Anyone familiar with the Yakuza series knows about its tense, complex plots, punctuated by bursts of sheer lunacy yet remaining utterly engaging. It's no small feat to keep pulling out new surprises after 18 years and about as many games, but Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios have done just that. The new series protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, fancies himself a JRPG hero, providing the ideal conceit to make the series more ludicrous and fantastical than ever before.

Like a Dragon marks a shift in the mainline series from real-time to turn-based combat, but it feels like it's been this way for years. With a party of four gameplay becomes more strategic, but fights maintain the energy of classic Yakuza street brawls, with a wide variety of enemies and brutal attacks courtesy of Ichiban's imagination. There are still aspects of real-time; some more wonky than others. During an attack, QTEs can boost your damage or mitigate damage from enemies. You get a free critical hit if you decide to hit someone while they're down. Characters in battle constantly shift position, and you can attack when the positioning is right for major damage - if you can be bothered to wait for that. Bizarre special moves can be performed by your party members, or friends you've met, whom you can summon for a cash fee. Battles are polished overall, but imperfect pathing leads to a fair bit of running into walls and weird ragdolling, and the humour of this wears off quickly.

Each party member has access to several jobs (RPG classes), like chef, musician or fortune teller. As they level up, they gain character skills and current job skills. Characters retain a couple of skills from each previous job they've held; it's worth getting a few levels in every job for each character for basic versatility, and to discover a style you like. I didn't manage to max out a single job before beating the game; maybe in my post-game adventures. You smash your way through about 200 different Earthbound-like social caricatures covering many RPG combat archetypes; these are very amusing until you meet the high-HP tanks that are, like, a drag to get through.

Ichiban retains all Kiryu's best qualities, but with less restrained emotion, an endearing underdog story and a rough but nerdy charm that draws people to him. His lost-puppy devotion to his family drives him to take a hefty jail sentence, and when finally freed, he is a 42-year-old dragon-fish out of water in a world that doesn't remember him. His exploits in Yokohama awaken his supreme gift of the gab and talent for scrambling up from nothing, earning him respect and a name for himself in a few interesting circles. The game spoofs, and celebrates in the main story, the sides of city life that society looks down on when it suits it. Either side of that is a personal story about power, love and ambition. I would have appreciated deeper in-game plot summaries as things do get a little confusing. Despite the rather contrived last few chapters the resolution is very impactful, thanks to the solid characterisation built up in story and gameplay, and the strong direction of key scenes.

Like a Dragon meets the series' high standard of quality, with as much love as ever put into visuals and a cracking soundtrack I just had to stop and marvel at sometimes. Translation is brilliantly natural as usual and the fantastic English voice acting had me sticking with the dub. It was a nice surprise to see that mouth movements match the selected language, so unlike many other dubs, no odd verbal compromises are needed to make the writing fit.

Yokohama has 52 substories and some brand new minigames to discover. The less revealed the better but there is plenty of fun to be had, whether you're defending persimmons, distributing strange kimchi or just trying to stay awake in a comfy chair. The management game has you growing a portfolio of businesses, investing in R&D, funding ventures and hiring and firing. The scope is fairly deep and it's a nice simplification of real business decisions, but its complexity and emphasis on menus means it won't appeal to everyone. Unfortunately it's your best money maker, at a point where you happen to really need ¥3m. Making money over the business period is sadly a chore; you watch a redundant animation then read your balance sheet. The end-of-period shareholder-pleasing is a more interesting arcade game, but I think these two aspects should have had more going on, considering how many times you play them. Avoid the Management Mode DLC if you like the minigame; it provides "Ultra Rare" employees that not only trivialise this minigame but spoil the story too.

Kazuma Kiryu and his peers might be starting to bow out at last, but if anything the series is stepping up a gear. This isn't the best game for newcomers (that's still Yakuza 0) as you won't appreciate the rampant call-backs, but if you like, or think you will like, the world and the wackiness of Yakuza, this is easy to recommend.

