I’m absorbing the solar as I stroll alongside the attractive seashores of Hawaii when immediately a gaggle of suspicious-looking characters take discover. As they method, threatening me, I’m transported from the fact of Hawaii round me to some sort of alternate dimension the place I’m anticipated to drag off some thrilling heroics. My enemies not seem like your common powerful guys on the road—their eyes glow pink, they’re capable of spew poisonous fumes at me. However their new monstrous look isn’t any match for my candy choice of expertise, my trusty baseball bat, and a crew of comrades who’re able to dive in with their very own eccentric fight expertise. However earlier than they throw down, they’ll have to attend their flip, in fact.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is the newest within the long-running sequence of video games previously referred to as Yakuza. Beginning in 2005 on the PS2, Yakuza launched the world to its gripping story of Japanese gangsters struggling to outlive the advanced loyalties and alliances of the felony underworld, usually pressured to struggle in overwhelming conditions to be able to survive.
Infinite Wealth itself is a direct sequel to 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which departed considerably from the usual brawling motion that has lengthy been the sequence’ bread and butter. As in that recreation, fight right here is totally turn-based, with the entire RPG stats and options you understand from video games which are often set in additional fantastical realms. Starring probably the most charismatic characters of our time, Ichiban Kasuga, Infinite Wealth tells a satisfying and intriguing story of thriller and arranged crime. And it’s all set in a digestible RPG that rewards the time you set into it with out feeling burdensome or unapproachable.
A heroic fantasy unrestrained by the bounds of actuality
Although Infinite Wealth is ready in the true world and follows the gritty and complex lives of individuals caught in a lifetime of organized crime, the sport by no means feels something wanting epic, particularly in fight. Most cutscenes and narrative developments are grounded in actuality, however the preventing virtually appears to happen in a parallel universe within the thoughts of protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, who tends to see the world like a fantasy recreation, with himself the hero of stated recreation.
The sport takes on a distinct persona as soon as the fists and weapons begin flying, one which embraces the tried and true staples of turn-based fight in a fantasy RPG. It’s joyous and energetic—a breath of contemporary air in a style so usually dominated by the identical fantasy character archetypes in the identical outdated predictable methods.
Infinite Wealth offers in these archetypes—your tanks, healers, harm sellers, and so forth—nevertheless it makes them its personal, with type and confidence. Enemies shift into twisted monstrous appearances of their real-world selves as soon as the fight begins. Combating animations are sometimes explosive, vibrant, and becoming for every character’s persona. The circulation of fight by no means fails to really feel thrilling and contemporary, but in addition acquainted. That is an RPG via and thru: Characters have hit factors and magic factors, and the latter can be utilized to deploy all method of offensive and defensive talents. You’ll get higher as you stage up, and there are tons of how to enhance your stats by way of consumable gadgets and higher gear.
Should you’re a veteran of turn-based fantasy roleplaying video games, you’ll discover that trusty rhythm of buff, debuff, assault, and defend right here in attractive full type and never merely as a tongue-in-cheek, fourth-wall breaking gimmick. Enjoying Infinite Wealth was a reminder for me of how a lot I like turn-based fight, as a result of the sport continually rewarded me for taking part in with technique. That dopamine rush of pulling off a number of well-selected turns is so rewarding that on the uncommon events I needed to grind to push ahead within the story, I used to be excited to get into extra brawls. The fight is strategic, but foolish. Deep, but approachably enjoyable. It hardly ever felt exhausting to undergo spherical after spherical of fight. And defeat didn’t really feel imply or humiliating.
Infinite Wealth’s fight isn’t nearly assembly numerical stipulations. Sure, if you happen to’re underleveled for a particular space or boss struggle, you could be in some bother. However I hardly ever felt like the sport was unfair or forcing me to do my leveling-up homework. Fights that have been just a few ranges above me weren’t unimaginable; they simply required a extra considerate approachthat didn’t neglect the important roles of buffs and debuffs. There have been some bosses that despatched me to a few Sport Over screens, and it was clear that I used to be underleveled and below outfitted when this occurred. But when I saved my head within the recreation and targeted on exploiting as many enemy weak factors as potential and making every flip depend, I might come out on prime. And that feeling of shedding just a few occasions, solely to return again and out assume my foes to victory, by no means received outdated.
