Yakuza: Like a Dragon

For the first time in the Yakuza series, the focus shifts away from Tokyo and the game's fictional recreation of Kabukichō, called Kamurocho. Instead, most of the gameplay takes place in the Yokohama district of Isezaki Ijincho,[4][5] which is based on Yokohama's real-life Isezakichō district. However, Kamurocho and the Osaka district Sotenbori (another area from previous Yakuza games that's based on the real-life Dōtonbori district) will be featured in the game.[4]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is also the first main game not to have Kazuma Kiryu as its protagonist, introducing the new character Ichiban Kasuga instead. Sega has described Kasuga as being much more outspoken and emotive than Kiryu.[6] Ichiban was revealed in August 2017. He made his introduction in the mobile title, Yakuza Online, and will then function as a main character in future games.[7]

Alongside Kasuga, other characters that can be recruited to the player's party include Yu Nanba, Koichi Adachi, Saeko Mukoda, Tianyou Zhao, Joon-Gi Han (whose real identity is Kim Yoon-So that works as former's body double), and Eri Kamataki.[8] Mukoda and Kamataki are the first female fighting characters in the Yakuza series who are directly controlled by the player. Additional characters, once recruited, can be temporarily summoned to assist the party during battle, including previous Yakuza protagonists Kazuma Kiryu,[9] Goro Majima, and Taiga Saejima.[10]

In 2001, Ichiban Kasuga, a junior member of the Tojo Clan's Arakawa Family, is asked by the family's patriarch Masumi Arakawa to go to prison for a murder that he did not commit to protect the presumed killer, Jo Sawashiro, his right-hand man that Arakawa considers indispensable. Kasuga agrees, hoping that this will make him a hero in the Tojo Clan, and is eager to repay Arakawa for saving his life in his youth. 18 years later, Kasuga is released from prison only to find that nobody remembers him and no one from his family is even waiting to meet him when he gets out. Instead, he is met by ex-detective Koichi Adachi, who explains that while Kasuga was in jail, Arakawa's son Masato died from illness and Arakawa betrayed the Tojo Clan by revealing their operations to the police, allowing the rival Omi Alliance to move in and take over Kamurocho. Arakawa himself has since risen to be the de facto leader of the Omi Alliance. Adachi teams up with Kasuga, as he suspects Arakawa bribed a police commissioner. With Adachi's help, Kasuga crashes a meeting Arakawa is holding, but is shot.

Three days later, Kasuga regains consciousness in Ijincho, having been saved and nursed back to health by Yu Nanba, a local homeless man and ex-nurse. Kasuga quickly learns that somebody deliberately dumped his body in Ijincho which is beyond the Omi Alliance's reach due to the presence of the Ijin Three, a tenuous alliance between the Chinese Liumang, Korean Geomijul, and Japanese Seiryu Clan criminal groups. Kasuga also discovers someone smuggled a counterfeit bill in his pocket for unknown reasons. Adachi manages to reunite with Kasuga and Nanba, and they begin taking odd jobs to earn a living while helping people in need. However, one of their bosses, Nonomiya, is murdered by members of the Liumang. Kasuga and his friends investigate the Liumang to find out why they murdered Nonomiya. Saeko Mukoda, one of Nonomiya's employees, joins the group to help their investigation.

Kasuga and his friends become embroiled in a conspiracy involving a massive counterfeiting ring being run by the Ijin Three at the behest of Yutaka Ogikubo, one of Japan's most powerful politicians. Tokyo Governor Ryo Aoki is also involved, as he uses his connections with the Omi Alliance to wage war to undermine the Ijin Three's power while at the same time propping up the anti-crime activist group Bleach Japan to bolster his public image. Aoki is also indirectly responsible for Nonomiya's death, as he had traitors in the Liumang murder him to instigate a war between the Liumang and Seiryu Clan. However, Kasuga recognizes Aoki as Masato, who admits he faked his death and assumed a new identity so he could purge his yakuza past and become a politician. It's also revealed that he is the real reason why Kasuga ended up in jail 18 years ago. Aoki exposes the Ijin Three's counterfeiting operation, ruining Ogikubo's reputation and paving the way for Aoki to take his place as the party chairman. Despite the best efforts of Kasuga and his friends, they fail to stop the Omi Alliance from crushing the Ijin Three. With their factions in tatters, the former Liumang leader Tianyou Zhao and Geomijul agent Yeonsu Kim join Kasuga's party. Afterwards, Seiryu Clan leader Ryuhei Hoshino reveals to Kasuga that the counterfeit bill smuggled in his pocket is actually a secret message from Arakawa, proving that Arakawa is still concerned about Kasuga's safety and shot him to fake his death.

