It works on a deeper level when you remember that this series is a homage to yakuza cinema, and in the history of yakuza cinema, it has often been thematically associated with samurai films (I did a video on that subject, which you can watch here). It was like these characters were actors in an NHK historical drama, and as meta as that is, it is quite appropriate for a series that has always been almost too clever for its own good. But the deeper I got into the game the more I appreciated the performative nature of it. It was too distracting from the historical fiction I was trying to immerse myself within. Our review of Lost Judgment.Īdmittedly at first, I didn’t like the dissonance I was feeling. Related reading: Another Yakuza spinoff that is a must-play is the Judgment series. Goro Majima was a particularly different character to see as anyone other than the wild yakuza, Goro Majima, too. I felt cognitive dissonance seeing Haruka in a traditional kimono rather than her school uniform (and then, later, pop idol gear). As I joked above, I really did have difficulty visualising the protagonist as Sakamoto rather than Kiryu. I did find it surprisingly difficult to get past the use of th e characters from the Yakuza series at first, though. While the story is fictitious, the names and several key events are not, and unlike a certain other game set in Japanese history, the Ryu Ga Gotoku team actually know how to do a fictional story while remaining authentic to the real history. Indeed, if you’re paying attention you’ll probably learn bits and pieces about the era while you’re at it. Just like the brilliant Yakuza 0 took full advantage of the 80s era to craft something distinctive, so too does this game. The only real difference is the historical period that it takes place in, and the freedom that setting gave the developers to share some new stories. Sakamoto didn’t get to identify the assassin on the night of the attack, though, so he joins the Shinsengumi to get his detective on.įrom there the plot twists and turns in a way that only the Yakuza series can achieve, and it is very much the digital equivalent of a page-turner. Sakamoto knows it must have been one of the group, because the fighting style of the assassin is only performed by the Shinsengumi. See, in Ishin, someone in the Shinsengumi murdered Sakamoto’s father in the Tosa domain. In this game, he is also working against them, but he does so by infiltrating them and becoming one of the leaders of the group. The real Sakamoto worked against the Shogun and was actively hunted by the Shinsengumi. You play as Kiryu, sorry, Sakamoto Ryōma, who was a real historical figure, but this particular take on his story is fictional. This is the group that sits at the core of the story in Like A Dragon: Ishin. They had a fearsome reputation and fought with distinction in several battles of the era. They were formed in Kyoto to protect the interests of the Shogun, and were, effectively, a military police force. The Shinsengumi was one of the most powerful antagonists of the era. There were outright rebellions, a lot of xenophobia and racism towards foreigners that travelled to now-accessible Japan, and plenty of plots to overthrow the government. They aligned themselves behind the Shogun (the de facto ruler of Japan prior to Perry’s arrival, but largely powerless as Japan adopted western political ideology), and tended to get very violent about it. However, for all that progress there was also a strong traditionalist and nationalist undercurrent in Japanese culture, and that group didn’t like change at all. Realising that they were a candidate for European or American colonisation, Japan kicked into overdrive to modernise to the point that the white folk wouldn’t try calling them “barbarians that need civilizing.” Japan had previously been isolationist in nature, but America showed up, and demanded the country open its borders on the threat of invasion and annihilation (this is an aside, but Matthew Perry – the commodore, not the actor – was a monumental arsehole). The Meiji Era – which ran from 1868-1912, was a turbulent period. Related reading: The place to start with the Yakuza series is Yakuza Kiwami. Like A Dragon: Ishin! might not have “Yakuza” in the title, but it is very much one of these games… just with the added benefit of being placed in one of the most fascinating periods of Japanese history. There are three things I look forward to in a Yakuza game: Exceptional writing and storytelling, a vibrant and interesting open world (rare, given how dull and bloated most open worlds are), and an authentic setting that makes me homesick for Japan.
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