THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Yeah, no, I gave my best shot, but this was just a dud for me. It could be a sign of burnout from playing through so many games in this series almost back-to-back, but I got through Yakuza 5 relatively unscathed, so I don’t think it’s quite that. Ishin was just such a bore. It’s an Unreal Engine 4 remake of a spin-off game that never got localized, and that alone should tell you this something of an acquired taste. I don’t blame people who got more enjoyment out of this than I did, there’s something here, massive flaws aside, where I can see the hype. It’s historical fan-fiction with stand-ins played by many of your favorite characters across different eras of Yakuza/Like A Dragon. It’s entertaining seeing characters brought in, many retaining their core personality, and interact in a totally different context. Some, not helped to know they were replacing old cameos from Ishin’s original PS3 release, are just questionable in how they used iconic series regulars as fan service. Like, why did they put Shibusawa and Nishiki in the game but Shibusawa is the one they decided to make Ryoma’s sword oath brother?? Despite the deliberate slow pace, tense dramatic moments, and some of the best directing RGG probably has done, I just can’t feel immersed into this concept. It wants to be a dramatic historical retelling of a famed Japanese figure, yet it wants to also be this fun dish of elseworld fan-service, and it just makes the narrative feel disconnected as hell because neither side complemented each other into something… good? A story that didn’t click with me wouldn’t be much hassle if it weren’t for how the gameplay just feels clunky to play. It’s not even ‘charming clunk’ or ‘jank’ people like to toss around a lot, but something that felt gross to move around and fight in the map. Which I didn’t like either, since I never got hooked into the historical setting and felt we just had the weakest map RGG has ever made. Having multiple fighting styles like slashing enemies, shooting enemies, bashing enemies Yakuza style, or even dual wielding a katana and gun was very fun until the content bloat kicked in with weird trooper cards, unexpectedly dull substories, and so much grinding that I had to put down the controller and close the game right in the middle of a cutscene because I knew this wasn’t getting any better from here on out. This was the only RGG game I dropped, didn’t bother to see the end, and I think I’m fine with leaving it incomplete as that. Yakuza in Unreal Engine is cursed af, I’m glad RGG is never dropping the Dragon Engine in favor of it like some bigger studios are doing recently.