Yakuza: Like a Dragon Reviews
Yakuza Like a Dragon is a real and huge JRPG who knows how to maintain the essence of the saga. Fun fighting system and deep script with too many ups and downs to justify the new playable elements. I hope this new formula that works and gives new wings to the franchise will be repeated.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Like a Dragon is right up there with Yakuza 0 in terms of sheer fun-factor and an almost dizzying abundance of stuff to see and do.
With a new battle system and new main character, Yakuza: Like A Dragon aims to be a new entry point to Yakuza newcomers even though it is anything but that.
Yakuza Like a Dragon is an enjoyable new twist on the series, although it's not hard to imagine that many long-time fans of the series will be put off by its slow pace. In a day and age where video game companies rarely take risks, Like a Dragon is a refreshing change of pace for a series that risked starting to feel stale.
Yakuza is reborn in this brilliant and compelling new addition to series canon that recontextualizes series tropes and mechanics for an entirely new genre, delivering one of the best outings the series has ever seen.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon isn't just a great Yakuza title - it's legitimately one of the best modern role-playing games there is.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a very good sequel to the popular Yakuza series which shows that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios still manages to create a great story and narrative. The game's turn-based battles are good in themselves, but due to the extreme use of enemies in the environment, they soon became repetition.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Much like Kasuga’s dragonfish tattoo feels like a quirky but faithful successor to Kiryu’s dragon, Yakuza: Like a Dragon rebuilds the franchise by leaving a lot of it in place. The new protagonist doesn’t feel like he has seven games of story in him, but his eagerness to join the fray could carry the next few entries.
A brilliant reinvention of the series that still manages to faithfully capture its essence, with an eclectic cast of characters, the star being Ichiban himself. A great entry that goes toe-to-toe with Yakuza 0.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Yakuza: Like a Dragon has made the leap into the RPG genre with flying colors. The story is kept exciting and you can't stop following Ichiban's vendetta. The abundance of side tasks can be a bit overwhelming for the player at the beginning. But once you have played the game for a few hours, you know the most important points in the city. Time passes very quickly when playing darts or karting. By no means you need to believe that these actions are a waste of time. You get personality points which finally strengthen the fighting actions. The fights bring a breath of fresh air to the row and put a smile on the players' faces. Through the different creative classes you attack the opponents with pigeons or wrestling moves instead of casting disdainful fireballs. Unfortunately, the invisible AoE range of abilities spoils the fun of the game. Also the unusually long races until a comrade reaches the enemy seem strange. A timeline showing the next actors would have been helpful too. If you like the Yakuza series and are open for new things, you definitely have to go for Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Review in German | Read full review
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is about the importance of friendship and striving to become a better person, which is a message we could all do with right now. It also happens to be a sensational new dawn for a series that's brave enough to shake up the formula and accomplished enough to pull it off with aplomb. To quote Ichi, “let's do some hero shit!”
Yakuza: Like a Dragon might be a massive change for the series, but it certainly doesn't suffer for it. It's the most exciting and fresh the franchise has felt since Yakuza 0, and players will quickly fall in love with its quirky cast of characters. Like a Dragon is compelling because of how it plays double-duty as both a love letter and parody of the JRPG genre. Its story and combat system take some time to really come together, but once they do, it's a wild fever dream that's not easily forgotten, and one that can be enjoyed even by those who aren't traditionally interested in JRPG stylings and turn-based gameplay.
Because, ultimately, what makes a great JRPG isn't a fantastical journey, an epic tale of gods and monsters, or a slow fight against an ambiguous evil. To me, a truly great JRPG is a series of deliberate and intentional systems that inform each other in every conceivable way. Every stat has a place, and that stat's place informs the place of another stat, and so on and so forth. Each upgrade feels tangible, each new attack feels purposeful, and each "role" has an important part to "play". The story's place, then, isn't to pad out time or paint a vivid picture of a massive world, but to give players an impetus to engage with those systems - a compelling raison d'etre for making those numbers go up. Like A Dragon does this, and does it with great aplomb.
Not in spite of but because of its bold change in direction, Like a Dragon comes in as one of the best entries in the Yakuza series. The new setting, characters, and gameplay make it a great entry point to the franchise for newcomers, too, and veterans will likely appreciate the change of pace for this latest mainline game after so many sequels cut from the same cloth. Unless you're allergic to turn-based combat systems — and let's be real, this one is hardly the most daunting out there — then Like a Dragon should definitely be on your radar. Slick, compelling, varied, and entertaining, Like a Dragon is easily one of the launch day highlights for Xbox Series X|S, and it's great to see this fan favourite franchise use this golden opportunity to finally get its turn to shine.
Yakuza Like a Dragon is a must-play for fans of the first hour. Side missions complement the main story in a major way thanks to the utter insanity of some of the stories. You'll need to have some patience though for some of the other mechanics in the game, which is disappointing.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Yakuza’s new direction maintains the series signature drama and deckings, while finding rich new comedy in its weirdest beatdowns yet. Hugely entertaining stuff.
While it noticeably stumbles in various spots, Like a Dragon is an obvious experiment that’s as close to a slam dunk as it was ever probably going to get. I hope we see more of this, and that the Yakuza team continues exploring this setting beyond the mafia drama.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon, when all of its pieces are taken together, is not only a fantastic new direction for the series, it's also one of its best titles.
It was a gamble on Sega’s part to make such major changes to a tried and true formula, even more bewildering given its recent meteoric rise in Western markets. If Yakuza: Like A Dragon proves anything, it’s that fortune does indeed favour the bold.
After the culture shock of such a total change to the Yakuza recipe, I’m extremely glad the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio team took such a big leap when Kiryu’s tale came to an end. Like A Dragon is a revitalised game full of fresh ideas and proves that the series won’t be re-treading the same ground with Ichiban in the driver’s seat. If this is the first step into the new age of Yakuza, I can’t wait to see how bonkers the next game will be.