Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

 

Ichiban Kasuga, the goofy eternally optimistic ex-yakuza, has taken to helping other former criminals find legitimate work while his formerly down-and-out comrades Adachi and Nanba also seem to be thriving. But when a viral video threatens their fortunes and Kasuga’s dating life implodes, he receives a surprising mission from his former clan captain: go to Hawaii and track down his presumed-dead mother, Akane. Upon arrival, Kasuga finds several dangerous factions hunting are hunting for Akane as well. Fortunately, he acquires unexpected allies, including legendary former yakuza Kazuma Kiryu, who is on a mission of his own and whose days may be numbered. Will the group find Akane and discover why she is wanted before it is too late?

The newest entry in Sega’s long-running Yakuza series is the follow-up to 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon, a game that controversially moved the series from action brawler to turn-based RPG. In its own way, however, Infinite Wealth is no less revolutionary. It’s the first game in the series with an American setting, and, the first that really shows longtime protagonist Kiryu’s age (55) and health catching up with him. He’s still quite a formidable fighter, but we get to see him as more of a team player and less of a one-man army this go-around, and the bonds he forms with Kasuga and other party members help flesh him out.

Kiryu is but one of several surprisingly well-developed and well-written characters here. From inane plot contrivances to completely detestable megamaniacal villains, subtlety and complexity are not always Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ strengths. Infinite Wealth still has plenty of zaniness – Kasuga imagines street punks as monsters, presumed-dead characters pop up as bartenders who troll their patrons, and you fight malicious construction equipment on more than one occasion – but it's tempered by a more mature approach to characterization. Newcomers Tomizawa and Chitose are introduced as a petty criminal cab driver and a spoiled heiress, respectively, yet both have sympathetic motivations and grow to take responsibility and control of their lives. Returning character Seonhee, the seemingly stern queen of Yokohama’s Korean underworld, lightens up around Kiryu and displays a sisterly affection for underling Joongi Han. Club owner Saeko rebuffs attempts to woo or control her and asserts her independence. While one of the main antagonists fits the all-conquering mold, the others have more understandable rationales for the extremes that they go to.

Much of the voice cast returns from the previous game, and among the English-language performers, Kaiji Tang (Kasuga), Greg Chun (Nanba), and Elizabeth Maxwell (Saeko) continue to impress. Here, we’re also treated to Danny Trejo voicing a character modeled after himself, machetes and all. That said, vtuber Yong Yea is both too young and too inexperienced to really do Kiryu justice. The performance grows on you after a while, but it’s almost worth switching the language to Japanese for Takaya Kuroda’s familiar baritone alone.

While the turn-based combat in Like a Dragon was serviceable, it’s both deeper and more fluid in Infinite Wealth. Positioning plays a bigger role as you can move around to set up back attacks and environmental attacks. New job classes (each with unique abilities) open up possibilities to suit different playing styles that emphasize attack or magic or healing. Kasuga can perform tag-team attacks with party members once their hype meters fill. Kiryu, thankfully, retains his ability from older games to switch between fighting styles, and when his meter fills, he can step out of turn-based combat entirely and simply start punching and kicking opponents at will (similar to the old Extreme Heat mechanic).

There is much in Infinite Wealth that manages to be both fun and utterly shameless. The Pokemon-ripoff Sujimon collection side activity is back, and it is joined this time by an Animal Crossing ripoff: Dokondo Island. I’m not a fan of either franchise, but the former eventually grew on me – the latter continues to feel tedious. Another string of side activities can best be described as a Kiryu nostalgia tour as he triggers memories of characters from past games and even gets to observe some from afar (he’s been declared legally dead, and the shadowy faction that arranged it tries to distance him from his past life). Add to that everything from dungeon crawl battles to fishing to baseball and more, and there is no shortage of things to do in this game.

Well-designed, well-written, engaging, and eminently playable, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has, if not, infinite potential, then at least a reasonable approximation of something for everybody. 

Lost Judgment

 

In Yokohama, firefighters stumble across the body of Hiro Mikoshiba, a student teacher who had recently disappeared. One person who seems all too happy to see Mikoshiba dead is Tokyo police officer Akhiro Ehara, who blames Mikoshiba’s bullying for driving his son to commit suicide. Ehara, however, has a seemingly airtight alibi: at the time of Mikoshiba’s murder, he was caught groping a woman on a train, a crime for which he now stands trial. Suspicious, his legal team at Genda Law reaches out to their former colleague, lawyer-turned-detective Takayuka Yagami, to find out what really happened. Yagami and his partner Kaito head to Yokohama, reunite with friends Tsukumo and Sugiura, and begin to investigate the elite Seiryo High School in hopes of learning the truth. But as their investigation draws the attention of everyone from police to local gangs, it’s clear that someone doesn’t want that truth getting out.

