At the beginning of the year, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth launched a hell of an opening salvo. The latest installment in the long-running Like a Dragon/Yakuza series is comically full of things to do. On one hand, it’s a turn-based RPG epic, splitting its narrative between two larger-than-life protagonists in entirely different settings complete with their own villains, party members, and side stories. On the other hand, it is more game than anybody could possibly need, housing several side activities, minigames, and at least two-full sized games within itself. If you’re a person whose chief concern about a game is getting the absolute most bang for your buck, there has rarely been a better game to pick up than Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which is now discounted at $US42 on both PlayStation and Steam.
At its core, Infinite Wealth is just massive. It follows both Kasuga Ichiban, who took over as the series’ de facto protagonist in 2020’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and the franchise’s longtime hero, Kazuma Kiryu. While they spend part of the game together, they largely lead their own stories, which finds the player splitting time between familiar settings like Kamurocho and Isezaki Ijincho and a brand new environment in Honolulu City in Hawaii. Though they aren’t all lent the same level of depth, that’s still three ridiculously layered maps for players to explore in one game.
Over the course of the several dozens of hours that players are bound to spend in Infinite Wealth, the characters run around town making banter, fighting gangsters and maybe even a few construction vehicles, and forging unbreakable bonds in the face of adversity in true Like a Dragon fashion. Along the way, they’ll level up and attain increasingly ridiculous jobs that modify their specialties, movesets, and equipment in battle. My version of Ichiban, for example, ended up as a Desperado, which satirizes the Hollywood western hero by equipping him with water guns. Fortunately, this made my Ichiban fantastic at dealing with large crowds of enemies, since he could spin around and launch volleys of water from his dual revolvers, as well as putting enemies to sleep. One of my party members, Chitose, bounced around collecting a slew of skills from a range of jobs before I finally settled on making her a Kunoichi.
It’s all absurd in the best way and rarely ever lets up. The narrative features a cult, an evil Vtuber who basically sentences Ichiban and his friends into exile, and at least one instance of men having a climactic fight with their shirts off. If a lengthy and deeply emotional (if wildly uneven) story isn’t what you’re here for, however, the fun carries over to Infinite Wealth’s side content. You can go perform karaoke, unlock hidden dialogues by dining at establishments around town, and take multiple “real” jobs that play out as minigames. Maybe you’ll come across a restaurant that desperately needs a waiter, forcing you to play a memorization game, or maybe you’ll encounter a movie director who hates CGI and demands you literally run through hellish oncoming traffic to get his perfect shot.
If those distractions sound too domestic or tame, Infinite Wealth also contains full games with their own mechanics and storylines, in keeping with the franchise’s time-honored traditions. Sujimon is Like A Dragon’s version of Pokémon, except you recruit thugs, career criminals, and all types of weirdos you run into on the street and have them fight in 3v3 battles complete with elemental weaknesses and super moves. When you aren’t collecting or battling with Sujimon, you can also escape to an abandoned resort island, take it over, and restore it to its former glory in an entire side game that plays like Animal Crossing for adults. You can customize the placement of businesses and build the island out however you want. Residents will be attracted to the island based on how posh or sleazy it is, and throughout their stay, you can maximize their enjoyment by giving them gifts that align with their personalities and taking out the trash pirates trying to keep their hold on the land.
I could keep going. There’s a procedurally generated underground dungeon in the center of the town to grind away at. There’s crafting in case you come to RPGs to unlock ultimate weapons to decimate foes with. By interacting with the party members while running around town and drinking with them, you can unlock their personal quests, which make them more effective in battle and deepens your understanding of them. There are also dozens of side stories and side activities that I haven’t called out, like a Pokémon Snap-style game in which you ride a trolley and take pictures of insanely buff men in diapers. There’s also, coincidentally, a side story featuring a recurring crew of buff men that absolutely made me tear up, because if there’s one thing Like a Dragon loves to do, it’s sucker punch its audience in the most surprising and baffling manners.
Infinite Wealth is a game for everyone. It’s the most game you’re going to play this year, and while there are tons of huge RPGs to play, I don’t think any of them are as routinely absurd and joyful as this one. Maybe pick up some of the older Yakuza games, too, just to get a handle on some of the characters and plotlines that are threaded throughout Infinite Wealth (especially Kiryu’s), but this game is an absolute time-suck and a steal at this price, so don’t sleep on it.
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