#13: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

I love a game filled with profound or thought-provoking moments. I also love having fun. Infinite Wealth fits the bill on both counts, but it puts the emphasis on fun with its zany, absurd antics, rewarding turn-based combat, and an endearing protagonist who serves as a great reminder that we should strive to see the positive side of difficult situations. My time spent with Infinite Wealth also reminded me that I don’t always need to find some emotionally overwhelming or intellectually fascinating reason to be enthralled by a game, I can just have goofy fun with loveable characters in relatable situations.

Read More: Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth: The Kotaku Review

Well, as relatable as the life of ex-Japanese gangsters can be. Infinite Wealth does have some serious elements, such as the protagonist’s complicated relationship with the world around him and the strange, uncertain conditions of his birth. But it also navigates perfectly innocent and silly stuff, like a first date gone wrong, the absurdity of the gig economy, and being inebriated with friends.

Infinite Wealth is also a hell of a good RPG. Combat in particular is excellent, fusing turn-based actions with real-time positioning that allows you to do things like line up attacks and send enemies flying into one another. The game also handles its side content particularly well, with objectives and activities that are more than happy to get out of the way of the main story if you’re not interested in tackling them. But if you do dive in, you’ll find some wildly satisfying and engaging elements to engage with, such as an entire resort management sim, a Pokémon-like collect-and-battle mini-game, and more.

As a newcomer to the Yakuza series, I was also delighted to find the story very approachable. On occasion, the game would reference previous events in the series that’d largely go over my head, but on the whole, the game was plenty capable of delivering a coherent, if remarkably silly, tale of ex-gangsters trying to survive normal life without getting sucked back into the hell of it all. — Claire Jackson