 

The sequel to Sega’s 2018 Yakuza spinoff Judgment, Lost Judgment again offers a change-of-pace set in a familiar world. This time, however, that change goes beyond merely playing as a character on the (mostly) right side of the law. While the main Yakuza series has shifted to a turn-based RPG, Lost Judgment retains the classic brawling combat. It’s actually even deeper and more fluid here thanks to the new parry-and-counter oriented Snake style, one of several welcome additions. And yet to call Lost Judgment a superior sequel would overlook more than a few blemishes.

 

For all of their melodrama, machismo, and zany moments, Yakuza games have never shied away from tackling serious issues. Previous entries tackled mistreatment of the homeless, police and political corruption, immigrant exploitation, and the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s. Here, bullying, suicide, and sexual harassment take center stage. The first two are handled well, showing the impact of pushing teens to the brink, while the game’s approach to the third can best be described as tone-deaf. Another story-related concern: whereas Yagami had a personal stake in the events of the first Judgment, here he seems to be along for the ride. Yes, the case tests his commitment to his notion of justice, but it doesn’t hit the same way.

 

Gameplay is similarly hit-or-miss. Combat, as mentioned, remains a highlight, but for those not looking to fight the ubiquitous thugs that roam the city streets, Lost Judgment gives you the option of skateboarding right past them. The game’s investigation tools are deeper too, offering you not only the ability to look for clues but also, in certain circumstances, to sniff them out using a canine assistant. Less enjoyable is the new parkour (that utilizes a grip meter that depletes over time) and stealth (repetitive: move to a spot, throw a coin to distract, move to the next) mechanics. At least the game’s side content remains varied and mostly fun. Yagami gets to act as an advisor for various Seiryo High clubs, giving him a chance to do everything from dance to box to skateboard. The robotics club matches – picture robot Tetris with weapons and awkward controls – are a frustrating exception.

 

With Yakuza series creator Toshihiro Nagoshi having moved on and Sega locked in a dispute with representatives for Takuya Kimura (Yagami’s character model and Japanese voice actor – Greg Chun delivers the English performance), Lost Judgment may be the last game of its kind. That’s a shame both because Yagami and the game’s combat will be missed and because while Lost Judgment is hardly a failure by any means, the side series deserves a stronger send-off.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

 

In the present day, the unexplained strengthening of the Earth’s magnetic field poses a catastrophic threat. Seeking answers, former Abstergo Industries employee Layla Hassan uses the Animus to relive the memories of Eivor, a 9^th century Viking warrior who sets out with her adoptive brother/chieftain Sigurd to find a new home in England. They arrive to find a land torn between the remnants of the Danish Great Heathen Army and Saxon defenders led by Aelfred of Wessex and must navigate a series of regional alliances to stake their claim. Meanwhile, Sigurd’s new friend Basim, a member of the secretive Hidden Ones, warns of the threat posed by the equally clandestine Order of the Ancients while Eivor is haunted by visions of Odin trying to fight his destiny.

 

The latest entry in the long-running Assassin’s Creed series (available on PS4, PS5, XBox One, Xbox X/S, and PC), Valhalla uses familiar game mechanics to visit a less-familiar (relative to Ancient Greece or Rome) period in history. It boasts an engrossing – if at times confusing – story, a huge open world beautifully rendered, and tons of side content. Those not prepared for a substantial time sink will likely lose patience, but for the committed, the game pays unexpected dividends.

 

The inescapability of fate is a recurring theme here, and one that the game ultimately subverts. Eivor sometimes has the option of either charming or fighting their way out of difficult situations, and some of their decisions, be they dialogue options or killing vs. sparing defeated foes, have long-reaching consequences. So too does Valhalla challenge reverence for the Viking warrior culture. In order to be successful, Eivor must find allies among Saxons and Danes alike, and there are positive and negative representations of both. That said, the present-day segments seem superfluous, and the Assassins/Hidden Ones vs. Templars/Order of the Ancients conflict feels shoehorned in.

 

However, the awkward handling of series mythology doesn’t mean that this won’t play like an Assassin’s Creed game. You can still strike from the shadows with a hidden blade and perform leaps of faith from save points atop mountains and towers (take a moment to admire the breathtaking visuals before you do). The game’s combat – attack, dodge, block, parry – is familiar as well. It lacks the fluidity and versatility of Ghost of Tsushima’s stance system, but it is easy to pick up, and weapon and ability upgrades expand its potential.

