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.

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

The frontrunner for the RGG game with the least amount of play testing done. Yakuza: Dead Souls is frustrating. It's not good, despite being a strange case study for the flexibility of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series and its characters. You can take these characters and place them in the most outlandish situations, but the tonal harmony the series really mastered makes it all feel believably in character in how they react to it. It's hard to take much of the game seriously when it's made clear from the get-go this is taken with light ridiculous fun. Playing this was initially interesting because there's some unique stuff here for fans of the series to experience first-hand. This is the first time you play as Majima before Yakuza 0, the only time I think we'll ever get to explore Kamurocho Hills, and jump-started an interesting trend where it feels like RGG wanted to bring back Ryuji Goda properly in the main series but for whatever reason, this is the compromise. None of it helps prop up Yakuza: Dead Souls into something more than mediocrity, though.

What kills it is a horrid framerate, whether you emulate it or not it's still never a stable experience, and gameplay that left me miserable. You play as four protagonists Yakuza 4 style and each time I swap around I just wanted this game to be over already. You aim your gun but chances are it always sways away in a different direction for no reason, zombies spawn almost indefinitely even if you take out the mini-bosses, and the closed-in camera that Yakuza/Like A Dragon adopt for tight brawler combat doesn't translate well for shooting swarms of zombies in mostly tight spaces where the framerate gets nuked. I dunno, what I got after finishing this was that RGG should never ever make a shooter again? But then again, this experience got me buying Binary Domain out of morbid curiosity to see how they did this kinda thing again. Anyways, probably franchise bottom tier.

The Trans Daigo substory was unexpectedly memorable alright.

THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON

I love Kaito and think this makes, conceptually, a good case for how he should step-up as being a proper main protagonist in a hypothetical Judgment 3, but woof man this was mid incarnate. I was disappointed by how the supporting cast in Lost Judgment got shelved but this didn't bother to make up for that either. A very perplexing choice to make a story expansion around Kaito's past but Higashi is hardly involved at all and the Matsugane stuff isn't really deepened whatsoever. Outside of Jun and the final boss, the story was a total lull with occasionally fun gameplay sprinkled in, intentionally reminding you of early mainline Yakuza/Like A Dragon, but nothing memorable to write home about than just boredom. I don't know how RGG or Sega can look at this with the small content provided and think this was definitely worth charging 30 bucks.