Sega’s Yakuza franchise is the spiritual successor to two of the publisher’s beloved series: Shenmue and Streets of Rage. Like Shenmue, Yakuza lets you explore and live in a virtual Japan where you can eat authentic Japanese meals, play classic arcade games, and aid fellow citizens. Like Streets of Rage, Yakuza sees you knuckle up roving bands of street thugs. Traditionally, the Yakuza series has successfully married both game design philosophies, but with the series featuring six mainline entries, many people wondered how the franchise would evolve. Enter Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The newest series entry takes the basic Yakuza beat-’em-up formula and gives it a welcome, Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) shake-up. Despite the genre change, the $59.99 PC game is excellent.
The Dragon Reborn
You didn’t misread that last sentence. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a turn-based JRPG. You still fight gangsters and random thugs, only this time, you do not directly control your party. Although you could play as multiple characters in previous series entries, this will be the first time that you control a four-character crew. Make no mistake, Like a Dragon is still a Yakuza game, replete with side quests, entertaining diversions, and deep characterization. More importantly, the turn-based battles are every bit as frenetic and wild as the previous games’ freeform fights.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon features a new hero: Kasuga Ichiban. Like longtime series protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, Kasuga is a former Yakuza member who spent decades in jail for a crime he did not commit. He is also denied the chance at a new life when the Yakuza world draws him back into the fold. Unlike Kiryu, Kasuga is not a stoic, quiet hero. He is brash and abrasive, often landing himself in trouble due to his outbursts. This makes for a more dynamic character who will do or say things you won’t expect.
Kasuga is an avid gamer. He occasionally breaks the fourth wall when he (correctly) states that meals provide boosts and that fighting bad guys increases his levels. In fact, one of his all-time favorite games is Dragon Quest. Because of that, he sees real-world battles as JRPG encounters. Kasuga being a hardcore, JRPG player is an excellent, in-game reason why this Yakuza game lacks traditional beat-’em-up battles.
Turn-Based Action
Unlike many JRPGs, Like a Dragon’s turn-based battles do not take place on a separate battle screen. They occur directly where you encounter foes, including streets, sidewalks, roofs, and sewers. Time effectively stops when it is one of your characters’ turns to make a move, and enemies cannot attack while you’re selecting actions. The available actions include basic attacks, skills, and items. Conversely, you’re unable to do anything when it is the enemy’s turn. While this is all standard fare for a JRPG, this is a Yakuza game, which means turn-based battles have a series-specific flair.
Your party members and enemies do not remain static on-screen; the characters move around the environment. This adds strategy to the JRPG combat. For example, it’s best to wait for enemies to clump together when using an Area of Effect attack to hit as many as possible. If a foe is close to parked bicycles, traffic cones, or garbage cans, your character uses those objects (or anything else in the environment) against them. However, the opposite is also true; you will get smacked in the face with a moped if you’re near one when an enemy attacks.
Fit for Combat
Yakuza: Like a Dragon has a cool, JRPG-style job system. If you’ve played Final Fantasy III or Bravely Default, you’ll know what to expect. Jobs come with their own unique attacks and skills. For example, giving Saeko Mukoda the hostess job lets her attack with playing cards, ashtrays, and sparkling wine. Jobs level up independent of a character’s base level. The higher the job level, the stronger its attacks. As the game progresses, you’ll gain access to a wide range of jobs. This gives you a lot of flexibility in terms of how you customize your party and playstyle.
Outside of standard attacks and skills, you can perform party-based attacks and call “Poundmates” to aid you. Both of these are highly cinematic affairs that deal ridiculous damage to foes. Poundmates are this game’s version of RPG summons. You’ll gain Poundmates by completing side quests and progressing through the core narrative. You can’t spam Poundmates, however. After summoning one, you must wait a specific amount of time before they become available again. Poundmates also cost money to summon, meaning you’ll have to fork over some of your hard-earned yen.
Bad guys range from street thugs to yakuza enforcers. You’ll even battle chefs, drunks, and escaped mental patients. As with most JRPGs, some foes have immunities to specific attacks while others can inflict status ailments. For example, knife-wielding baddies deal bleeding damage, which causes party members to gradually lose health over time. Some can poison or blind, while others prevent you from using your own skills. As a result, it’s wise to keep a good stock of healing items (in the form of food and beverages) on hand. Likewise, your party members can inflict status ailments on foes.
Virtual Japan
Yakuza: Like a Dragon takes place in the fictional city of Isezaki Ijincho. Like the Kamurocho setting featured in previous series installments, Isezaki Ijincho contains a mix of classic and modern-day Japanese architecture. What Isezaki Ijincho lacks in size (compared to proper open-world games), it makes up for in density.
Tall skyscrapers cast long shadows over thatch roof homes and businesses. Arcades, cafes, bars, hostess clubs, and shogi parlors abound, giving you a variety of activities outside of the main quest. The in-game map displays stores and side quests, making it easier to find and reach objectives. Overall, Isezaki Ijincho is a fully realized city that’s a pleasure to explore. It is the closest thing to visiting Japan outside of going there.
Running on the appropriately named Dragon Engine, Yakuza: Like a Dragon has the franchise’s best graphics to date. While not photorealistic, characters and environments contain incredible detail. This is especially true of the city, which has numerous shops. The only drawback is a few clunky animations, holdovers from previous games. This is exacerbated by the exceptional motion capture seen during cinematics, which stands in stark contrast to the aged animations. This isn’t a deal breaker, but it’s something you’ll notice. Stiff animations aside, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a gorgeous game.
Can Your PC Run Yakuza: Like a Dragon?
To play Yakuza: Like a Dragon on PC, your gaming desktop or laptop needs at least an Intel Core i3-3740 CPU, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 GPU (2GB), 8GB of RAM, 40GB of storage space, and the Windows 10 operating system.
The game runs perfectly on my rig, a gaming desktop with an Intel Core i7-4790 CPU and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU. The frame rates mainly hovered in the upper 70-frames-per-second range, though they fluctuated as low as the upper 60fps and as high as 80fps. Locking the frame rate at 60fps provides the smoothest, most consistent experience. Note that the cut scenes move along at 30fps. The graphics options contain the expected visual settings, such as Texture, Shadow, Motion Blur, and Depth of Field.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon supports both mouse and keyboard inputs, as well as game controllers. The game utilizes the notorious Denuvo anti-piracy software. As a Steam game, Like a Dragon supports Steam Achievements and Steam Cloud.
Fight for Justice
Yakuza: Like a Dragon isn’t a game anyone expected, but it’s exactly the change that the franchise needed. Its turn-based combat system retains the classic Yakuza freneticism that series veterans love, while also serving as a newcomer-friendly jumping-on point that encapsulates everything that makes the series great. Even if you don’t fancy yourself a JRPG lover, you may dig this title due to its enthralling world, memorable characters, and fast-paced combat. As a result, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an Editors’ Choice pick for PC RPGs.
Stay up to date with all of our latest PC game coverage by joining PCMag’s Steam Curator page. There, you’ll find all of our Steam reviews, as well as in-depth previews of upcoming Steam titles.