 

Of course, there is plenty more to do here than dive and fight (and annoyingly scour the far reaches of the map for treasure chests). Valhalla lets you engage in everything from flyting (a poetic insult battle) to hunting and fishing to building up your settlement and bonding with members of your clan along the way. There are plenty of side quests as well, from battles with legendary foes to stranger-aiding World Events that range from funny to macabre to frustratingly pointless. At their best, these diversions offer sly nods to British lore: a visit to a certain forest in Snotinghamscire, for instance, lets you meet a familiar wealth redistributing archer.

 

All told, Valhalla is an ambitious game that offers a bit of everything – character development, an immersive setting, seemingly limitless activities – but demands nearly as much.

Ghost of Tsushima

 

When Mongol forces led by the brutal Khotun Khan invade Tsushima island, Japan, they slaughter most of the defending samurai, capture leader Lord Shimura, and leave his nephew, Jin Sakai, for dead. After being nursed back to health, Jin vows to drive off the Mongols and rescue his uncle, recruiting allies from the peasantry and nobility alike. However, he must resort to increasingly ruthless tactics to do so, which clashes with the rigid code of honor his uncle instilled in him. As legends of the avenging “ghost” spread across the island, the target on Jin’s back grows larger.

 

One of the last games released for the Playstation 4 before the Playstation 5 dropped last year, Ghost of Tsushima is also one of its most aesthetically impressive. From fields of vibrant flowers to burnt remnants of Mongol-raided villages to frozen northern peaks, the landscape is absolutely stunning, rivaling Red Dead Redemption 2. An optional black-and-white “Kurosawa Mode” and a choice between English or Japanese voice tracks allow for an experience that is as customizable as it is immersive.

 

The game often plays as good as it looks. Jin starts with a trusty blade and eventually acquires a bow and a bevy of “ghost” weapons (kunai, smoke bombs, etc.), and both his gear and combat techniques can be upgraded. This allows for everything from stealthy assassination attacks from rooftops to intense melee combat against groups of foes, and one-on-one duels against noteworthy nemeses. The fighting is crisp and fluid, and the parrying and stance systems are complex enough to discourage button-mashing without being a convoluted hindrance.

 

In addition to Jin’s main objectives, he can complete Tales (sidequests) on behalf of others. Some are random strangers, and their missions often end in heartbreak. However, Jin can also learn more about and deepen his bonds with allies, who are often given a surprising amount of complexity. Lady Masako Adachi, for instance, is a grieving grandmother hellbent on avenging the murder of her family, but she is also working her way through betrayal and loss while warrior-monk Norio grapples with living up to his brother’s legacy. You can also follow foxes to shrines to collect effects-boosting charms, seek out hot springs to gain minor health boosts, and compose awkward haikus to gain decorative headbands. These activities begin to feel quite repetitive as the game progresses, but there aren’t so many of them that they will drive completionists mad.

 

Though the product of an American developer (Sucker Punch), Ghost of Tsushima takes its Japanese influences (history, mythology, and samurai films) seriously. That isn’t to say that there aren’t anachronisms but rather you aren’t being presented with a hideously inaccurate Western pastiche of Japan. At the same time, the game plays with the traditionalist notion of samurai as protectors, alternately presenting them as this and as inflexible elitist aristocrats. Given this complexity, the game’s lack of a morality system where Jin’s choices impact his reputation seems like a missed opportunity.

 

Ghost of Tsushima’s gameplay mechanics may not break new ground, but its familiarity is more than offset by its dazzling presentation.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

 

Discarded after birth and raised in a brothel, Ichiban Kasuga is taken under the wing of feared-but-honorable Tokyo midlevel yakuza boss Masumi Arakawa. In early 2001, Kasuga takes the fall for a crime committed by a member of the family and spends the next eighteen years in prison. But instead of a hero’s welcome upon release, he is betrayed and abandoned. Left in Yokohama’s Isezaki Ijincho district, Kasuga is determined to find out what happened and why. He’s aided by several others who have similarly fallen on hard times: Adachi, a former police detective, Nanba, a disgraced nurse living among the homeless, and Saeko, a barmaid whose boss is murdered. Their investigation draws them into intrigue involving Ijincho’s ruling underworld triumvirate (a tenuous Korean-Chinese-local yakuza alliance), Kasuga’s former yakuza clan, moral crusader activists Bleach Japan, and the latter group’s founder, ambitious Tokyo governor Ryo Aoki.