Although you possibly can swap out your characters’ lessons, known as Jobs in Infinite Wealth, I hardly ever did this on my first playthrough. Every inventory character class affords a stable choice of talents, and also you’ll shortly spot who ought to take the lead on what position.
Some characters will clearly be higher for dealing harm, like longtime sequence protagonist Kiryu, whereas others are very dynamic. Kasuga himself has a stable quantity of assault talents, but in addition features nicely as a healer and help character (I had him operating round juicing everybody’s defenses throughout the tougher moments). In the meantime characters like Nanba, a former nurse whose direct assaults aren’t as highly effective as these of different characters, can function a stable healer in addition to a blisteringly efficient damage-dealing magic consumer. Digging into every character’s talents, all of that are defined in in-game textual content throughout fight, means you could be taught as you go. This isn’t a recreation you want a PhD in, but it’s not overly simplistic both.
Infinite Wealth’s fight can also be thrillingly kinetic. In your flip, you possibly can transfer in a restricted circle surrounding your character. This placement is important as many assaults will power enemies to knock into each other, their environment, or into the weapon of a comrade who’s very happy to take an additional swing if the enemy falls into their menace vary. And as characters stroll across the battlespace, unrestrained by their flip within the fight order, there’s a way of nailing the timing of your assaults accurately. You may swiftly deal harm to a number of opponents if you happen to keep targeted and search for simply missable alternatives.
However in fact, fight isn’t the one factor you’ll do in Infinite Wealth, as the sport is greater than able to ship hours and hours of minigames and facet actions, some based mostly instantly on video games like Pokémon and Animal Crossing.
Infinite Wealth is deep, however not overwhelming
Infinite Wealth is a giant recreation. There’s a 40+ hour essential story, tons of facet tales, mini-games for courting, gig work, farming, and character battling. You may spend time hanging out along with your social gathering members to deepen your relationships with them (which pays off in fight), and you may discover some randomly generated dungeons to check your strengths.
However whereas many different RPGs can really feel too huge to wrap your head round, Infinite Wealth in some way feels huge with out making you’re feeling misplaced. A few of this, I believe, has to do with the sport’s comparatively smaller maps compared to different RPGs. Each places in Hawaii and Japan are maps you possibly can memorize and journey round with ease, dotted with actions that make your fight expertise higher, be that by unlocking new mixed assaults via elevating your bond stage with every character, or by discovering new Jobs, gadgets, and weapons to diversify your fight expertise.
Infinite Wealth’s facet actions are a rising tide, elevating the remainder of the sport as you spend extra time with them. Some have an beautiful stage of depth, similar to Dondoko Island, which is a self-contained, totally featured resort administration sim baked proper into the sport.
Aspect actions merely add extra to the sport. Extra technique to handle, extra fight expertise to unlock, and extra time spent with this recreation’s great forged of characters, who for me have been a gravity nicely that saved me glued to the primary story greater than anything.
Infinite Wealth’s story works for Yakuza veterans and newcomers alike
Infinite Wealth follows the tales of Ichiban Kasuga and Kiryu Kazuma, males who appear to be unable to flee the tough realities of organized crime. The previous takes up a lot of the recreation, whereas a few late-game chapters have you ever take management of Kiryu. On the coronary heart of the sport is a direct purpose: Kasuga is distributed to Hawaii to search out somebody essential. Although this particular person will proceed to elude him for a while, what he does discover on the island of Hawaii is a posh community of organized crime syndicates all vying for energy and management.
