Yakuza: Like a Dragon

 PlayStation 5
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 179 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 144 out of 179
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 179
  3. Negative: 18 out of 179
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  1. Hubliterate
    Nov 23, 2021
    7
    As a rpg fan, I really liked how they changed the battle system but it got old pretty fast. Graphics (like every Yakuza title) look 10 years outdated. Good points were the story and the mini games. To be fair, I never really been into Yakuza games. I'd recommend waiting for a sale.
  2. nb619
    Jan 1, 2022
    7
    Graphics: colourful and interesting
    Sound: great voice work and fx; repetitive music
    Story: fantastic with great character development Gameplay: fun, but really awful difficulty balance. I restarted on hard after getting used to the play dynamics, but then hit a point where I could thrash any normal enemies, but then some bosses would be way too tough; so in the end felt more like an    Graphics: colourful and interesting
    Sound: great voice work and fx; repetitive music
    Story: fantastic with great character development
    Gameplay: fun, but really awful difficulty balance. I restarted on hard after getting used to the play dynamics, but then hit a point where I could thrash any normal enemies, but then some bosses would be way too tough; so in the end felt more like an interactive story with the odd boss slog.    … Expand
  3. deplorable
    Jun 6, 2021
    6
    Dub quality - brilliant actually, surprisingly so. In fact they even dub the karaoke songs too, even in anime that's a rare thing in a dub. Heaven's Lost Property (fallen down) and Haruhi Suzumiya (god knows) are about the only two examples i can think of; normally they just keep in the japanese singers.

    PS5 version - This is a PS4 port. It's the nicest thing to say about this, i know    Dub quality - brilliant actually, surprisingly so. In fact they even dub the karaoke songs too, even in anime that's a rare thing in a dub. Heaven's Lost Property (fallen down) and Haruhi Suzumiya (god knows) are about the only two examples i can think of; normally they just keep in the japanese singers.

    PS5 version - This is a PS4 port. It's the nicest thing to say about this, i know sony's quality control is about non existent and this clearly shows how desperate sony are to have PS5 games. They also did a PS5 version of judgement, no free upgrade but it's just a PS4 port. There is nothing that justifies either being on the new generation of consoles. I'd be wary of this developer in future games.

    Story - Generic and terrible. It's overly played out, overly long and isn't that good. At times it makes "The Room" look like Shakespeare with its speeches and drama filled nonsense (lots of yelling that's how you know they're "serious" but comes across as pure cheese). The only good parts are the tales of "skits" between characters, the food conversations that appear and the sub stories (especially the one if you 'romance' all female characters). That's it.

    Gameplay - The main character suffers from a delusional hero complex and the gameplay matches this perfectly. Turn based RPG. It surprisingly works although the amount of items (healing) would make even the older JRPGS blush. No one needs a dozen drinks that heal 15MP. No one.

    MInigames - Oh where to begin. There's one good one, the management game. It's where you take a small sweet company and turn it into a 20 billion business empire. The entire thing has the worst tutorial ever, as it's all walls of text. Watch a youtube video on how shareholder meetings work and you'll fly through it.

    The others you'd expect - terrible Sega games (bar virtua fighter). Golf, baseball, darts etc usual fair nothing exciting or worthwhile. Oh and a really bad mario kart rip off. The problem of this is usually the tracks and the AI. At one point six drivers got stuck in the first turn, for 5 minutes as the physics engine struggled. Then some rubber banded and teleported half a track in front of you. It was an awful experience (dragon cup first track i think it was). The drifting feels off, the tracks are badly designed and oh... just do yourself a favour and not play it. Leaves a bitter taste.

    The worst part of the game - the honk honk people. As with the main characters increasing delusion he's a hero in dragon quest, they also have a variation of the "puff puff" characters. Except these are RNG based. And finding them, and making them turn up is a reason to burn this game and hope they never make another.

    Weird things - the game on chapter 15 explains that certain people turn up during the day/night when you're able to change it at your HQ. I've never came across any point in the game where that's actually true. Not sure if some of this is just badly translated or never made it into the game.

    As of writing only 22% of people finished the game. I mean we've come to the stage the developers need to take away the sales aspect, and realise that their game just isn't fun. At least half of all owners who buy a game even if they don't get every trophy etc should at least see the ending. This should always be a warning light to EVERY developer. Work on this. Your future games may sell better as a result.