 

Sega’s long-running Yakuza series gets a shot in the arm thanks to a radical change in direction. Unlike previous series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu (an intimidating yet principled yakuza with a legendary reputation), Kasuga is a quirky exuberant optimist who models himself off a Dragon Quest hero and is regarded by most (at first) as a nobody. Like a Dragon also swaps the game’s real-time fighting for a turn-based RPG approach. Though this decision understandably proved controversial among longtime fans, the new combat system adds depth and complexity to the gameplay, compelling players to choose between attacking or guarding, conserving MP (magic points) or unleashing a special ability. Characters can even gain different abilities and stat increases/decreases by changing jobs, which function as classes in classic RPG parlance.

 

Despite changes to the formula, Like a Dragon is still very much a Yakuza game, both in terms of the themes (father-son relationships, the plight of the homeless, the cost of ambition) it explores and the world it depicts. Like previous entries, you can wander around different Japanese cities, be accosted by random thugs, find collectible items, shop in stores to gain valuables, eat in restaurants to replenish health, and play a variety of minigames. One such minigame, business management, is a spiritual successor to Yakuza 0’s real estate game, right down to being able to employ a chicken.

 

Yakuza games have always blended the dramatic and the comedic, but the main storyline tended to embrace the former while the latter could be found mainly in the stranger-assisting substories. Like a Dragon embraces stronger expressions of both and eliminates the barrier between the two. Even within the main storyline, you can fight enemies who try to club you with giant hunks of meat, and you can summon a poison-generating crawfish to your aid. For all this silliness, the game’s heavily melodramatic ending can feel like emotional whiplash.

 

Whether delivering Seinfeldian party banter or screaming in anguish, Like a Dragon’s voice cast does stellar work. The original Yakuza featured big-name talent but dubbing so poor that it caused Sega to swear off English voice tracks in Yakuza games for more than a decade. Here, Kaiji Tang fits Kasuga’s personality perfectly, George Takei lends gravitas to Arakawa, and several veteran voice actors (Elizabeth Maxwell, Rino Romano, and Metal Gear’s David Hayter) complete the ensemble.

 

Jarring tonal shifts and occasionally tedious leveling up aside, Like a Dragon is a refreshing entry with something for newcomers and Yakuza fans alike.

Watch Dogs: Legion

 

In the near future, London runs on cryptocurrency, augmented reality, and automation, made possible by a powerful cTOS (Central Operating System). Private military contractor Albion has assumed police duties and seeks to impose an increasingly restrictive surveillance state while criminal syndicate Clan Kelley has turned to the Dark Web to facilitate its nefarious schemes. Both are opposed by the London branch of DedSec, a global hacker collective dedicated to stopping abuses of technological power. But when a mysterious group called Zero Day frames DedSec for a terrorist bombing, the hacktivists are left to regroup and clear their name.

 

The third entry in Ubisoft’s surveillance-themed open-world action-adventure series, Watch Dogs: Legion is both an evolution of and significant departure from the two preceding games. DedSec is back as is the ability to hack everything from security cameras to traffic cameras to enemy coms. While the action moves to London after previous entries took place in Chicago and San Francisco, the biggest change is to the main player character: there isn’t one. The Legion of the title refers to the fact that nearly the entire in-game populace of London can potentially be recruited as DedSec operatives. Characters are randomly generated during each new single player campaign and assigned different appearances, backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses, and skills. Some are former soldiers and spies and come equipped with superior firepower; others are drone operators who have more sophisticated hacking tricks. Doing favors for potential recruits and raising a neighborhood’s resistance by sabotaging Albion will net rewards while story missions pit you against Albion, Clan Kelley, and British intelligence as you get closer to unmasking Zero Day. Along the way, you are aided by Bagley (a wonderfully snarky A.I.), mission control Sabine, sympathetic police officer Kailtin, and others.

 

The lack of a central protagonist here is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the ability to swap between team members with different skills supports a variety of playing styles (i.e. stealth vs. assault), and you may end up with some memorably amusing operatives. You may, for instance, get a chance to sick a swarm of bees on an Albion grunt or have a grandmotherly retired police officer unload a pistol clip on a Clan Kelley thug. On the other hand, despite the relevance of the game’s themes (living under an increasingly authoritarian regime in a world where technology has eroded privacy), the brief amount of information you’re given about each character keeps you at arm’s length.

 

There’s a similar trade-off in game mechanics. Drones play a bigger role this go-around. You can hack enemy combat drones to automatically target foes, and you can ride cargo drones around the city like personal air taxis. However, a few features from previous games (such as the “detonate a grenade” hack) are missed. Also, for all of the game’s possibilities, some of the operative recruitment missions (rescuing a recruit’s friend, retrieving a vehicle containing supplies, or breaking into a secure facility to hack or wipe data) can feel repetitive.

 

Watch Dogs: Legion falls short of reaching its fullest potential, but it’s still a timely outing that offers a new take on the open-world adventure experience.

