This review contains spoilers
"Sakamoto Ryoma will be etched in time as the man who changed everything."
I fucking adore the Yakuza series, starting it in 2018 with Yakuza Zero and playing every single other game that's readily available in the West and enjoying myself immensely. Like A Dragon: Ishin! marks the series third remake and the one I believe which is easily the best with only a few hiccups here and there.
Starting with the positives and might I just say the transition to Unreal Engine 4 has been shockingly faithful to the PS3 era of games. While the graphics certainly look different everything else from the menu's and especially the gameplay feel just like playing Yakuza 3/4/5. On that note the gameplay is also a ton of fun, with all four styles feeling incredibly satisfying to use with each filling out a certain niche (though I will admit I mained Wild Dancer and Swordsman because I found them so goddamn fun). Can also say the amount of side content is genuinely staggering, with things like Another Life and the dungeons in particular being pretty good way to waste time and get lots of cash/weapons (really liked Another Life's story with Haruka.) Story is also pretty great besides a somewhat sluggish start with a lot of intrigue and mystery, with a lot of older characters having a great time to shine (especially Mine). Last thing I'll say is it perfectly captures the period of Japan that its set in, with a built in glossary really helping those who get confused which I really liked.
Biggest issue I have with Ishin is definitely the implementation of the card system and ESPECIALLY the new boss attacks. While the cards are annoying they can atleast not be used despite the UI really making you want to use them (they're fine in the dungeons since they were there in the original). The new boss attacks on the other hand are really inconsistently bad, with some being fine like elemental attacks, to fucking terrible like Okita's shockwave and the Shoguns laser. Besides that my only other big(ish) complaint is how weak the substories of this game feel, with a lot feeling like filler or kinda shitty with only one or two being memorable (really liked the chanting one). This is also the grindiest Yakuza game as well, with tons of stuff being needed to get good gear and four styles that level pretty slowly (though soul orbs do help but have also been nerfed from 4/5). Also while I appreciate the game being more based on the PS3-era of Yakuza I can't lie that going back to some of the more archaic bits like the cutscenes and loading zones is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.
Ishin: Kiwami is a pretty phenomenal game at the end of the day and is definitely one of my favorites in the franchise. Really curious if RGG will go forward with using Unreal instead of Dragon after this but with a transition this smooth I would not be shocked. An easy recommendation and one of the best games of the year.
9/10
I fucking adore the Yakuza series, starting it in 2018 with Yakuza Zero and playing every single other game that's readily available in the West and enjoying myself immensely. Like A Dragon: Ishin! marks the series third remake and the one I believe which is easily the best with only a few hiccups here and there.
Starting with the positives and might I just say the transition to Unreal Engine 4 has been shockingly faithful to the PS3 era of games. While the graphics certainly look different everything else from the menu's and especially the gameplay feel just like playing Yakuza 3/4/5. On that note the gameplay is also a ton of fun, with all four styles feeling incredibly satisfying to use with each filling out a certain niche (though I will admit I mained Wild Dancer and Swordsman because I found them so goddamn fun). Can also say the amount of side content is genuinely staggering, with things like Another Life and the dungeons in particular being pretty good way to waste time and get lots of cash/weapons (really liked Another Life's story with Haruka.) Story is also pretty great besides a somewhat sluggish start with a lot of intrigue and mystery, with a lot of older characters having a great time to shine (especially Mine). Last thing I'll say is it perfectly captures the period of Japan that its set in, with a built in glossary really helping those who get confused which I really liked.
Biggest issue I have with Ishin is definitely the implementation of the card system and ESPECIALLY the new boss attacks. While the cards are annoying they can atleast not be used despite the UI really making you want to use them (they're fine in the dungeons since they were there in the original). The new boss attacks on the other hand are really inconsistently bad, with some being fine like elemental attacks, to fucking terrible like Okita's shockwave and the Shoguns laser. Besides that my only other big(ish) complaint is how weak the substories of this game feel, with a lot feeling like filler or kinda shitty with only one or two being memorable (really liked the chanting one). This is also the grindiest Yakuza game as well, with tons of stuff being needed to get good gear and four styles that level pretty slowly (though soul orbs do help but have also been nerfed from 4/5). Also while I appreciate the game being more based on the PS3-era of Yakuza I can't lie that going back to some of the more archaic bits like the cutscenes and loading zones is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.
Ishin: Kiwami is a pretty phenomenal game at the end of the day and is definitely one of my favorites in the franchise. Really curious if RGG will go forward with using Unreal instead of Dragon after this but with a transition this smooth I would not be shocked. An easy recommendation and one of the best games of the year.
9/10