Eccentric Japanese RPG
Follow the story of Ichiban Kasuga, a man who has recently served 18 years as a fall guy for murder. After loyally doing his time, Ichiban (translated as ‘the best’) is thrown into a world that is unlike the home he used to know. His family has been destroyed. You’ll play his story as you help him take back his life and discover the truth behind what happened to his family.
The world
You’ll spend the bulk of your time in this 30-40 hour game, set in modern-day Tokyo, with a group of strangers and misfits. You’ll play alongside Adachi, a rogue cop. The game lets you fight bad guys such as Kiryu with Nanba, a homeless ex-nurse. You can explore the world with many others as you learn to become the hero that you’ve always wanted to be.
‘Like a Dragon’ is utterly different from the typical open-world Yakuza games; not only are you playing as a new character, but the combat system is entirely different. This game, published by SEGA, boasts turn-based combat, full of bizarre combat moves and animations.
The story and quests
Most of the game is spent exploring Yokohama and enjoying various fun quests. While your character is busy breaking the fourth-wall, learning how to speak to girls, and how to use the internet, you’ll find yourself engrossed in the depths of this world. You can enter almost any building as you enjoy different activities like arcade games and old-style arcade machines.
With English voice actors like George Takei from Star Trek, you’ll be assured of quality gaming content. You can also take part in several ‘jobs’, which are essentially a form of an RPG class system. From construction worker to musician, each unlocks different weapons and skills.
Rating and system requirements
This PC game, developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, is rated mature because of partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language, intense violence, and alcohol use. It has relatively high system requirements, at the very least an Intel Core i5-3470, 8 GB RAM, Nvidia Geforce GTX 660 2GB, and 40 GB of available hard drive space.
Our take
From an intriguing take on Mario Kart (‘Dragon Kart’) to the fact that this game is almost a complete laugh-a-minute, we can’t get enough. Like a Dragon is truly a gem of 2020’s game releases and one we would highly recommend that you play to completion.
Should you download it?
Yes, it’s tons of fun and definitely worth a playthrough or two.