Kasuga shortly will get swept up into Hawaii’s crime scene as he continues his search, assembly many new characters alongside the way in which, establishing belief and difficult opposition. The sport’s narrative is excellent at introducing characters with lengthy and shocking arcs, and although it’s one other entry in a long-running sequence of video games, newcomers received’t really feel terribly misplaced. Some references to previous occasions and the construction of the Yakuza itself may really feel just a little a lot for somebody model new, however Infinite Wealth has a targeted and self-contained story with a number of twists and turns, heroes you’ll come to like and villains you’ll wish to swing a bat at.
A few of the recreation’s particular person chapters, nonetheless, are likely to revolve round a plot construction that grows predictable, one which sees some rising, uncontrolled motion that’s ended by the looks of one other character you weren’t anticipating or another, out-of-the-blue prevalence. These conditions don’t meet the precise definition of a deus ex machina, however they will really feel a bit too handy and contrived.
Regardless of this predictable sample of storytelling and motion, the primary story pays off with a protracted story that explores the matters of household and belief. Characters aren’t simply on display to be imply and shoot individuals (although there are some quite bloody scenes sometimes). I discovered myself playfully questioning the place the story would go; typically it went in a path I noticed coming from miles away, different occasions one which fully shocked me. However whether or not I used to be catching on to rising foreshadowing, or being hit with a twist I didn’t see coming, I completely loved Infinite Wealth’s narrative—particularly its forged of characters, headed by its merely superior protagonist.
Ichiban Kasuga is an unparalleled hero
Should you’ve performed the unique Like a Dragon or the current The Man Who Erased His Title, you’ll come to Infinite Wealth realizing who Ichiban is. A former Yakuza member, he spent 18 years of his life behind bars, stepping out into the true world in his 40s. And he appears just a little youthful for his age, maybe even just a little dumb, however in a loveable form of method. The sport opens with him working a principally common desk job after having seemingly left a lifetime of crime behind him. However simply whenever you thought he was out, he will get pulled again in.
What’s so shocking, nonetheless, is that Kasuga fails to comply with the extra stereotypical path of male characters in such a situation, one that usually sees aggression and confrontation matched with accelerated anger and violence. Certain, he’s very happy to get right into a brawl together with his bat and his buddies, however his timeless optimism within the face of problem and his willingness to increase kindness and forgiveness to those that wronged him shows such a excessive stage of emotional intelligence that he defies the expectations of the crime drama style. When the going received powerful, I discovered myself determined to listen to Ichiban ship a optimistic spin, a possibility to beat adversity.
That Infinite Wealth takes place in the true world makes these attributes of Kasuga much more resonant. These aren’t characters obsessive about discovering some mysterious, magical plot machine to cease an evil overlord in some fantasy realm. As a substitute, these are characters with relatable flaws and considerations, searching for to proper wrongs and enhance one another’s lives. This isn’t a story of escapism. Whereas the story might contain felony dealings of the sort few can declare to have data of, every character’s funding within the story, the explanation they’re preventing within the first place, feels extra relatable than it doubtless would if this have been a excessive fantasy narrative with the entire unrealistic trappings of the style. With out hyper fictitious lore to burden the participant with, Infinite Wealth is a narrative you possibly can see your self in.
Ichiban made me chortle and cry so usually throughout Infinite Wealth’s essential story. I got here to see him as a heroic determine not as a result of he might beat the crap out of the unhealthy guys (which he actually ain’t unhealthy at) however as a result of he impressed in me an enthusiasm for all times, each out and in of the sport. One scene particularly sees Kasuga ship such a optimistic philosophy on dwelling life in your 30s and 40s, doing so with out the burden of disgrace for not having achieved sure milestones, that I used to be instantly delivered to tears, ending that night time’s gaming session with a way of optimism about my very own life.
The emotional wealth that Kasuga affords the sport works to make him an ideal and galvanizing character, somebody who you take pleasure in inhabiting. However he additionally makes the story extra attention-grabbing. This isn’t a bog-standard story of a person out to get vengeance on the mob.
