After Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio overhauled the series’ formula with Yakuza: Like a Dragon by giving us an open world, turn-based JRPG with a new protagonist in a new location, Like a Dragon: Ishin would appear to be the next logical step forward. After all, it takes the subtitle of the previous game (a literal translation of its Japanese title), gives us another different location, and, like an increasing number of games from Japanese developers, swaps out its proprietary Dragon Engine for Unreal. In practice, though, it’s actually a case of looking back and fulfilling a near-decade long request from fans in the West.
Set during the turbulent Bakumatsu period in 1860s Japan, in the twilight of the ruling Shogunate, Ishin first released on PS3 and PS4 in 2014 but, thanks to the series’ niche status and the idiosyncrasies of the period, had always been deemed unlikely to ever be localised for audiences outside of Japan. Yet if there was ever a samurai game that would connect with Western audiences, surely it would be one set in a period when Japan began trading with Western nations and ending its long period of self-isolation.
For newcomers, this is also as good an entry point as Yakuza 0, despite being located in 19th century Kyoto (then known as Kyo) rather than the usual urban grit of contemporary Tokyo. That’s largely because all the series’ characters are still here, only with different names, essentially playing different roles in a costume drama, so you don’t need to be familiar with their history.
