Yakuza: Like a Dragon

🔥 What is Yakuza: Like a Dragon for PC

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an ambitious reimagining of SEGA’s long-running crime saga, developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. Released for PC and modern consoles, the game marks a dramatic shift for the series by replacing its traditional beat-em up combat with a fully turn-based RPG system. It’s both a bold experiment and a heartfelt love letter to fans, embracing the chaotic energy of its predecessors while reinventing its identity for a new protagonist and a new era.

Set in the gritty yet vibrant streets of Yokohama, the story follows Ichiban Kasuga, a low-ranking yakuza who takes the fall for a crime he didn’t commit. After spending eighteen years in prison, he emerges to find his clan dissolved, his former boss betraying him, and a world that’s moved on without him. What begins as a revenge story quickly evolves into a heartfelt tale of friendship, redemption, and survival at society’s margins.

Like previous Yakuza titles, the game combines high-stakes drama with absurd humor, weaving together moments of emotional weight and gleeful absurdity. However, by framing it as a traditional RPG filled with classes, levels, and turn-based battles, Yakuza: Like a Dragon manages to be both deeply familiar and strikingly new at the same time.

👉 Features of Yakuza: Like a Dragon

A New Hero for a New Era

Ichiban Kasuga isn’t just a protagonist; he’s a walking contradiction a naive dreamer raised in a brutal underworld. His optimism and loyalty contrast sharply with the cynicism that defines the Yakuza world. This emotional core anchors the story, giving it warmth and unpredictability. Players who were used to Kazuma Kiryu’s stoic demeanor will find Kasuga’s enthusiasm infectious and disarming in equal measure.

His love for classic JRPGs directly influences the game’s mechanics, reimagining street fights as over the top, turn-based fantasy battles inside his own head. This meta-narrative choice ties gameplay to character psychology in a way rarely seen in action-RPG hybrids.

Turn-Based RPG Combat

In one of the most daring shifts in modern franchise history, Like a Dragon trades its brawler combat for a fully turn-based RPG system. Each ally represents a “job class,” such as musician, bodyguard, or chef, with unique skills and flashy special attacks. Positioning and environmental interaction add tactical layers, allowing players to exploit objects in the environment for bonus effects or damage.

Despite its comical presentation summoning pigeons to attack enemies or hurling flaming whiskey bottles the system remains surprisingly deep. Strategic buffs, timing-based abilities, and synergy between party members make every fight unpredictable, and even mundane street brawls feel theatrical.

A Rich, Living Yokohama

The new setting of Isezaki Ijincho, modeled after Yokohama, is the largest and most detailed city ever created in the series. Its colorful districts, neon-lit streets, and hidden alleyways make exploration endlessly rewarding. Players can find everything from karaoke bars and arcades to quirky sub-stories involving lost cats, haunted apartments, and jobless eccentrics.

Every corner of Yokohama feels alive. NPCs react dynamically, side missions intersect in surprising ways, and the city’s economy invites constant engagement through minigames, crafting, and part-time work systems. This density of content transforms Yokohama into more than a backdrop it becomes a living organism filled with opportunity and chaos.

Absurd Humor and Emotional Storytelling

Yakuza: Like a Dragon thrives on tonal contrast. One minute, you’re helping a man who lost his pants to a gang of perverts, and the next, you’re uncovering a political conspiracy that threatens the city’s balance of power. This mixture of absurdity and heartfelt storytelling creates a rhythm that keeps players emotionally invested, even during its strangest detours.

The game balances melodrama and humor better than ever before, never mocking its characters’ sincerity even as it embraces the ridiculousness of their world. That balance, arguably, is the secret to its charm it can make you laugh and tear up within the same questline.

Extensive Side Content

True to Yakuza tradition, Like a Dragon is overflowing with optional content. From kart racing in “Dragon Kart” to running your own company in a full-fledged business management simulator, the game constantly tempts you with distractions that somehow feel essential. Each activity offers tangible rewards, progression, and lighthearted storytelling that ties back into the main plot in unexpected ways.

Substories, often comedic or bizarre, reveal slices of humanity that define the series’ tone. Even the strangest quests like befriending a crawfish or helping a dominatrix with confidence issues contribute to the overarching theme of finding dignity in an undignified world.

Gameplay

Strategic RPG Mechanics

The turn-based combat system, inspired by Ichiban’s love of classic JRPGs, transforms street fights into colorful, cinematic battles. Characters gain experience, level up, and unlock new “jobs” that function like traditional RPG classes. The variety of abilities ensures constant tactical depth, with some skills emphasizing crowd control while others focus on elemental damage or healing.

Every battle feels theatrical because of the mix of realistic environments and absurd attacks imagine hurling bicycles, calling in a crawfish airstrike, or summoning a storm of pigeons. This playful tone doesn’t detract from the depth; rather, it makes combat feel unique in every encounter.

Exploration and City Life

Exploring Ijincho is both a strategic and emotional experience. Players can freely roam its dense urban sprawl, encountering shops, restaurants, and arcades that all serve gameplay functions. Eating together at diners builds team chemistry, mini-games boost stats, and jobs provide income.

The city’s day-night cycle and event variety make Yokohama feel like a real place with shifting moods. Even mundane activities, such as collecting cans for recycling, are elevated into full mini-games with satisfying progression systems and humor that softens the heavier story moments.

Companionship and Party Dynamics

Relationships drive the gameplay as much as combat does. Building bonds with teammates unlocks new skills and passive boosts, but also deepens emotional connections through personal storylines. Every companion whether it’s a disgraced cop, an ex-nurse, or a homeless ex-detective brings their own baggage and heart to the group.

These social interactions are framed through “Drink Links,” conversational moments at bars where you learn about your allies’ fears, hopes, and regrets. Strengthening these links mirrors the emotional tone of the game: flawed people finding family in unexpected places.

Graphics

Vibrant Urban Aesthetic

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is striking for its mix of realism and stylization. The city glows with neon reflections and dense textures, creating an immersive playground filled with detail. Streets glisten after rain, and shop signs hum with fluorescent warmth. The sheer variety of lighting effects adds depth to every district, ensuring no area feels static or lifeless.

Character models are expressive, with attention to subtle gestures and facial nuances that make conversations feel grounded. Cinematics are shot with cinematic framing and motion capture that heightens both emotional and comedic beats.

Animation and Presentation

Combat animations are spectacularly exaggerated, blending realistic movements with cartoonish fantasy. Special attacks fill the screen with effects, while transition sequences highlight the absurd creativity of each “job.” The combination of stylized exaggeration and grounded urban grit gives the game a distinctive personality unmatched in other RPGs.

Cutscenes, meanwhile, retain the series’ signature dramatic flair. Long conversations are treated like soap operas in tone and pacing, but the updated camera work and lighting make them feel more like prestige TV drama than simple exposition.

Pros and Cons

✔️ Pros

• Bold reinvention of the Yakuza formula with a fully realized turn-based RPG system
• Deep and emotional storytelling grounded in a likable, flawed protagonist
• Massive open city filled with life, humor, and countless side activities
• Unique blend of melodrama and absurd comedy that keeps tone dynamic
• Excellent voice acting and cinematic presentation enhancing immersion

❌ Cons

• Early pacing can feel slow due to lengthy cutscenes and tutorials
• Some side content overstays its welcome or repeats familiar patterns
• Occasional camera and pathfinding quirks in tight spaces
• Grinding may be necessary in later chapters for tougher bosses