4.5/5 ★ – gang_of_kites's review of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

🕰 300+ hour later: This game’s original title is LIKE A DRAGON 7: WHEREABOUTS OF LIGHT & DARKNESS. The poetic subtitle was lost in translation. The dualities of life are explored with a heartfelt story of starting over in life, when everyone has counted you out. Especially at the start, long cinematic segments feel like you’re watching a show. I found that its mix of being a adult-themed Japanese Netflix drama/comedy, comedic combat, and the cities (arguably, the cities, and the people you meet in them, are the main characters to many longtime fans of the Yakuza series). As someone not isn’t very into brawler combat in the games I play, I absolutely loved this game’s game mechanics. I hope the combat in the sequel will reward strategic use of status effects more than they were implemented here (I played with Normal difficulty; perhaps status effects are more useful in Hard mode). I played this on PS4PRO and load times are my biggest complaint. Getting better at the MarioKart-esque minigame was more arduous with load times between every race. I played Disco Elysium: The Final Cut before this—Yakuza7’s load times are short by comparison. So I recommend playing this after completing a playthrough of an even slower game lol. I think I completed the main story in 60-70 hours. It’s one of my cozy games. Sometimes I want to play this game just to wander the streets. I’m still finding new things. Like many people, I’m hoping I won’t love Yakuza8 any less. No new games have been released by Ryū ga Gotoku Sutajio (Like A Dragon Studio, named such since Yakuza5) since the head of the studio has left Sega, after 30 years with the company, to pursue other creative opportunities. Another thing that makes Yakuza7 special to me is that it’s one of games full of representation of various subcultures: sports fans, activists, otaku, hip hop musicians, lgbtq people, pimps, loan sharks, drunks, homeless, the eccentric NPCs. Losing what—to me—is a holistic approach to building a inclusive version of the real world—to parody and critique—would be a great loss to this gamer. I assume that Toshihiro Nagoshi had much to do with bringing that vision to life in video games, and I deeply hope that that aspect of the Yakuza series is not lost in the transitions Like A Dragon Studio have and will be making into the future. P.S.: rating this game 4.5/5 does *not* mean that I’ve played a game that I enjoyed more than this game