Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Sprawling, enthralling, and packed with dynamic brawling, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth isn’t just the best turn-based Like a Dragon game, it’s one of the greatest games in the entire series.

In one of the final moments of Infinite Wealth, one of the characters falls exhausted into the street, beaten down by everything that just came before. As he does so, he looks satisfied and happy, even though arguably nothing is going right for him at that moment. In a lot of ways, I felt the exact same by the end of the game. I was tired. And yet, I was also ready to see what this crew would get up to next.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth just feels like a lot. A lot of stories, contained and meandering. A lot of names to learn. A lot of people to punch. But ultimately, it's a lot to smile about. Because while Infinite Wealth sometimes drops the ball when juggling so many threads, characters, and just-about-logical plot twists, it is undeniably still another endlessly endearing crime epic.

Stuffed with content and pathos, Infinite Wealth delivers a near-excessive amount of urban crime-drama adventure.

The mini-games, too, are once again fantastic. This time around, the game doesn’t linger too long on the karaoke or the emulated Sega arcade games that are of course part of the experience as usual – instead you can earn your keep as a delivery driver who gets tips for stunts, try your hand at a dating app, make criminals fight each other like Pokémon or spend hours playing a riff of Animal Crossing: New Horizons that lets you decorate an island with rusty bicycles and cabaret clubs.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth builds on its predecessor's ideas, delivering turn-based combat and a gripping and lengthy narrative led by Ichiban Kasuga. However, the story also brings back Kazuma as a protagonist and introduces a new location in Hawaii, which is a significant departure from the franchise's previous games.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a sublime RPG with a fantastic combat system, absorbing stories, and at-times fascinating story, if it wasn't let down by its drip-fed narrative nature and heavy nostalgic leanings.

After sinking over fifty hours into Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth to get to the story’s end, the game is an easy recommendation. The story is over-the-top bananas in the best way possible, and the twists and turns are definitely gasp-worthy. The fresh faces do a great job cementing themselves as new favourites, and the addition of Hawaii makes for a great setting change.