The Yakuza Game Series

Yakuza has not exactly been an obsession of mine, but it has been my go-to video game series/time-waster/work forgetter-abouter for the past two-plus years. Published by SEGA and known in Japan as Ryu ga Gotoku (Like a Dragon), the series encompasses eight main titles dating back to 2005 and a handful of spin-offs. Most are action-RPGs with open world elements: you wander around a city (Kamurocho, a fictionalized version of Tokyo’s Kabukicho red-light district, in every game and other cities later on) helping people solve various personal problems, patronizing bars, clubs, and restaurants, playing sports and games, and beating the daylights out of antagonistic yakuza as well as random street punks dumb enough to pick fights with you.

Your avatar for much of the series is one Kazuma Kiryu. An orphan mentored by an honorable old-school yakuza, Kiryu eventually becomes a feared-yet-principled yakuza enforcer known as the Dragon of Dojima. A prison sentence and a series of tragedies leave him out of the syndicate and looking after Haruka, a young girl, and he eventually tries to leave the gangster life behind in order to run an orphanage in Okinawa. However, intrigue involving his former clan keeps drawing him back into the fold. He’s aided, in most entries, by cynical police detective Makoto Date, by the staff of the local nightclub Stardust, and, in a somewhat antagonistic fashion, by Goro Majima, a shrewd one-eyed yakuza with a crazed “Mad Dog” public persona.

Though a successful series in Japan, Yakuza games have had a somewhat mixed reception in the U.S. The first game was given an English localization with an established voice cast (including Mark Hamill, fittingly, as the Joker-like Majima and Michael Madsen as his thuggish boss Shimano), but the prohibitively high production costs meant that subsequent entries were Japanese-only (with English subtitles). Just over a decade after its release, the first game received an updated remake (Yakuza Kiwami), and the second soon followed suit. The most recent entry, Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, launched in Japan in January, and it is set to make its U.S. debut later this year. When it does, it will mark a radical change in direction for the series: a character named Ichiban Kasuga will replace Kiryu as the lead protagonist, and the gameplay will be more akin to a turn-based RPG.

The Story (So Far)

Yakuza (2006)/Yakuza Kiwami (2017): In the mid-1990s, Kiryu is on the verge of getting his own family to lead when fate intervenes. His sworn brother Nishikiyama kills their boss Dojima when the latter tries to rape their mutual childhood friend Yumi, and Kiryu takes the fall. After his release from prison, Kiryu finds Yumi missing, Nishiki corrupted by ambition, and the Tojo Clan none too happy to see him free. The sudden disappearance of the clan’s ten billion yen leaves various yakuza factions scrambling, and the equally sudden appearance at a crime scene of a seemingly abandoned Haruka leaves Kiryu and Date determined to find the truth.

Yakuza 2 (2008)/Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2018): Yukio Terada, Kiryu’s handpicked successor as Tojo chairman, attempts to forge peace between the clan and the Osaka-based Omi Alliance but is gunned down. His plans for a truce are shattered by the “Dragon of Kansai” Ryuji Goda, the Omi chairman’s renegade son, who seeks a confrontation with Kiryu. For his part, Kiryu attempts to fill the Tojo leadership void by enlisting another patriarch’s son: Daigo Dojima, who is, thankfully, nothing like his father. Kiryu also receives unexpected help from Karou Sayama, an Osaka detective whose parents’ disappearance may be tied to yakuza intrigue. Meanwhile, the Jingweon mafia, a Korean syndicate thought wiped out in 1980, emerges anew and begins targeting the Tojo clan.

Yakuza 3 (2010): Kiryu has retired to Okinawa to run an orphanage with Haruka, but the orphanage is threatened when a local yakuza outfit starts buying up land in the neighborhood. After making allies out of these would-be foes, Kiryu learns that the pressure to acquire property in Okinawa is coming from high up in Japan’s political structure. When Daigo, the one person with enough juice to protect Kiryu’s interests, is shot, Kiryu reluctantly sets off for Tokyo to unmask the threat. He contends with both competing Tojo factions and presumed-dead enemies alike.

