Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – PS5

Introduction

Following on from the fantastically bizarre Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth continues the story of Ichiban Kasuga and his friends, as well as Kazama Kiryu who is the main protagonist of the Yakuza series. Infinite Wealth is a brilliant example of a sequel, building upon the mechanics and characters from the first game while staying true to the original. There are some minor early game spoilers and some for the first Like a Dragon game ahead.

Aloha!

Infinite Wealth picks up where the previous title left off, with Kasuga doing his best to help former yakuza reintegrate into society after the events of the previous game. Sadly his efforts are stopped when he and his friends lose their jobs and this leads them to head to the Seiryu Clan HQ to find the truth behind this. Here they meet the new captain of the clan and Jo Sawashiro, Kasuga’s former family captain, who entreats Kasuga to travel to Hawaii to meet with Akane, his mother. Whilst there, Kasuga joins forces with Kiryu to overcome the problems that arise to stop him from meeting with Akane.

I always find the Like a Dragon games to have really engaging plots, even with their tendency to be a bit slow to get going and to use some recurring tropes. Taking the series out of Japan and to Hawaii is a brilliant move and the new environment gives rise to new enemy factions to stand against Kasuga and his friends. Parts of the game tend to focus more on Kiryu and reminisce on the events of previous entries in the series and I found these to be really nice extra touches, though naturally they will mean more to people who have played those older titles. There are some story sections that tend to drag on a little at points but the overall story is more than compelling enough to keep you interested.

A Wild Yakuza Appeared!

Infinite Wealth brings back the turn-based RPG gameplay that was introduced in Yakuza: Like a Dragon and it builds upon this system in a number of ways. The general mechanics remain the same, each of your characters have a job class that gives them access to skills and you use timed button presses to increase your skill damage and reduce the damage they take from enemies. There are a number of brilliant quality of life improvements added to this gameplay loop; I absolutely love the addition of free movement for the characters to let you angle the perfect knockback into other enemies or your allies for a bonus attack. They have also added the ability to inherit skills from other jobs as a reward for increasing your bonds with your allies and this made me feel that experimenting with jobs became more satisfying than the first game. This also contributes to making the game seem less punishing in the later stages than the original as you are no longer relying on the idol job to provide healing in those tricky boss encounters.

Speaking of jobs, Infinite Wealth adds a selection of new jobs alongside the returning ones. I found these new jobs to be really quite varied and enjoyed testing out each of them. Some of my favourites include the samurai, desperado, and kunoichi (a high agility ninja) but I found it worth switching between these semi-frequently to make sure every party member got more skills to choose from. After investing some time in a job, you unlock some special moves just like in the first game known as ‘Essence of’ moves. Honestly it was worth levelling up each job just to see these bonkers super moves! I highly recommend focusing on character’s exclusive jobs as these often were the most unhinged – from frying up enemies in a huge wok to using a steering wheel as a deadly weapon. It takes a fair few story chapters before you gain the ability to switch up jobs but I think this is primarily to give each party member a good baseline of skills before you start to experiment more freely.

Infinite Distractions

This will be no surprise to anyone who has played any Yakuza or Like a Dragon games but Infinite Wealth is absolutely packed with side content that feeds into the RPG gameplay, lining your pockets with money, upgrade materials, and equipment. Naturally you have your standard style side quests, although the context of these is often far from standard. During my first hours in Hawaii, I had already been a stunt double for a director who loves practical effects a little too much, became an impromptu waiter, and helped an inventor prove his ‘street surfers’ are safe to use.

Minigames are a stable of the series and I found the offerings here to be some of the most entertaining so far. The big ones for this entry are the Sujimon battles and Dondoko Island, both interesting twists on Pokémon and Animal Crossing respectively. The previous game referred to the enemies you fought as Sujimon and tracked them in a Sujidex, a fun way of documenting the weird array of people you fight throughout the game. This time you can collect Sujimon by spending gatcha tickets, and after beating them in raid battles and enticing them with gift boxes so that you can build a team to challenge the league. This sounds (and is) mad but I honestly found it oddly compelling to collect more weirdos and combine them into new types. Dondoko Island is unlocked further into the game and sees Kasuga helping a failing resort island that is plagued by pirates dumping trash on their island, costing them all their business. Kasuga can roam the island, gathering materials, repelling pirates, and crafting new items (and buildings!) to help them get their resort ratings back and start having guests again. This minigame is more involved than Sujimon and again I found it really addictive – this could easily be a game in itself in my opinion. You can travel between the island and Hawaii so it is perfect as a bit of a palate cleanser from the main game and the money earned here is very useful for equipping your party.

Essence of Hawaii

As mentioned earlier, the new setting of Hawaii is such a breath of fresh air to the series. Don’t get me wrong, I love returning to Kamurocho and Ijincho but Hawaii has so much more colour and open space. You can even go swimming in the ocean which is something you would not want to do in the horribly polluted Ijincho river! I did find myself getting nostalgic for the old cities whenever I travelled to them later in the story however.

It is also worth mentioning how varied the soundtrack is in Infinite Wealth. There is once again a bunch of battle and boss tracks depending on the city and area which I always appreciate. The general battle theme for Hawaii is brilliant and there are a bunch of returning and new karaoke tracks for you to enjoy at the bar. There is also a new playlist function where you can make mini playlists from collectible CDs so you can have some ambient tracks while you explore Hawaii. The series always seems to have little bonus tracks for certain menus which also go harder than they need to – I absolutely love the job selection track!

Conclusion

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a fantastic JRPG sequel which builds upon the original’s story, gameplay, and spectacle. There is a near-infinite wealth of side content to really get stuck into alongside the polished turn-based combat and the plot – while a little slow in places – is entertaining with the array of twists and set pieces that you would expect from a Yakuza title. If you have played the first game or just like a RPG that will keep you guessing and laughing, then you have to try Infinite Wealth.