A couple of tough edges, room for enchancment, and a regrettable worth construction
Infinite Wealth arrives in early 2024 and is already, in my thoughts, a powerful contender for probably the greatest gaming experiences of the 12 months. That stated, there have been just a few parts that might have been higher. Whereas these didn’t completely bitter the expertise, they did nag at me over the sport’s lengthy marketing campaign.
Infinite Wealth’s graphical presentation is one in every of its extra underwhelming elements, notably in cutscenes which are sometimes filmed with cinematic digital camera placement that doesn’t work nicely with the sport’s principally duller textures and picket character animations. Ichiban himself might be the best-looking character and probably the most well-animated, however even the opposite essential characters are a little bit of a step down, with inflexible facial and physique expressions. There’s an odd-looking, glowing define surrounding most characters throughout their closeups, whereas not so distant textures, even in cutscenes, typically simply look odd. Non-playable characters undergo much more; we’re speaking Oblivion-level oddness and rigidity to facial expressions. It may be just a little tough to take a look at.
I convey this up not out of some perception that prettier graphics at all times equal a greater recreation. Slightly, it’s as a result of Infinite Wealth’s narrative, with its give attention to its glorious characters, deserves a greater presentation than what this recreation gives.
That stated, the poor presentation is considerably offset by the stellar music in Infinite Wealth’s soundtrack, particularly in fight. I even took my time with activates a number of events as a result of I used to be too busy bobbing my head to the number of upbeat electronica and steel that makes for pure ear sweet.
However whereas I very a lot love Infinite Wealth’s fight and anticipate to be pouring many extra hours into its dungeon actions to tackle better threats, I do want it was simpler to buy higher weapons and equipment. All too usually I discovered myself checking right into a weapons store to search out that they’d nothing anybody in my social gathering might use. It makes for some laborious treks throughout the map to discover a good improve.
I additionally want Infinite Wealth didn’t select to ship me to a recreation over when the primary social gathering character dies. Upon Kasuga (or Kiryu when he takes the helm) getting KO’d, you’re taken to a proceed display. This tilts the technique a bit an excessive amount of towards prioritizing the primary character. To be honest, this solely turned a difficulty throughout the boss fights I stupidly took on whereas being underleveled, however prioritizing one character’s life over all of the others is one thing I might do with out.
Lastly, probably the most complicated problems with Infinite Wealth lies in its pricing construction. The bottom version runs on the new customary of $70, however there are additionally $85 and $110 variations.
The most important downside with that is that the $85 model is required to unlock New Sport+. This can be a perplexing resolution to say the least—particularly in a recreation that’s so chock stuffed with actions that you simply’re unlikely to complete them multi function playthrough. Fight in Infinite Wealth solely will get extra dynamic and thrilling the extra individuals you’ve got in your social gathering and the extra expertise and Jobs you’ve got—this can be a recreation that begs to be performed a second time with all the talents you’ve earned. But Sega desires you to pay an additional $15 for that privilege. There’s merely no motive for this to be the way in which that it’s, and it’s a serious stain on an in any other case stellar RPG.
Regardless of a really unlucky pricing construction, Infinite Wealth is a powerful and satisfying early 2024 title. It options a superb forged of characters, thrilling fight, and tons of rewarding facet actions which hardly ever really feel like an extreme burden of busywork. Infinite Wealth additionally tells a deeply human story of connection, household, and the significance of sustaining hope within the face of adversity. And it encompasses a powerfully efficient fight system that’s thrilling to play and see in motion.
Its story will likely be most rewarding to those that have performed earlier Yakuza video games, nevertheless it tells a self-contained narrative that’s often fairly good about getting you in control on previous occasions. And even when the story does dip into its personal lore and historical past an excessive amount of, which is able to undoubtedly fulfill long-time followers of the sequence, Infinite Wealth makes for a superb introduction to those characters and offers you causes to be invested in them within the right here and now, with an entertaining story that manages to remain contemporary over the course of its many hours of gameplay.