Yakuza: Like a Dragon

 PC
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 190 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 148 out of 190
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 190
  3. Negative: 29 out of 190

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  1. AllNewSuperfake
    Jun 2, 2021
    7
    +10 because every game could be a 10

    -1 The presentation does the job, but by now the "new" engine feels dated. Too many clones, too many reused assets, and the facial animations make everyone look like they just burst through a door with an axe shouting "Here's Johnny!". Especially "dungeons" are dull, repetitive affairs, the architecture has no recognition value in most places. In the    +10 because every game could be a 10

    -1 The presentation does the job, but by now the "new" engine feels dated. Too many clones, too many reused assets, and the facial animations make everyone look like they just burst through a door with an axe shouting "Here's Johnny!". Especially "dungeons" are dull, repetitive affairs, the architecture has no recognition value in most places. In the questionable tradition of older JRPGs items and treasure are never physically present in the world and only exist as boxes or sparkling points with added arrows so that you never feel like you found something, but it found you, and it won't leave you alone until you take it...
    -0.5 ... the loot. Into your inventory. Given your relatively short experience as a homeless person it makes sense that you collect trash, but you will already carry the equivalent of a hardware store in the pockets of your flashy suit when you finally get to use it in a convoluted and tacked-on crafting system. A lot of the stuff you find doesn't make sense.

    To find what you are looking for in excel-style menus with microscopic icons, navigating through the dungeon in your pockets and party is a burdensome and complicated affair. Obviously in the spirit of nostalgia, so...

    +0.5 for translating the yakuza series into something that resembles the old Dragon Quest series, because even though I've never played it I still recognize music and sound samples from those games, but....
    -0.5 ... it really doesn't do anything for you if you haven't played them except making the more emotional moments in the story come across like memes. Which is a real problem when it comes to

    -2 the story. I won't say it's not interesting. Seriously, this game left me terrified that I might not understand what the word "writing" means that everyone was praising here. It's a little bit like reading something a 13 year old boy comes up with when he is writing his first epic novel. There is a lack of basic understanding of the themes and subjects the story is dealing with that left me speechless on a regular basis.

    This is, of course, not a franchise where you would expect Shakespeare or serious life lessons or deep philosophy. But it's unfortunately not presented like the filler text it should be instead. I have spent roughly 90 % of the first 6 hours watching TV - meaning cutscenes - and clicking dialogue box after dialogue box without any actual interactivity or choices. It's a superstorm of dramatic tropes with everything from corruption to child abuse, wild conspiracies and power struggles. Tragedies and misery pile up and collide with honor codes and ancient morales, poverty, prison, prostitution, death. And all of that from the perspective of a 13 year old, with all the insight and deep reflection you would expect.

    You can basically witness in real time how the writers try to explain to themselves how they got to the point where they needed to be after they got there on a regular basis, and during that process they stumble upon all the plot holes and contradictions they created on their way. So you click away text window after text window and listen to hours of professional voiceacting that, once again, seems like a meme most of the time because it is so f*ing ridiculous. And yet, at the same time, it's like you are watching the main characters standing around, no one knows what is going on and how they got there, so everybody has to improvise while the director is whispering "Just act natural!" from the sideline.

    All of this could actually be fun or even well-made satire. But I'm afraid they were serious about this.

    -0.5 ... when they are not fighting. Which they will do a lot. You won't be able to walk down any given street without having at least one random encounter, and while I enjoyed the round-based combat because I feel more in control than with the typical button mashing throughout the series, it's just too drawn out, and with the added RPG-nostalgia full of flashy effects and ridiculous power moves it is like constant comical relief. I actually love the idea to have the classic RPG formula translated to a modern day scenario, but given the actual story it's like watching a really sad movie with a constant laugh track playing over it. Even that could work, but it just doesn't.

