Have you ever considered how a “shot-for-shot” videogame remake would look and play like? Well, now we have the answer – Like a Dragon: Ishin! is, for all intents and purposes, a remake of the 2014 Japanese-only title Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! (and to avoid confusion the Japanese title of this remake just added Kiwami, just like with previous remakes). But unlike the Yakuza 1 and 2 remakes, this one feels, looks and plays almost exactly the same as the original game did. Is it good? Is it bad? Probably neither, but the result is a pretty cool entry in the Like a Dragon franchise that, however, does feel like it’s from the past in more ways than the setting.
Just as with the majority of Like a Dragon titles, this is an open world action adventure title with beat ’em up combat and a cinematic story, where the open world part is not that big but rather dense with events and stories. However, being set in the Bakumatsu era of history of Japan, presumably in 1867 if we align it with real world history it… let’s say “takes inspiration from”, it also prominently features usage of weapons and not just fists or feet. In fact, for the most part this is more of a hack and slash than a beat ’em up title, even though those familiar with combat of the series will quickly adapt to the tweaks and changes.
As the original title was made in the period between Yakuza 5 and Yakuza 0, a lot of the design decisions were and still are very close to that period of the franchise. So going from Lost Judgment into Ishin! might not be the smoothest transition. Thankfully, the auto-save and ability to save anytime are here and even though most of the mechanics and concepts are more or less the same as they were in the original version, they were updated to be smoother, more responsive and just easier to enjoy. Although, again, it’s a far cry from just how comfortable and user friendly the latest entries were, with very limited fast travel points, limited inventory and the need to drop items off in the storage, no auto-pickup for items that drop from enemies, slower in and out transition for combat, no way of seeing substories (side content) on the map without a special item… Lots of great quality of life features that the later game added are just not here and you will feel the absence. And also, in my personal opinion, the mini-games for some activities in this entry are pretty bad. Then again, even in newer titles there can be stinkers.
I wasn’t joking about “shot-for-shot” remake nature of the game otherwise, however, as despite being completely remade from ground up on Unreal Engine 4, despite changing some of the character looks and voices, despite tweaking the music here and there the presentation and storytelling of the game is exactly the same as in the original. To the point where I have to wonder if the RGG Studio somehow managed to reuse all of their capture work and camera movement from the original game in UE. The only notable change I know about is the absence of one post-credits segment which looked at the events of the game from the modern time perspective, but everything apart from that looks exactly the same, just prettier.
Luckily, the lack of story changes doesn’t feel bad as the tale was interesting enough as is. In general, it is a reimagining of the historical events that directly led up to what is now known as the Meiji Restoration and it features fictionalized takes on real historic figures and moments, but all told with the usual Like a Dragon melodramatic flair. If you’re not used to it, some moments can be very frustrating as the characters often make decisions that in real life would feel really dumb, like this game’s Kiryu – Sakamoto Ryōma, who survives through the story just because he’s so honest and idealistic that people can’t help but admire him, even when they should probably kill him instead.
And also there are moments, especially the whole ending bit, that are very patriotic in their message to the future people of Japan to keep fighting for the better future, from the perspective of the characters of the era when Japan was on the verge of being colonized by western powers. It’s a bit awkward for me, but at the same time – this is a tale about an extremely important moment in Japanese history so I get where it’s coming from. Especially as a Ukrainian who at times caught myself thinking of direct historic parallels with our history and how we could probably make the game with at least a few similar messages that would feel important today.
Nonetheless, the story is good, the characters are fun, most of the gameplay is very good and is both fresh for the series and also pleasantly familiar. The way the leveling up works is really nice and feels surprisingly natural and not grindy. In fact, apart from a lot of the side content, most of the game is far less grindy than what Like a Dragon games from that period of the franchise were and the game is overall less tiring than Lost Judgment even. Plus, since it doesn’t have any connections to the other titles in the franchise, it’s easy to just go in with no extra knowledge and enjoy the game as is.
I liked Like a Dragon: Ishin! quite a bit, even if I did feel at times that maybe more things could’ve been remade to fit better with the quality of life features of more recent titles in the series. If you’re going in just for the main story, you’re going to have fun (unless, of course, you somehow hate Japanese history entirely). If you like to 100% these titles, it’s going to get a bit frustrating, but it’s not among the worst entries in that regard either. Honestly, though, I wish to see more Like a Dragon titles from older times, but no need to tie them so directly to real world events, they can happen in the background.