Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

I went in expecting a solid follow-up to Yakuza: Like a Dragon and came out the other side somewhere around hour one hundred, still thinking about Kiryu's arc. That should tell you most of what you need to know. Infinite Wealth is RGG Studio firing on every cylinder at once, a game so dense with interlocking systems that calling it an RPG feels like describing Disco Elysium as "a walking game." The Hawaii setting - Honolulu specifically - gives the series a fresh coat of neon sunshine without losing the grounded, lived-in texture that makes these worlds feel real. The turn-based combat is the best the series has produced. Where the previous entry, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, laid a sometimes-clunky foundation, Infinite Wealth rebuilds it with meaningful spatial depth. You physically reposition your party members before each action, chasing backstab bonuses and setting up knockback chains that bounce enemies into your waiting allies. Tag team attacks build from a Hype Meter and land with the kind of impact that makes you replay the animation twice. Kiryu plays differently from Ichiban by design - he can briefly break free from turn-order entirely and unleash classic beat-em-up flurries, which keeps his sections feeling distinct rather than interchangeable. The job system underpins all of it: jobs function as swappable classes, and crucially, character level (not job rank) now governs core stat growth, which means respeccing into a new role no longer cripples your fighter mid-campaign. Unlocking jobs is gated behind Kasuga's Personality stats and party Bond levels, so the build theorycrafting feeds directly into the relationship systems rather than sitting in a vacuum. Speak of bonds - the Aloha Links social mechanic (think Persona's Confidants, filtered through an in-game smartphone app) rewards time spent with party members by opening new job options and combat synergies. Drink Links return for deeper one-on-one character moments, and a Bond Bingo card per character gives structure to what might otherwise feel like aimless side content. It is, genuinely, one of the better implementations of social-link design outside the Persona series itself. The writing earns it. Kiryu's throughline - reckoning with legacy, mortality, and what the yakuza life actually cost the people around him - carries a weight that sneaks up on you. Ichiban, meanwhile, remains one of the most earnest protagonists in the genre, and watching the two share scenes is the fan-service payoff the series has been building toward for years. The weaknesses are real, though. The opening thirty hours carry noticeable pacing drag; long-time fans expecting the franchise's trademark escalating menace will find the early chapters more travelogue than thriller. The side quests are uneven - some are genuinely funny and emotionally sharp, others feel like filler padding a runtime that did not need extra padding. New Game Plus being locked to higher-priced editions at launch was a legitimate grievance from the community and a decision that aged poorly. Dondoko Island, the Animal Crossing-adjacent resort-building mode, starts tediously slow with manual resource gathering before it opens up into something quietly addictive - budget enough patience for the first few hours or you will bounce off it unfairly. The Sujimon monster-catching system, by contrast, hits its stride faster and is far more substantial than any sane person expected a Pokemon parody to be inside a Yakuza game. If you have any history with this series, Infinite Wealth is the one you play. If you are brand new, the story leans on prior events enough that starting here means accepting some emotional gaps - the game does not hold your hand through decades of lore. For RPG fans with no prior Yakuza context, the combat and systems alone justify the time investment, but the narrative peaks higher if you have done your homework. Either way, this is a game that respects your intelligence, rewards re-engagement with its side content, and has enough build variety to survive past hour sixty without feeling solved.

Monika · Scout Team

RPGs

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