With the Omi Alliance set to take over Ijincho's underworld, Aoki sets his sights on taking over Ijincho's politics by putting one of his Bleach Japan loyalists, Souta Kume, in the running for regional representative. With few other avenues of resisting Aoki, Kasuga comes up with the idea of running their own candidate to defeat Kume in the election, denying Aoki his victory. During their preparations, Kasuga hears of an important Omi Alliance meeting in Osaka that Arakawa will attend. He infiltrates the meeting and finds Arakawa with Daigo Dojima, Goro Majima, and Taiga Saejima. Both Arakawa and Dojima reveal that Arakawa is a double agent who had been weakening the Omi Alliance from within. Arakawa also reveals that when the true leader of the Omi Alliance, Masaru Watase, is released from prison, they will make a joint announcement to formally disband both the Omi Alliance and Tojo Clan to prevent them from being used as tools of the government. The announcement goes as planned, which enrages most of the Omi Alliance members and a brawl begins as Kasuga and his allies protect Watase and Dojima. Kazuma Kiryu also makes a return as Watase's bodyguard.

After the successful yakuza dissolution, Kasuga meets with Arakawa, and the two reconcile. However, Arakawa ends up being murdered later that night, with the main suspect being Aoki. Kasuga runs against Kume in the election in an effort to draw out Aoki, but Aoki instead orders Sawashiro to assassinate Hoshino as retaliation. Kasuga is unable to prevent Hoshino's death, but Sawashiro turns himself in to the police and reveals that Aoki is actually his son, and Kasuga is actually Arakawa's son, but both children were switched at birth due to an unlikely coincidence. Kiryu then meets Kasuga personally, though since he still must honor his deal with the Fixer, he cannot help Kasuga directly. Instead, Kiryu battles Kasuga in order to test his resolve. Though Kasuga is defeated, Kiryu decides that Kasuga is a worthy successor to his legacy and gives him vital information about Aoki's plans. In order to stop Aoki permanently, Kasuga and his friends raid the Arakawa headquarters to find evidence they can use to incriminate him. They trick Aoki into ordering a hit on Kasuga and leak the recording online, exposing his true nature. Kasuga pleads with Aoki to give up, as he let his reckless ambition destroy everybody close to him. Aoki is about to come around but is fatally stabbed by Kume, who had suffered a psychotic break after learning of Aoki's criminal actions.

Some time later, the evidence found in Arakawa's headquarters leads to the arrest of all of the corrupt officials that he conspired with. Kasuga attends Arakawa and Aoki's funeral, and rather than take Watase and Dojima's offer to join him in Osaka in a new legitimate security firm consisting of both former Omi and Tojo men, decides to remain in Ijincho to stay with his friends and keep watch over the city.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was the best selling print game during its first 4 days on sale in Japan, with 300,000 copies sold.[35] By March 2020, a total of 450,000 digital and physical copies had been sold in Japan and Asia.[36]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was awarded a Japan Game Awards Award for Excellence in the Future Division at the Tokyo Game Show 2019.[37]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was also nominated in The Game Awards 2020 for Best RPG category, but lost to Final Fantasy VII Remake,[38] and received a nomination for Ultimate Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards.[39], along with Role-Playing Game of the Year at the 24th Annual Dice Awards.[40]

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was also awarded with a PlayStation Partner Awards Partner Award for achieving "particularly noteworthy results".[41]