Yakuza 4 (2011): Shun Akiyama is a jovial, unorthodox Tokyo moneylender who grants interest-free loans to anyone who passes one of his character tests. He has a stake in a low-tier Tojo subsidiary and a local nightclub but otherwise stays out of trouble. That changes when Lilly, a mysterious woman, approaches Akiyama for a large loan for reasons unknown and a yakuza hothead who picked a fight with Akiyama turns up dead soon after. Taiga Saejima is an infamous though repentant yakuza hitman, convicted of killing eighteen rivals in a single incident. He is serving out his time in an off-the-books private prison where he is brutalized by sadistic guards. Hamazaki, a fellow prisoner and Tojo member, enlists Saejima in a plan to escape and expose the prison. The plan is contingent upon reaching the one person who can help them: Kazuma Kiryu, who is again brought out of retirement. Lastly, Masa Tanimura is a young, multilingual Tokyo detective with a penchant for gambling and taking petty bribes. In exchange, he acts as a protector of Kamurocho’s Little Asia immigrant community. He investigates the murder of Ihara, the thug who had the run-in with Akiyama, finds Lilly, and stumbles across a conspiracy involving yakuza and police brass alike.

Yakuza 5 (2015): To keep Haruka and the orphanage children out of harm’s way, Kiryu has distanced himself from them. He’s living in Fukuoka disguised as the cab driver Suzuki. Daigo arrives in town to forge an alliance with a local yakuza outfit, seeks counsel from a reluctant “Suzuki,” and disappears shortly thereafter, once again drawing Kiryu into Tojo-related schemes. Meanwhile, Saejima has been imprisoned in a (legitimate) facility in Sapporo to finish the rest of his sentence, but a prison gang and shadowy forces conspire to give him a hard time. When he hears that Majima, his sworn brother, has been killed and that he is about to be assassinated, Saejima and his protégé, Baba, aim to bust out and find out what happened. Haruka has moved to Osaka to begin training as a pop idol under the tutelage of ex-idol turned talent agent Mirei Park. When tragedy strikes her agency, Akiyama, Park’s financial backer, steps in to investigate. Finally, in Nagoya, disgraced former baseball player Tatsuo Shinada is given a chance at redemption (and some relief from his debts) if he investigates the circumstances of his expulsion on behalf of a mysterious client. The more digging that Shinada does, the more that the locals he thought he’d befriended treat him with hostility. Every character’s path seems to lead back to Tokyo where someone with immense influence is pulling the strings, but who?

Yakuza 0 (2017): Set in 1988, this prequel finds a hot-headed young Kiryu set up to take the fall when a man he collected a debt from is found dead in the Empty Lot, a valuable piece of real estate. Kiryu’s boss, Dojima, offers a promotion to whoever can obtain the deed for the lot, and Kiryu, on the outs with the family, joins forces with the real estate shark Tachibana to find out more about it. Meanwhile, Majima, exiled from Tokyo and working as a cabaret manager in Osaka, is given a chance to get back into the clan’s good graces if he tracks down and kills one Makoto Makimura. The closer Majima gets to his target, however, the more reluctant he feels about performing the hit. Makoto, as it turns out, also has a connection to the lot at the center of Kiryu’s quest.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (2018): Kiryu emerges from a short prison sentence to find that Haruka has disappeared and his Tojo allies have been arrested. After scouring Kamurocho, Kiryu discovers Haruka in a coma following a seemingly deliberate hit-and-run and also learns that she has an infant son, Haruto. With the baby in tow, Kiryu heads to Onomishi, Hiroshima, to find out who was targeting his surrogate daughter. A local yakuza dust-up and encroachment by a Chinese triad await, but they prove to be just the tip of the iceberg.

Rankings

1. Yakuza Kiwami 2

Pros: Remastered using Yakuza 6’s Dragon Engine in-game physics, Kiwami 2 is aesthetically impressive and benefits from smooth, seamless combat. Plotting and character development are arguably at their peak here. Ryuji Goda is a worthy foe and far more complex than he initially appears to be, and Karou, a talented and tenacious investigator, is a welcome antidote to the series’ tendency to marginalize female characters. Robust side content lets you manage Majima’s construction company and take on (real-life) Japanese wrestling legends.

Cons: Entertaining as it is, Kiryu's fight against tigers and ninjas in a castle is a poor fit for the game's tone. The final boss battle also isn’t as challenging as the build-up suggests that it should be. It may also be a chore at times to keep up with who is betraying whom and why at any given moment.

2. Yakuza 0

Pros: Kiryu and Majima each have multiple fighting styles, which add variety and complexity to gameplay. The game is also packed with memorable characters, from the three Tojo lieutenants scrambling for the lot (all voiced by veteran actors) to colorful side characters (including a chicken!) to Majima and Nishiki’s sympathetic portrayals. Speaking of Majima, he has a wealth of boss battles here, which give him a chance to take on some of Kiryu’s future allies.

Cons: Kiryu, on the other hand, tends to face off against the same two foes for most of the game. And while Majima’s deeper characterization is appreciated, his late-game transformation into the Mad Dog seems rushed.

