘s Kyo takes the same feelings one gets walking around areas such as Gion and Pontocho and gives players the same sense of virtual tourism as past games.

 

Kyo feels alive with couriers running around, bars and shops full of people and even drunkards wandering about at night after one too many shots of sake from the one foreigner not yet maimed by the local nationalists — let’s just say some people weren’t happy about opening up their borders. The city is very different from that of the nightlife of Kuromucho but the setting looks great, is so fun to run around in and is depicted almost perfectly in line with the buildings that still exist from the period.

 

This is something past Like a Dragon games have excelled at and I’m more than happy it continues with Ishin! One fun aspect of this is that the exciting parts of past games have been incorporated into Ishin! in era-appropriate ways; palanquins replace taxis, karaoke is back with Edo-style tracks (“Baka Mitai” too!) and Don Quijote makes its grand return in a Kyo-like dressing with period-appropriate items to sell. 

 

 

Though I do have to admit that the lack of some more modern brands in the game was a missed opportunity, I would have loved to have seen Matsuya de-modernized or drinks from a historic Suntory, which was established in 1899, shortly after the game took place.

 

Samurai From a Like a Dragon Lens

 

One thing Like a Dragon games have done well in the past is show just how horrible the yakuza can be. Through all the wacky side stories and over-the-top action, the franchise has very much been a critical view of that way of life. Like other aspects of the franchise’s past, Ishin! also takes this commentary and applies it to the samurai class. 

 

 

Built into the core of Like a Dragon: Ishin! is the caste system of pre-Meiji Japan. It’s where only the first son of a samurai can wield a sword, family means everything, the hierarchy of this system and so much more. Reimagining this system and all of its flaws is a major strength of Ishin! and helps many characters shine, even those with opposing values who just want to climb out of the muck of being in one of the lower classes. From the first moments of the game, we’re exposed to the horrible failings of the past that paint samurai and those with similar ranks as not-so-great people. 

 

RELATED: Like a Dragon and Pop Team Epic Collab Launches with a Wild Video

 

It’s easy to say that “the way of the samurai” has become idealized in modern-day society, both inside and outside of Japan, especially through the lens of The Last Samurai and games like Ghost of Tsushima, but Like a Dragon: Ishin! shows the class for what they were: good, bad and everything in between. It’s hard to think of samurai as moral when they slayed people in the street just to see how sharp their swords were and the law allowed it if the person slain was of a lower class.

 

Weaving the Story of the Past Within Ishin!

 

 

Without giving too many spoilers on the game, a lot of the story of Like a Dragon: Ishin! is based on actual Japanese history. Googling Sakamoto Ryoma, the protagonist of the game, and his cover name Saito Hajime, will net you all the articles about their involvement with the real-life Shinsengumi and what happened during certain incidents and relationships. Though it should be noted that Ryoma and Hajime were two completely different people — there are photos!

 

Sakamoto Ryoma (L), Saito Hajime (R) in real life via Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain (1, 2)

 

For fans of Gintama, some of the names would be recognizable, such as Zura — I mean, Katsura, Hijikata, Okita and more. These real people did a lot of the things in real life that they did in the game such as the raid on the Ikedaya Inn by the Shinsengumi to find Katsura. It is interesting to see these events play out in the game that occurred in real life and learn about them, particularly as a Westerner who didn’t grow up with these stories. While Like a Dragon games in the past were outlandish in scope, especially as they neared the end of the story, Ishin! felt like the stakes were as high as they could be and it was all based on past events. Even some side-stories were based on events that happened to either Ryoma or Hajime, such as collecting memoirs for Ernest Satow, who was a British scholar that Ryoma was friends with and features in the real-life book The Diaries of Sir Ernest Mason Satow.

 

 

Though the story itself was fire, some choice character moments and poorly thought-out character motivations permeated through the plot. This could be chalked up to Ryoma’s social skills rivaling that of a cannonball. If Ryoma just said one thing differently or spoke out his ideas, a lot of the events felt like they could have been avoided. That being said, Ishin! has some of the best heart in the franchise with a better concept of found family than that of the Fast and the Furious franchise, not only with Ryoma’s situation but with the Shinsengumi welcoming him, giving us some of the best moments in the series.

 

Finishing Like a Dragon: Ishin!

 

Down to its core, Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a Kiryu-based Yakuza game through and through. Everything I loved from the series, including the characters I adore, are all here in an alternate route form. Outside of a few wacky graphical hitches, which was mostly NPCs glitching out with their pathing (which, to be fair, made the experience funnier), Like a Dragon: Ishin! is up there as one of the best Like a Dragon games. It just shows that you can have the most graphically intense game on the market but it is nothing compared to just plain fun.

 

 

 

---

 

Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. I spent way too much time completing the Another Life side-quest. All I wanted to do was make Haruka happy!