Few phrases in video video games ship chills down one’s backbone like, “It gets good after eight hours.” With that a lot time, you would beat Bowser in Tremendous Mario Bros. Marvel, watch most of The Bear, or learn The Nice Gatsby — twice. It must be no shock, then, that these six merciless phrases cling like an albatross across the necks of numerous role-playing video games accumulating mud in my backlog.
So, pricey reader, contemplate what I say equal components warning, menace, and dare. But I need to confess that Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will get good after eight hours. And in that lengthy, cutscene-heavy intro, it’s doing one thing that’s charming in its personal, not-very-game-like method.
The Yakuza sequence — of which Infinite Wealth is the newest entry, regardless of a complicated identify change — has a repute for gradual begins during which the story drifts from one expository cutscene to the subsequent, step by step setting the stakes of a melodramatic plot about bureaucratic negligence, post-incarceration societal reacclimation, or the delicate formation of a discovered household. But no prior entry has requested a lot of the participant so early.
The opening of Infinite Wealth isn’t a dangerous online game; it’s an entertaining TV present. The plot strikes at a popcorn tempo, deftly introducing lovable characters and a catchy hook: Our hero Ichiban, having simply misplaced his job and spoiled any romantic hopes along with his longtime crush, takes a journey to Hawaii to discover his mom, whom he’s by no means met. But when he arrives, he will get drugged, jailed, and stripped of his belongings (fairly actually!) whereas studying he’s not the one particular person searching for candy mother.
A quest to kill the dragon, defeat the crime lord, or save the world this isn’t. The premise is ripe with human drama and developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio is recreation to juice it for each emotional flip, in order that when management shifts to the participant, we don’t similar to these characters — we love them. We’re, within the conventional sense, invested.
I recognize how this occurred, step by step decreasing the viewer into an ocean of backstory. That is the eighth mainline entry within the sequence, the primary primarily set outdoors Japan, and it options two protagonists and sufficient supporting characters to fill each position in a marching band. As if to elevate the diploma of storytelling issue to its highest level, the sport’s creators deal with Infinite Wealth as an entry level, offering sufficient context to make even probably the most exhaustive YouTube story recapper suppose, “This could probably be shorter.”
Picture: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio/Sega
Not one of the earlier Yakuza video games are as grand as Infinite Wealth, a role-playing recreation that features, inside it, a fleshed-out parody of Loopy Taxi, a muscular Pokémon knockoff, and an asynchronous multiplayer riff on Animal Crossing that, by itself, may devour your free time for the remainder of the month. After which there’s the lion’s share of the particular recreation: an operatic and campy worldwide journey.
And what a candy story it is. At Polygon, my colleagues who’ve performed the sport appear to be cut up on which of the 2 heroes — longtime stoic icon Kiryu or Dragon Quest-obsessed Ichiban — they like. Each wrestle with household, mortality, friendship, and love, the stuff everybody can relate to. Intelligent writing has lengthy been a power of the sequence, which takes the Quick and the Livid method of 1 ultra-lovable hero step by step turning each enemy into an ally, dismantling prison superstructures by beginning with petty thieves and ending as excessive as… properly, I stated no spoilers.
That is why, for me, I’m keen to say these wretched phrases. The Discord-era equal of “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” The sport will get good after eight hours.
As a result of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth does change into a good online game after eight hours. But it’s one thing particular lengthy earlier than then. Possibly that’s why I really feel comfy recommending Infinite Wealth. You received’t be struggling for the previous eight hours, but somewhat, partaking in one thing that blends TV, movie, and video games collectively — switching to probably the most flattering medium for any given state of affairs.
In case you’re nonetheless a little afraid, my gaming mates, I ought to make clear that you’ll play the sport, at factors, throughout the first eight hours. You’ll get into some scraps and avenue fights, sing karaoke, and enter an arcade containing a absolutely playable Sega Bass Fishing. The truth is, the primary hour or so retains the management within the gamers’ palms for a minimum of half the time. Which, hey, it’s a begin!
But it’s worth setting expectations and being trustworthy: I feel it’s greatest to method this chunk figuring out you received’t want to maintain a controller for a lot of it. That you would be able to take pleasure in it throughout a lunch break, or with a very giant bowl of popcorn after work.
Possibly this implies I ought to study from this lesson, and dirt off the backlog of RPGs of us had beneficial to me with the identical caveat? We’ll see. I’ve one other 40 hours to sink into this one — and I’m already previous the robust half.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth releases on Jan. 26 on Home windows PC, Xbox Sequence X, and PlayStation 5. The sport was examined on PC utilizing a pre-realse obtain code supplied by Sega. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These don’t affect editorial content material, although Vox Media might earn commissions for merchandise bought through affiliate hyperlinks. You will discover extra details about Polygon’s ethics coverage right here.