3. Yakuza Kiwami

Pros: Fighting styles from 0 were adopted for this re-master (though the Dragon style requires a lot of upgrades to be effective), but unlike 0, Kiryu gets a chance to test them on a plethora of opponents. The plot is a bit less convoluted than some of the later games’ grand conspiracies, and the first appearances of recurring characters (Haruka, Date, etc.) are iconic.

Cons: While the final boss battle ranks favorably, the penultimate one is a massive annoyance. The Majima Everywhere system – Goro pops up randomly in different disguises to challenge you to a fight – loses its novelty quickly.

4. TIE: Yakuza 5

Pros: There is a massive amount of content, but enough of it is optional to make you feel like you’re not trapped performing unwanted tasks. Saejima’s section lets you fight a bear, Haruka’s section is a rhythm game, which makes for a nice change of pace (as does being able to explore different cities), and Shinada injects a bit of levity and combat diversity (his fighting style uses a lot of weapons). Though the game’s final opponent seems unworthy, the actual battle itself is memorable.

Cons: Even if you bypass a lot of the side content, the game is a massive time sink, and it will feel slow in places. The ending is so much of a re-hash of Yakuza 3’s that any potential shock value it might have delivered is lost.

Yakuza 6

Pros: Combat is smooth thanks to the then-new Dragon Engine, and the back-to-basics approach makes this game less of a slog. Onomichi keeps the setting fresh while Takeshi Kitano offers a memorable turn voicing the laid back, trollish clan boss. Sidequests continue to amuse as well: this game lets you supply a cat café.

Cons: Despite the more streamlined plotting and pacing, going from five playable characters back down to one is a bit unfulfilling as are the absences of Majima and Saejima for most of the game. The final opponent seems unworthy here as well, and he doesn’t put up a particularly memorable fight, either.

6. Yakuza 4

Pros: Multiple player characters allow for multiple fighting styles (Akiyama = speed, Saejima = strength, Tanimura = parry/counter, and Kiryu = balance), and their contrasting personalities lend the game diversity as does being able to explore sewers and rooftops of Kamurocho. Hana, Akiyama’s beleaguered, hypercompetent office manager (who has to goad him into making his collections and taking care of himself), is a great foil for her boss. 

Cons: The game’s plotting is convoluted and inane at times: there are arguably more betrayals and overlapping conspiracies here than in 2, and that’s saying something. Of the four characters’ final boss fights, two are against opponents there is little reason for you to fight, and one is a throwback to the first game’s miserable near-end melee.

7. Yakuza 3

Pros: Okinawa is, at the very least, a change of scenery, and seeing Kiryu’s softer side (caring for the kids, serving as a mentor to the young local yakuza, etc.) adds complexity to his normally stoic character. This game also introduces Revelations, a recurring feature that lets you learn new combat techniques by observing them accidentally — and humorously — demonstrated by random civilians. Yoshitaka Mine, an orphan turned successful but cold-hearted and lonely businessman who bought his way into the yakuza, is a stand-out antagonist.

Cons: The combat feels stiff, and opponents will try to block everything. Whether it is the cackling, gun-toting Tamashiro or the Albert Wesker rip-off American agent in black (replete with terrible Resident Evil 1-caliber voice acting), several of the game’s non-Mine foes are truly annoying. Narratively, the plot relies on almost as many contrivances as 4 does. One chapter effectively turns the game into a parenting simulator and slows the pacing to a crawl.

Red Dead Redemption 2

In 1899, Arthur Morgan is a senior member of an outlaw gang led by Dutch Van der Linde, a charismatic self-styled Robin Hood figure. After a botched heist and a daring train robbery, the gang finds itself on the run with Pinkerton agents in pursuit. Dutch presses the gang to take bigger and more dangerous risks in hopes of raising enough money to escape the states for a life of freedom abroad, prompting Arthur to reconsider both his ultimate allegiance and the violent life that he’s lived. Meanwhile, Sadie Adler, a widow who falls in with the gang, seeks vengeance on Dutch’s rivals the O’Driscolls, who killed her husband while John Marston, a younger member of the gang, is torn between the outlaw life and his responsibilities as a husband and father.

A prequel to 2010’s Red Dead Redemption, the latest Rockstar Games offering is less a video game than a sweeping counterargument to nearly every negative stereotype (mindless, cartoonish, shallow, misogynistic, etc.) of video games found in the popular imagination. Beautifully rendered with memorable characters, RDR2 is one of the finest examples of a Western not only in gaming but also in fiction and film.