    In conclusion - don't buy the PS5 version, no point. It's a decent RPG until chapter 12 then be prepared for grinding (a certain boss battle will wake you up). In final fantasy 10, did you enjoy the Tidus laughing scene, if you did. You'll LOVE this games story.    … Expand
  4. thisisnotdalton
    Mar 9, 2021
    5
    I have really enjoyed playing this game on the PS4, but I cannot accept the inconsistency with the PS4 -> PS5 transition with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The Yakuza games are full of lots of excellent content and players can easily find 100+ hours of fun with each game (especially with new game+), but that still does not mean that every player wanting to experience a higher performance versionI have really enjoyed playing this game on the PS4, but I cannot accept the inconsistency with the PS4 -> PS5 transition with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The Yakuza games are full of lots of excellent content and players can easily find 100+ hours of fun with each game (especially with new game+), but that still does not mean that every player wanting to experience a higher performance version of this game will want to replay those 100+ hours when upgrading from the PS4 to the PS5 version of the game. With how the developers have previously handled save transfer, there is no excusing the developers' choice to not implement any form of save transfer for the PS4/PS5 versions of this game. If this is the result of Sony not supporting developers with this console generation transition, then Sony really needs to step up their game; however, as this game already features purchasable downloadable content to speed up character progression, I cannot help but fear that this might be a 'brilliant' business decision made to encourage more time saving DLC purchases or to cut development costs for save transfer features that really should not be so difficult to implement. I would like to rate this game higher, but I think most fans will have already played the game already and the PS5 features do not seem to provide much reason to replay the game.… Expand
  5. TsukasaHiiragi
    Apr 13, 2023
    6
    Pro's

    Great one liners Great graphical representation of Japans seedier side Great soundtrack and voice acting Free classic Sega Games like Outrun Con's Extremely tropey and cliche story Massive difficulty spikes Ch13+ Annoying boss fights Nonsense grind Too many items clogging up your inventory YLAD isn't perfect at all, in fact its fairly rough in places and the story    Pro's

    Great one liners
    Great graphical representation of Japans seedier side
    Great soundtrack and voice acting
    Free classic Sega Games like Outrun

    Con's

    Extremely tropey and cliche story
    Massive difficulty spikes Ch13+
    Annoying boss fights
    Nonsense grind
    Too many items clogging up your inventory

    YLAD isn't perfect at all, in fact its fairly rough in places and the story meanders into cliche territory quite often, the biggest issues with the game comes after chapter 13 with a massive difficulty spike that honestly somewhat ruins the pacing and fun as it becomes more frustrating and tedious especially with certain boss fights which ramp up the difficulty to 11 for no real apparent reason on basically any difficulty setting you choose, it makes it difficult to progress as it ruins the entire pacing of the game.

    Another nice touch is adding so many bonus mini-games, the only gripe I have is that they added so many traditional Japanese games which most western players will have absolutely no clue how to play and is basically lost on the vast majority of the players.    … Expand
  6. quittit1
    Jul 23, 2022
    7
    Okay buddy I don’t know what I would do the same thing as I am an atheist but I don’t believe it is true

Awards & Rankings

15
#15 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2021
39
#39 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
86

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. PSX Extreme
    Dec 21, 2021
    94
    Someone once said that Shenmue crawled so that Yakuza could run. If that’s true, then Like A Dragon is the Usain Bolt of the series. There is so much to love and discover in the game’s 50 to 70-hour main story. Top this off with a new game plus mode, and you have an RPG that I can easily see being played for hundreds of hours.
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  2. Worth Playing
    Sep 21, 2021
    86
    Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an important entry for a series that's trying to redefine itself without losing what makes it Yakuza. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, even though its pacing was inconsistent. A lot of the enjoyment is due to the new protagonist Ichiban, his memorable companions, and their relationships, which are engaging to explore. Most of the adventure is set in the Yokohama region, which is a joy to interact with, and so are its shops and engaging side stories. While the introduction of RPG mechanics was a daring move, it ultimately paid off, and I prefer the full-on RPG approach over the old brawler gameplay. Most of its RPG systems are simplistic to the point of almost being repetitive, but it lays a solid and fun foundation upon which future titles can build.
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  3. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Apr 6, 2021
    80
    A basic upgrade. The SSD helps load some elements more quickly; the graphics aren’t radically improved. That said, the game is still phenomenal. [Issue#187, p.88]
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