    +0.5 still, even though I felt like I was part of an elaborate joke that I didn't really get - great writing? great scores? Deep characters? Are you f*ing kidding me - I never really got bored. The never-ending storytelling clears up after a few hours and releases you fully into an absurd sandbox that never makes sense, but always comes up with a new ridiculous idea. The actual gameplay has a satisfying flow and sense of progression. I love to hate this series, but I also hate to love it.    … Expand
  2. Crackfarmer
    Jun 8, 2021
    7
    Positive:
    - Fluent 60fps capped @maxed settings on 1440p
    - Interesting story - Fun side quests - Good variety in weapons/gear to use (this was before i found out that you have 100 different jobs to choose and use a different weapon on every job too....) - Great main/party characters - Good character design - Voice acting is good - Treasure hunt feature, sadly doesn't get much from    Positive:
    - Fluent 60fps capped @maxed settings on 1440p
    - Interesting story
    - Fun side quests
    - Good variety in weapons/gear to use (this was before i found out that you have 100 different jobs to choose and use a different weapon on every job too....)
    - Great main/party characters
    - Good character design
    - Voice acting is good
    - Treasure hunt feature, sadly doesn't get much from it. Almost not worth the time it takes to do it.
    - You can save for the most part at any given state
    - Ichibans investment company

    Negative:
    - Getting overwhelmed with equipping, collecting and leveling up several characters alongside with exploring 3 cities ....
    - No hostess club minigame like it used to be in Zero and the Kiwami games
    - The amount of "Jobs" doesn't benefit the game, considering you have to level up each job from level 1 again plus get different weapons, only the character level sticks
    - Slow leveling, need to level & equip your allies too
    - Too many different towns to attend, kamurocho would've been enough
    - Lipsync isn't too good
    - Just go over one street in yokohama - enemies skyrocket in level, almost oneshot you
    - Debuffs / Skills aren't much useful in fights
    - Many dialogue is replaced by cheap text lines and some moans. Low effort. Most games have full voiceovers for pretty much all dialogues
    - Game consumes too much ressources for the results of how it looks.
    - Paid DLCs, garbage ones too
    - Gold safes require keys which have to be purchased and can't be found, money is the issue in early/mid game
    - Too much stuff to collect throughout the game
    - Turn based game, wish it was the combat as Zero had, fights get annoying really quick
    - All prices are insane, the only affordable part is food in restaurants, stores are overpriced
    - Transition from ingame to cutscene often stutters or even freezes the game for a couple seconds

    For now the negative overweights the positive, so i have to give it a negative review for now.
    Will reconsider the review until i'm fully through the game or so annoyed that i quit playing.    … Expand
  3. Dco326
    Aug 28, 2021
    7
    Ne znam meni je sve ovo isto kao i pre stim sto su lose uradili ovaj fajtring sistem na kraju sam cepao sve na brzaka i igrao samo story u globalu smorio sam se i ne bih je igrao opet. fajt sistem mi je sve usrao vala.
  4. Mr_Eleganto
    Jul 16, 2021
    7
    As much as I like the series, this entry was a bit rough for me, so I won't hail or hate it's guts. I'll just leave it be like a good jrpg about Yakuzas criminal world and hell it was fun! Story goes down with time, yeah, but the whole experience worth it's end titles if you chose to play this unique experience, like RGG STUDIOS always do. Thanks!

Awards & Rankings

33
#33 Best PC Game of 2020
61
#61 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. PCMag
    Mar 30, 2021
    90
    Yakuza: Like a Dragon transforms the long-running beat'-em-up series into a Japanese role-playing game—and it's shockingly good. Though it retains some of the past games' clunky character animations, Like a Dragon's action-packed combat and engaging story make it a must-own RPG.
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  2. RPG Fan
    Jan 11, 2021
    94
    After over 100 hours of play, I’ve completely fallen in love with this new take on Yakuza. With its robust character relationships, expansive job system, kinetic turn-based combat, and all of the usual Yakuza wackiness and heartbreak, this has rapidly become my current favorite in the series. For traditional RPG fans on the fence about Yakuza, this new JRPG-inspired entry is the perfect place to start! For those who prefer the classic beat-em-up combat, I implore you to give the new gameplay a try. If it doesn’t stick, don’t worry, because I suspect that Judgment will become the new home of this time-tested combat system. For me, Yakuza: Like a Dragon stands as one of the greatest RPGs of 2020 and (hopefully) the beginning of a brand-new era of Yakuza!
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  3. Ragequit.gr
    Dec 7, 2020
    85
    Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a brave reboot that manages to change the recipe very successfully and you will love it, especially if you have even a slight appeal to JRPGs or turn-based games in general. It is not perfect, mainly thanks to the "childhood" diseases which were inherited from other representatives of the genre (such as grinding), however it remains a highly enjoyable and entertaining game that can offer dozens of hours of enjoyment.
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