Aesthetically, RDR2 looks and sounds great. The game’s large, open world transports players from snow-covered peaks to lush forests to wide-open plains to a bustling fictionalized New Orleans. From the crack of thunder during a storm to your mount’s whinnying to a bullet whizzing by, the game’s sounds ring true. Woody Jackson’s score is a perfect fit, at times riveting and at times soulful and reflective. The soundtrack has a roots rock/Americana focus but features a diverse group of contributors that includes Willie Nelson, D’Angelo, Nas, Josh Homme, and Rhiannon Giddens.

However, RDR2 is far more than just eye candy. The game is remarkably detailed and deep. As with the previous Red Dead game, RDR2 affords players the opportunity to hunt, forage, gamble, and explore between story chapters. Stranger missions are back too, and these optional side quests range from touching (Arthur can recover a black doctor’s stolen wagon from a gang of racist thieves or help a recently widowed young woman survive on the frontier) to absurd (track down escaped zoo animals for a road show charlatan) to horrific to darkly comedic (more than one mad scientist makes an appearance). The game is also impressively customizable as the player has quite a bit of control over Arthur’s wardrobe and appearance and that of his horse. Speaking of horses, horse bonding is important here: mistreat or neglect your horse, and it is likely to throw you, but feed it and praise it, and it will come quickly when called for. Arthur can’t neglect caring for himself, either. Eating and sleeping regularly are needed to replenish health and stamina cores while Dead Eye – the mechanic that slows down time in a shootout – can be restored through tonics as well as more destructive means (cigarettes and narcotics). Lastly, thanks to the game’s honor/reputation system, a player’s morality (or lack thereof) can make a difference as well. Greet strangers and help those in need, and you will be remembered fondly by merchants; rob and threaten and murder and you’ll find yourself with a large bounty on your head and plenty of ill-will.

Of course, the playing experience wouldn’t be as immersive as it is without a solid story to drive the action, and RDR2 delivers. The plot seems straightforward at first, and the repetitive nature of “just one more big score” will test some players’ patience. However, there are myriad subplots – John’s gradual maturation, Sadie’s quest for revenge, Charles (a half black, half Native man) trying to help the Wapiti tribe amid aggression from the U.S. Army – that complicate the simplicity of the narrative. Anyone who has played the previous Red Dead game knows how some of these stories will eventually play out, but it is a testament to the Rockstar team that the game remains compelling despite that inevitability.

This storytelling is bolstered by well-written and capably voice-acted characters. Whereas Rockstar’s well-known Grand Theft Auto series frequently traffics in broad caricatures, sexist stereotypes, and unlikeable, violent sociopaths, RDR2’s world is filled with more complex and compelling denizens. Arthur may initially seem like a garden-variety brute (albeit a very skilled one), and Roger Clark’s rough voice enables that perception, but his frequent journaling, his lingering affection for former love Mary Linton, and his late-game selflessness all show him to be introspective and deeply conflicted over his place in the world. If Arthur’s arc is redemptive, then Dutch’s is just the opposite. Though a seasoned outlaw at the onset, he presents as a utopian anarchist/communalist, and his adversaries – the corrupt industrialist Cornwall, ruthless Pinkertons, violent O’Driscolls, racist Lost Cause sympathizers – cast him in a favorable light. But as the game progresses, his selfishness and hypocrisy grow and his sanity and rationality begin to wither. Benjamin Byron Davis’s performance effectively captures this unsettling decline. While RDR2 does boast a familiar cheerfully violent psycho in gang member Micah Bell, it thankfully largely (lascivious drunk Karen Jones aside) avoids Rockstar’s lamentable treatment of women. Sadie (voiced by Alex McKenna) is both a fearsome fighter and a tragic endorsement of the view that violence is cyclical. Young gang member Tillie Jackson, on the other hand, escaped a violent and abusive past to become a kind yet savvy thief. Susan Grimshaw, Dutch’s former lover and the gang’s administrator, is stern and matronly yet formidable and deeply committed to those that she cares about. Other notables include Rains Fall (voiced by Graham Greene), the war-weary Wapiti chief, and Hosea Matthews (voiced by Curzon Dobell), the gang’s eldest member and a wily, well-read con artist. Oddly enough, John Marston, his wife Abigail, and his son Jack come across as distracting here. Rob Wietoff does another fine job voicing John, the first Red Dead Redemption’s protagonist, but RDR2 seems to go out of its way to make him important within this game’s story, sometimes at the expense of further developing secondary characters (that and Dutch’s penchant for hijacking in-game conversations are among the very few narrative missteps).

All told, RDR2’s plot isn’t breaking any new ground, and its control scheme may even feel dated, but the attention to detail, quasi-cinematic presentation, meaningful characterization, and thoughtful exploration of frontier morality make it very hard to put down.