Like a Dragon: Ishin! Review Summary

Excellent Spin-off Experience: The game is widely regarded as a successful and enjoyable spin-off, offering a fresh take on the familiar Yakuza formula. Players appreciate its unique historical setting while retaining the core charm, humor, and engaging side content of the main series.

Engaging Story & Narrative: Players consistently praise the game's story for being captivating, well-paced, and full of intriguing twists and turns. Many found the plot to be on par with the best in the series, with strong character development and emotional depth.

Unique Samurai Setting: The feudal Japan setting, particularly the Bakumatsu period and Shinsengumi elements, is a major highlight. Players love the blend of historical drama with Yakuza-style action, finding it immersive and a refreshing change of pace.

Overall Engaging Gameplay: Beyond specific features, players find the overall gameplay experience to be highly engaging and satisfying. The game successfully combines its various elements—story, combat, and side activities—into a cohesive and enjoyable package.

Rich Side Content & Mini-games: The game offers a wealth of enjoyable side quests and mini-games, ranging from humorous diversions to engaging activities like farming and fishing. This content adds significant replay value and enriches the overall game world.

Outdated & Clunky Core Gameplay: Players widely criticize the game's core mechanics, including controls, combat, and overall gameplay feel, as stiff, clunky, and outdated for a modern release. Many feel it's a significant step back from previous titles in the series, leading to a frustrating and unenjoyable experience.

Excessive & Repetitive Grinding: A major point of contention is the pervasive and often meaningless grind required for progression, upgrades, and 100% completion. This includes leveling, crafting, money earning, and side activities, which many players find tedious, boring, and artificially extended.

Weak & Repetitive Side Content: The side quests, mini-games, and other secondary content are frequently described as boring, repetitive, and uninspired. They often interrupt the main story, lack meaningful rewards, and contribute to the overall grind, failing to meet the high standards set by other games in the series.

Inferior to Other Yakuza Titles: A recurring sentiment is that the game falls short when compared to other entries in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, particularly Yakuza 0. Players highlight inferior combat, story, mini-games, and overall gameplay experience, suggesting it's one of the weakest titles in the franchise.

Unbalanced & Frustrating Combat Styles: The combat system is heavily criticized for its poor balance, with several fighting styles (especially Brawler) being deemed largely useless due to low damage output and ineffectiveness against armed enemies. This forces players into specific styles, limiting variety and making combat feel repetitive and unsatisfying.

Diverse Combat Styles: The game features a robust combat system with four distinct fighting styles: Swordsman, Gunman, Brawler, and Wild Dancer (combining sword and gun). Players can switch between these styles, each with its own skill tree and unique moves, adding strategic depth to battles. The system is reminiscent of earlier Yakuza titles like Zero and Kiwami.

Historical Yakuza Spin-off: This title is a historical spin-off of the Yakuza series, set in Japan's Bakumatsu era (1860s) during the Meiji Restoration. It features familiar Yakuza characters portraying real historical figures, most notably Kazuma Kiryu as Sakamoto Ryoma, offering an alternate history narrative with a classic Yakuza feel.

Trooper Card System: A unique 'Trooper Card' mechanic allows players to recruit historical figures as cards, which provide passive stat boosts and active abilities during combat. This system can be expanded for strategic depth or ignored for a higher difficulty, and it integrates with the game's progression and gacha-like elements.

Remake of Japanese Exclusive: This game is a remake/remaster of 'Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin!', originally released in 2014 exclusively in Japan for PS3/PS4. The current version features improved graphics, translation, and additional content, utilizing the Unreal Engine.

Adjustable Difficulty: The game offers adjustable difficulty settings, including a 'Legend' difficulty for a greater challenge. While some found the game easy even on higher settings, others noted a significant spike in enemy damage on Legend, particularly in later chapters.

Generally good PC optimization: Many players report decent PC optimization, with the game running well on various handhelds like Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go, often achieving smooth frame rates. The PC version is also noted to be smoother and visually superior to its console counterpart.

Inconsistent graphics quality: Player opinions on graphics are mixed. Some find them great, while others describe them as mediocre or poor for a remake, sometimes resembling older titles with mods. There's a general sentiment that while upgraded, the visuals aren't consistently impressive.

Cutscene frame rate limitations: A significant number of players are bothered by cutscenes and certain rhythm game sections being capped at 30 frames per second. While a patch exists to uncap this limit, it's a common point of frustration.

Unreal Engine implementation: The game's use of Unreal Engine 4 is frequently mentioned, with some players praising its contribution to improved shadows and lighting compared to other releases. This indicates a positive reception for the engine choice.

DX12 stability issues: Players report severe crashing issues specifically when using DirectX 12. Switching to DirectX 11 is a common workaround that resolves these crashes and can also mitigate stuttering problems.

Best for Yakuza/RGG fans: The game is highly recommended for existing fans of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, especially those who enjoy Japanese history or samurai themes. Many suggest it's a must-play for series completionists or those seeking more content after playing other titles. However, it is generally not recommended as a starting point for newcomers.

Consider other games first: Many players recommend trying other Yakuza titles like Yakuza 0 or the Judgment series before playing Ishin. Some even suggest skipping Ishin entirely in favor of other entries or waiting for future releases like 'Rise of the Ronin' or 'Gaiden'.

Mixed reception, average rating: Player opinions on the game's overall quality are divided, with ratings ranging from highly positive to strongly negative. While some consider it a masterpiece or a solid entry, others find it disappointing or not worth playing. The average sentiment leans towards a decent but flawed game, often rated around 7-8 out of 10.

Wait for a deep sale: A significant number of players advise against buying the game at full price, recommending to wait for a substantial discount (often 50% off or more). Many feel the game's value is only justified when purchased on sale, especially for those primarily interested in the story or who are not hardcore fans.

Issues need fixing: Some players note that the game has various issues, including combat system refinement and locked 30FPS cutscenes, which prevent them from fully recommending it until these problems are addressed by the developers.

Familiar Yakuza Characters in New Roles: The game features an extensive cast of characters from previous Yakuza titles, reimagined in new roles within a historical setting. This provides significant fan service for long-time players, though some new players might not fully appreciate the character connections.

Historical Narrative Liberties: The game's story, while set in a historical period and featuring real figures like Sakamoto Ryoma, takes significant creative liberties. This results in a fictionalized narrative that deviates from strict historical accuracy, which some players found confusing or overly dramatic.

Remake/Remaster Identity: Players perceive the game as a blend of a remake and a remaster of the original 2014 Japanese-exclusive title. There's discussion about the extent of graphical updates and the transition to Unreal Engine 4, which some found controversial.

Character Recasting Concerns: Some players noted that certain original actors were replaced in the remake, leading to questions about the reasons behind these changes and how they impact the plot or character allegiances.

Desire for Kenzan Remake: A small but vocal group of players expressed a strong desire for a remake or remaster of Yakuza Kenzan! on modern platforms, indicating a broader interest in historical Yakuza spin-offs.