Like a Dragon: Ishin is definitely one of the more controversial titles within the Yakuza series with the weird transition into the unreal engine which is a first in the series (and probably last), along with adding the Trooper Cards system into the rest of the game which a lot of fans were skeptical with that decision to say the least. However, what do I think? I think that this game is a new personal favorite in the franchise for me.

Gameplay - Now if the idea of a samurai wild west gunslinger strikes as exciting for you, it pretty much is. The whole concept of it is exciting but it plays so damn well. You get introduced to the 4 combat styles of the game being fists (for parrying/defense), swordsman (burst dps), gunslinger (ranged dps/heat generator), and wild dancer which is the best style in the game and even upon its nerf its still so damn good. Now using these styles in unison was confusing at first, especially when a style is just both the 2 styles mixed together (sword and gun = wild dancer), but each style has its own situational use, and when you finally get the flow and muscle memory of the styles down you glide and navigate through combat like a trained killer. All the styles felt fleshed out and useful, even if the unarmed fist style did feel super weak on damage even fully maxed. You are also able to equip additional weapons from the skill tree of the styles like spears, odachis, and a cannon. They aren't as fleshed out as the main styles but they were still fun to mess around with in random street fights.

Trooper System - After a few chapters of getting used to your stock styles, you will get access to the trooper system. Basically you will be able to activate different cards in fights that give you abilities. This system before was only usable in the dungeons side content of the game, but has been expanded upon and made available throughout the entire story, in fact even bosses can use these insane powers. Now, understandably a lot of players don't like the inclusion of this system in the rest of the game, but for players who have played the original this is definitely some much needed spice to the gameplay. For many this is their first experience of Ishin, and I think the game would of benefited from having the trooper card inclusion be accessible in new game + or the Ishin difficulty or just an option to toggle on or off. It didn't ruin my enjoyment, mainly because I have the original game so that could definitely give me a bias here so take that with a grain of salt.

Setting - It's great taking a break from Kamurocho and the modern setting of the Yakuza games, and the new location for this game being Kyo is definitely hitting for me. I have to place Kyo as one of my my personal favorite locations in the series next to Okinawa from Yakuza 3 and of course the iconic Tokyo streets of Kamurocho. Kyo for me is a totally fresh take on what we have seen in the series thus far. Its a completely different Japan set at the end of the Edo period in the 1860s. The environment changes in different sections of the map, whether you are in the bustling streets of Rakunai, the markets and riverbay of Fushimi, or my personal favorite location, the bandit city of Mukurogai. Everything just looks so damn nice, especially in the Unreal Engine. The shadows and lighting is the best in this game compared to the other releases and honestly I wouldn't mind another game in the unreal engine. Don't get me wrong, the dragon engine is probably my most favorite engine in gaming period, however to see the devs go back from time to time into their old game design to recapture the original game is a nice and much needed breath of fresh air.

Minigames - My favorite part of these games are the side content to lose yourself in, and where to start? Karaoke is rebranded as the "singing bar" since karaoke didnt exist yet time wise and Ishin's line up of songs are another reason to just give this game an install. I love me my dancing mini games since they never seem to miss and Ishin even has that with Buyo dancing (fan dancing). Sounds lame but trust me you will need to be on your toes on the higher difficulties. You have chicken racing which was my favorite way to make money in this game, and really is going to be your bread and butter for the grinding sections of the game and oh boy I have section on that, that's how bad it is. Then the hostess mini game is replaced with the courtesan games. You basically play 3 different mini games with a courtesan, one being sake showdown (a drinking game), rock paper scissors, and then finally sensual healing which is a sex bullet heal mini game and my god is it ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hard. I would definitely have to say the asura mode on the sex mini game gave me the most trouble in my completion like what the hell I was not expecting that much trouble and bottlenecking from the sex mini game of all side content.

Another Life - The big mini game of Ishin is titled "Another Life". Its Yakuza's take on a slice of life where you farm, take car of your house/pets, cook, and even sell the before mentioned items off like the stuff you cook or your produce. The money you can make accumulates over time with the more and more orders you put out, but honestly I just had myself coming here to take off stress from the grinding and just relaxing because they definitely nailed that aesthetic. Really for the money you are just better off with the Chicken Racing mini game but i'm still happy for this whole mode's inclusion, was super fun.

The Grind - Now this had to be a whole section of its own. Yakuza games can be a little grindy here and there. Especially if you focus on crafting or completion, but its usually not THIS GRINDY. In this game you grind for everything. Need troopers? Gotta spin the gacha mechanic case opening that can drop 1 of 400 troopers. Need materials for grinding? Perfect, which material because there are 4 other sub categories of which supply you are looking for (seafood, produce, etc.). Need materials for another life? Go grind the 4 different fishing spots for the unique fish, aswell as wait on the farming timer for your crops. Need a specific high grade material? Its either random world drop, or farm the specific dungeon for a chance at it dropping, and of course the worst part had to be crafting weapons and gear. Which I say with a heavy heart because that was what peaked my interest in the combat of the game to begin with. All these cool different pieces of gear, fully modeled, performing different things, whole seals giving you a chance to socket a bunch of neat stats to optimize the gear. Like, that all sounded so sick. Until you actually start trying to gear up and you realize the big problem which is the resource sink. Even fully upgrading your blacksmith (which gets you a reduced rate of money/materials spent on gear), you are still sinking tons and tons of money and materials into these weapons. There is a whole section, and mechanic for the gun style that has you swapping out different ammunition types that play super fun like flash bullets that daze the enemy, lightning bullets that stun, poison that adds a DoT to the target, etc. But, these cost so much just to fire 30 OF THEM (which is as much as you can craft in a max stack), like that goes away quick on a maxed out gun. So I couldn't really get experimental without having to shave away hours grinding for more mats and money just for all of that to be spent on merely an hour of shooting off the thing. It just was not worth it. Its true that you can completely ignore the crafting section of the game since story missions give you upgrades on items nonetheless, but this is still a big part of the game, and a big part that could help you not struggle as much in fights.

Other from those gripes, the story, the gameplay, the world of Ishin is phenomenal and even know this remake hiccups here and there I do still think this is worth a playthrough.

Played most of the games in this series, the combat is similar to Y0/Kiwami or the Judgement games where you have 'forms' that you can swap into and out of in combat. The combat alone makes this game recommendable.

New favorite in the series, second only to Y0