Anyone familiar with the Yakuza series knows about its tense, complex plots, punctuated by bursts of sheer lunacy yet remaining utterly engaging. It's no small feat to keep pulling out new surprises after 18 years and about as many games, but Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios have done just that. The new series protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, fancies himself a JRPG hero, providing the ideal conceit to make the series more ludicrous and fantastical than ever before. Like a Dragon marks a shift in the mainline series from real-time to turn-based combat, but it feels like it's been this way for years. With a party of four gameplay becomes more strategic, but fights maintain the energy of classic Yakuza street brawls, with a wide variety of enemies and brutal attacks courtesy of Ichiban's imagination. There are still aspects of real-time; some more wonky than others. During an attack, QTEs can boost your damage or mitigate damage from enemies. You get a free critical hit if you decide to hit someone while they're down. Characters in battle constantly shift position, and you can attack when the positioning is right for major damage - if you can be bothered to wait for that. Bizarre special moves can be performed by your party members, or friends you've met, whom you can summon for a cash fee. Battles are polished overall, but imperfect pathing leads to a fair bit of running into walls and weird ragdolling, and the humour of this wears off quickly. Each party member has access to several jobs (RPG classes), like chef, musician or fortune teller. As they level up, they gain character skills and current job skills. Characters retain a couple of skills from each previous job they've held; it's worth getting a few levels in every job for each character for basic versatility, and to discover a style you like. I didn't manage to max out a single job before beating the game; maybe in my post-game adventures. You smash your way through about 200 different Earthbound-like social caricatures covering many RPG combat archetypes; these are very amusing until you meet the high-HP tanks that are, like, a drag to get through. Ichiban retains all Kiryu's best qualities, but with less restrained emotion, an endearing underdog story and a rough but nerdy charm that draws people to him. His lost-puppy devotion to his family drives him to take a hefty jail sentence, and when finally freed, he is a 42-year-old dragon-fish out of water in a world that doesn't remember him. His exploits in Yokohama awaken his supreme gift of the gab and talent for scrambling up from nothing, earning him respect and a name for himself in a few interesting circles. The game spoofs, and celebrates in the main story, the sides of city life that society looks down on when it suits it. Either side of that is a personal story about power, love and ambition. I would have appreciated deeper in-game plot summaries as things do get a little confusing. Despite the rather contrived last few chapters the resolution is very impactful, thanks to the solid characterisation built up in story and gameplay, and the strong direction of key scenes. Like a Dragon meets the series' high standard of quality, with as much love as ever put into visuals and a cracking soundtrack I just had to stop and marvel at sometimes. Translation is brilliantly natural as usual and the fantastic English voice acting had me sticking with the dub. It was a nice surprise to see that mouth movements match the selected language, so unlike many other dubs, no odd verbal compromises are needed to make the writing fit. Yokohama has 52 substories and some brand new minigames to discover. The less revealed the better but there is plenty of fun to be had, whether you're defending persimmons, distributing strange kimchi or just trying to stay awake in a comfy chair. The management game has you growing a portfolio of businesses, investing in R&D, funding ventures and hiring and firing. The scope is fairly deep and it's a nice simplification of real business decisions, but its complexity and emphasis on menus means it won't appeal to everyone. Unfortunately it's your best money maker, at a point where you happen to really need ¥3m. Making money over the business period is sadly a chore; you watch a redundant animation then read your balance sheet. The end-of-period shareholder-pleasing is a more interesting arcade game, but I think these two aspects should have had more going on, considering how many times you play them. Avoid the Management Mode DLC if you like the minigame; it provides "Ultra Rare" employees that not only trivialise this minigame but spoil the story too. Kazuma Kiryu and his peers might be starting to bow out at last, but if anything the series is stepping up a gear. This isn't the best game for newcomers (that's still Yakuza 0) as you won't appreciate the rampant call-backs, but if you like, or think you will like, the world and the wackiness of Yakuza, this is easy to recommend.