The 12 months has gotten off to a roaring begin for followers of sprawling, intricate role-playing video games. And one among our agency favorites is Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the ninth mainline installment of Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ long-running collection. In it, the sentient meme manufacturing facility Kazuma Kiryu groups up with the relentlessly upbeat Ichiban Kasuga to unravel a globe-spanning conspiracy that unites a Hawaiian cult, Ichiban’s long-lost mom, a vindictive V-Tuber, and the fractured remnants of Japan’s felony underworld.
Now that Infinite Wealth’s been out for a short while, Kotaku checked in with Chief Producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto to seek out out extra about some preliminary ideas that didn’t make the ultimate sport, the method of constructing an in-depth sim inside an RPG, and what’s subsequent for the collection as a complete.
Working class heroes
As was the case with 2020’s Yakuza: Like A Dragon, Infinite Wealth’s job system manages to be each hilarious and strategically rewarding. However despite the fact that Ichiban is a hardcore Dragon Quest fanboy, your occasion members don’t tackle conventional fantasy archetypes. As a substitute of knights and mages, Infinite Wealth’s jobs are largely pulled from the true world—assume surfer, chef, or dominatrix. However like Dragon Quest, these courses have distinctive strengths and weaknesses: pop idols dole out therapeutic and buffs, whereas surfers wield their longboards for crowd management and water-elemental injury. Swapping jobs can utterly alter a personality’s fight type, and every has distinctive animations and movesets. Every one of many 27 (!!!) distinctive job sorts ooze persona at each second, and it’s abundantly clear that a complete lot of labor went into creating each single one among them. Consider it or not, there have been plans for a number of extra jobs that didn’t make the ultimate reduce.
“I’ve to say, there are a lot of! Basketball gamers, couriers, and pest exterminators have been within the preliminary idea, however now we have omitted them in mild of the range on this work,” Sakamoto tells Kotaku. “The enemies are additionally fairly distinctive characters with many particulars and distinctive ideas, which was an enormous problem.”
With three intricate city environments to discover (Honolulu, Yokohama, and Kamurocho), you’ll by no means be wanting choices for issues to do in Infinite Wealth. However one of the vital compelling actions within the sport is definitely getting away from all of it. It wouldn’t be a Like A Dragon sport and not using a large, marquee minigame that you may dump a dozen hours into, like managing a cabaret membership or turning into a real-estate tycoon. Infinite Wealth’s reply to that’s the Animal Crossing-inspired resort builder, Dondoko Island (dondoko means “all-time low” in Japanese). However as a substitute of cutesy-poo dollhouses straight out of Sylvanian Households or Sanrio, you’re constructing karaoke bars, noodle retailers, and soaplands.
For Sakamoto and the remainder of the RGG staff, there was no room for half-measures or a dumbed-down expertise. The result’s a grippy-yet-chill resort administration sim that allows you to rework a dump right into a dream vacation spot, and its alluring siren music will name to you even after you’ve rolled credit on the principle story.
“We determined to go all out with Dondoko Island with out making any reductions to the idea of resort island builder and simulator. We really spent numerous time tuning it throughout its creation similar to including and subtracting parts, adjusting the stability, and so forth,” says Sakamoto. “By way of the quantity of labor that went into it, I personally assume it’s the better of the facet video games in the complete collection.”
Older and wiser
When you’re prepared to depart Dondoko and head again to civilization, you’ll discover a story with extra twists than a bucket of curly fries and loads of poignant moments. On the heart of all of it is Kiryu, the stoic protagonist of Yakuza 0-6, who finds himself at a significant crossroads. Not solely is he combating most cancers, however all his family members assume he’s useless, due to a Faustian cut price he made with a shadowy group generally known as the Daidoji Faction on the finish of Yakuza 6. Years later, he’s discovering he wants his family and friends simply as a lot as they wanted him. A lot of Infinite Wealth exhibits Kiryu studying to just accept assist—and ultimately, asking for it.
“In Yakuza 6, Kiryu made the momentous resolution to vanish from the general public eye as an agent. Up till now, Kiryu had chosen a lifestyle by which he was prepared to sacrifice himself for the sake of his household and associates. Nevertheless, he keenly realized that despite the fact that he had chosen such a lifestyle, his household and associates had at all times been his emotional assist,” Sakamoto elaborates. “Being sick throughout Yakuza: Like a Dragon brought about Kiryu to re-examine his life with out placing others earlier than him for the very first time, which in flip brought about him to vary his angle to actually face his household and associates otherwise.”
Towards the tip of Infinite Wealth, Kiryu says to one among his outdated adversaries, “Even when I’m not as robust as I as soon as was, I’m nonetheless me. And I’m beginning to assume that’s not so dangerous.” It’s a turning level for the character and the collection as a complete—he’s embracing a special type of future, fairly than operating from it. However on the similar time, he’s additionally passing the torch to Ichiban. So what does that imply for the inevitable subsequent installment of Like A Dragon? Sakamoto’s protecting that data near the chest for now, however it does appear sure that Ichiban will proceed to be the glad warrior, it doesn’t matter what comes his method.
“I consider that Ichiban has taken the teachings he discovered from his newest quest and continues to assist folks he meets within the ways in which he can,” says Sakamoto. “As for the Like a Dragon collection, we hope to proceed to shock and entertain you, so please keep tuned for what’s in retailer!”
Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is out now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
