Like A Dragon: Ishin!

It used to simply be a fact of the video game industry that not every title would make it over from Japan. I would flip through the Game Players magazines or Next-Generation or what have you and oggle their import pages with simultaneous wonder and bafflement. There would be so many games that just never came to America for whatever reason with exotic and mystifying names that all followed patterns like “Go! Go! Hyperman Fight!” that were inscrutable in terms of determining how the game played but it certainly sounded fun as hell.

In modern days, most games come over, and the internet has demystified those that don’t so we can pretty quickly figure out why the Japan regional train management simulator that is storming the nation is not getting a U.S. release. One notable exception to this, however, has always been Ryu Ga Gotoko Ishin, a historical sidestory to the Yakuza — now Like A Dragon — series that uses familiar faces to essentially play the roles of Edo Period-Meiji Restoration figures.

It’s not that it was impossible to figure out why Ishin never graced U.S. shores. The main Yakuza series itself was essentially teetering on the edge of becoming Japan-exclusive, really only bailed out in ounces by Sony and in gallons by a major push for the English localization of Yakuza 0. That left the game between them, Ishin, stuck in an unenviable position, certainly being done no favors by being unrelentingly mired in Japanese history. It would be like selling a narrative drama about the Revolutionary War outside America and assuming that most who played it would have little idea who George Washington, the Minutemen, or the British were.

But times change and Yokoyama, the current head of the RGG Studio, had even said that games like Ghost of Tsushima were indicators that the climate was right to bring Ishin to the west. The only way to really do this was to remake the game, as the original release only saw PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions. Thus, in what might be the only example of a remake appearing on the same console the original game released on, Like a Dragon Ishin was born for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X|S, and PC, which brings us to today.

I had long heard that Ishin is truly special and that, had it only come out in English, would be praised as the highwater mark of the series for its fantastic story and gameplay. Obviously there had to be some hyperbole due to the alluring nature of the Japanese-only release, but I have been eager for years to find out how true that praise might be.

It’s not completely there, but Ishin is a strong title in the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series, with a few caveats that are sometimes easy to ignore and other times points of frustration.

Every localizer who sighed when I mentioned Ishin in an interview, explaining that the game is steeped in Japanese history that is not easy to explain, was completely correct. That shit is not easy to explain. Ishin even has glossary terms for you to get historical context during dialogue, which will absolutely compromise the dramatic pacing of a scene but sometimes you once again need an explanation of what the Bakufu are despite understanding it a few hours prior. This doesn’t hurt the story, which is still well-told and compelling, but does add a bit of distance that might be too much for players that already struggle to keep up with the twists and turns of a Like A Dragon story.

Battles are the beat-em-up gameplay from titles pre-dating the now-confusingly named Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which switched to a turn-based RPG. In Ishin, protagonist Ryoma has a sword, a sidearm, and his trusty fists to guide him through battle. In one style, he combines the sword and firearm to spin like a top while firing and slashing. In terms of utility, nothing’s really as effective as just using your katana and you really only switch to other styles because you want to rather than you must. Other styles start feeling better and more fun to use as you progress down their skill trees, but it’s easy to see how they crossed the distance from this game to Yakuza 0 later.

The main story’s quest design feels as archaic as the game’s period setting at times. If you simply want to follow the main quest, which on occasion impresses on you an urgent need to warn a character or to confront the next villain, it is absolutely bonkers how often it just pinballs protagonist Ryoma from one end of the city to the other. For literal chapters, you go from Teradaya — the boarding house where Ryoma lives — and the Shinsengumi headquarters at the far end of Kyo. Back and forth. Over and over. It clearly wants you to do other things in the city, to fight scattered bandits, to come across subquests, but if I had hair I would have been tearing it out the sixth or seventh time the game told me to go back to Teradaya after having just left from there to go to the headquarters once again.

I’d also be remiss if I did not mention that this has been the glitchiest title in the series I have ever played. Perhaps it is the change from the Dragon Engine over to Unreal, but there were multiple problems during the review period with UI elements not appearing, battles not starting for 10-15 seconds after the trigger, or people in town literally disappearing into the ground. I am told there is a day-one patch, but I have no idea what it fixes. Hopefully a number of these things get addressed. None are game-breaking, but they’re a step down for a series that has traditionally avoided these immersion-breaking glitches and inconveniences.

Despite these complaints, man, nothing hits quite like a Like A Dragon story. As annoyed as I might get with the path leading up there, experiencing Ryoma stubbornly pushing through obstacles and in a Forest Gump-kinda way find himself standing in the gaze of history is powerful. The sidestories are charming, though decidedly gaunt compared to Yakuza 0, and will sometimes unexpectedly pull on heartstrings you did not realize you had for a small 19th century Japanese child who regrets yelling at his friend for moving away.

There’s no other game series where I can put down my controller, bring my hand to my chin, and feel glued to my TV as I watch two characters converse in a hotel room, then immediately fight that person in a sword fight to the death, summon the wrestler Kenny Omega’s essence into a whirlwind sword hit, and then do a QTE where I kick their sword back at them to win the fight. The extent to which Ishin exemplifies what is great about Like A Dragon reminds you that no other games get it quite this right even when it provides friction along the way.

I fell in love with the series with Yakuza 0 but have been playing these games for quite a while before that and Ishin does not radically alter my hierarchy of favorites. I do wonder if time and distance will amplify the aspects of Ishin that left me cold or if all I will remember are the things I loved about it, but fresh off the experience, I can recommend it for fans of the series or fans of samurai drama and Yakuza 0 for everyone else.

7/10