I was so hyped when Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth was announced because I loved Like A Dragon and I adore Ichiban. Seeing that Ichiban and Kiryu would be together in the game had me really excited and I was excited to dive in right away. Infinite Wealth is set three years after the main plot of the first game with Ichiban working at Hello Work. The game gives us a great view of where Ichiban and his friends are at and how they're doing. It also gives a nice introduction into the improved battle system. It's still turn based, but now there are circles showing where your party members can move and they can move a lot more freely so you can plan your strategy during a battle accordingly.
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| The gang is back together again! |
Without giving too much away, circumstances change things for Ichiban and his friends which leads to the main story of Ichiban going to Hawaii. It's exciting having an entirely new place to explore, but with the usual odd enemies that stem from Ichiban's imagination. Ichiban runs into Kiryu in Hawaii and the two of them teaming up is brilliant and it's the dream team I didn't know I needed. I love Ichiban and Kiryu together duking it out together against all these enemies. The over the top special attacks and tag team attacks are everything I love about the Like A Dragon games. They're fun, funny, and work really well with the story setting.
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| Dream team Ichiban and Kiryu battle it out. |
There's the usual conversations between Ichiban and his friends, but now there's a fun twist called Friendship Bingo. Ichiban and Kiryu can chat with everyone and learn different things about them like favorite foods or hobbies. When they get a Bingo it increases the bonds which unlocks more battle abilities as well as supporting attacks known as chain reactions. It adds another fun layer to the battle system and with Kiryu you get to see the cool street fighting style he has since he can switch between stances and when his heat mode is full, he can go full brawl. The fights are fun which makes level grinding less of a chore.
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| Friendship Bingo card. |
There's also of course tons of mini games in Infinite Wealth. There's the usual knowledge center mini game in the new Hawaiian setting and the can quest is still around in Japan. The Sujimon index is back too with even more Sujimon to discover and Sujimon battles which are an amusing parody of Pokemon battles. There's also a hilarious dating app minigame which leads to some pretty funny results for Ichiban. My personal favorite was Crazy Delivery and if you've ever played the game Crazy Taxi you will notice the references to it. It's such a good time and you can earn some pretty good rewards from it.
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| It's time for crazy delivery! |
Then came my absolute favorite minigame, Dondoko Island. Think Stardew Valley meets Animal Crossing, but with a Yakuza setting and of course more Ichiban shenanigans. For me, it was a ton of fun tidying up the island and getting that resort to five stars. There's also a farm and you can have your Sujimon work there which levels them up and boosts their stats. One of the things I really enjoyed about Dondoko Island is you can leave and come back anytime throughout the story and you can invite people to the resort. After you finish the game, you can also go back and do any extra things you might have missed.
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| Sujimon battle on Dondoko Island. |
The story of Infinite Wealth is great. I was so invested in all of it because of how much it got me to care about not just Ichiban and Kiryu, but their friends too. I loved that we got to have so many moments with them throughout the story revealing intimate knowledge of things they struggled with, what made them happy, and how much they cared about Ichiban and Kiryu. I found this was strongest during the Drink Link substories which not only gives everyone in the party experience, but gives huge boosts to the friendship bonds. I of course also enjoyed all the karaoke which is always fun especially with Kiryu who is delightful.
It was interesting switching back and forth between Hawaii and Japan with Ichiban being the Hawaii team and Kiryu being the Japan team. It is story locked, but it's smartly done and works surprisingly well with the flow of the events in the story. The story itself is great and had me in its grip for a good sixty plus hours of gameplay. There were a lot of beautifully emotional moments in the story that had me crying and some incredibly heartwarming moments that had me smiling. The epic battles, the fantastic storytelling, the great side quests, and the great storytelling made Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth such a good time for me and I'm so glad I got to appreciate another adventure with Ichiban, Kiryu, and all their friends.
*Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth is on these platforms: Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
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