Much like the Sengoku period, the Bakumatsu period (1853-1869) has inspired many famous works in popular culture, with the Rurouni Kenshin series among the most notable ones. It is a period full of violent conflicts, due to the clear ideological division between the pro-imperial nationalists Ishin Shishi and the shogunate forces Shinsengumi. There are also people that seek to benefit from the chaos, trying to seize power and resources for their own good.

As the saying goes: hard times create strong men. It is during these turbulent times that heroes would emerge to save the country from doom, and that there would be names going down in history. Such names include the famous Sakamoto Ryoma, once a low-ranking samurai who dreamt of a democratic, modernized, and industrialized Japan, who then successfully nurtured the formation of the powerful Satcho alliance against the shogunate. Although unable to live to see his dreams come true, his Eight Proposals While Shipboard was core to the policy agendas of the post-civil war Meiji Government.

Remake of Ryu Ga Gotoku Ishin! that was released only in Japan, Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a “what if?” historical fiction based on the eventful life of Sakamoto Ryoma. Players will assume the role of Ryoma, who will be involved in the revolution while searching for the assassin who killed his foster father.

Most of the game takes place in 1860s Kyo (Kyoto), where famous historical landmarks are recreated, such as the Teradaya Inn, Mibu-dera Temple, and Ikedaya Inn. The map is moderately sized, but without seamless transitions between districts, it feels a lot smaller than it actually is, and almost every corner of the streets has at least a few things awaiting your discovery. From the all-important pharmacies to the series staple karaoke bars, Kyo has it all.

As you walk on the streets towards your next objective, most of the time you would be stopped as you trigger substories. These events scattered around Kyo won’t occupy you for too long, and I find them amusing enough to serve perfectly as a brief escape from the suspense of Ryoma’s adventures. Some of these substories even provide minigames, such as “The Mochi Mystery” that requires Ryoma to find out who’s the true Mochi thief through a deduction game. “Can I Quote You on That?” also had me cracking up as the kawaraban journalist asked Ryoma about his ideal type in women.

Similar to other main Yakuza titles, battles could be triggered randomly as you walk past the ruffians in Kyo. It is quite apparent that Ryoma doesn’t have good relationships with the thugs in Kyo, as most of the time they would look for a fight as soon as they sense Ryoma’s presence. Luckily, Ryoma is fast enough that he could just run away before the fight breaks out, should he seek peace.

If combat is inevitable, you could defend yourselves with four different battle styles: Brawler, Swordsman, Gunman, and Wild Dancer. Each of these styles is accompanied by different pros and cons, and it is up to the player as to which could be best utilized under the current situation. For example, the agile Brawler and Wild Dancer styles would thrive in fights against multiple enemies, but their attack power would be relatively lower than the Swordsman and Gunman styles that boast a plethora of useful combos and Heat Actions in melee and ranged one-on-one situations respectively.

As you progress further into the game, you will be able to recruit Troopers to aid you in combat. You will have four teams of Troopers, each corresponding to the four battle styles. Each Trooper represents different skills that you could use to heal Ryoma or to damage/control the enemies.

The Troopers system is one of the game’s essential mechanisms as it have made battles easier, not in the sense of overpowered skills, but through subtly increased maximum health, as well as life-saving heals when in a pinch. Troopers are ranked from Common to Legendary and could be recruited randomly by paying a fee (much like gacha systems), or through defeating random encounters on the streets. As you progress further into the game, it gets easier to obtain Legendary Troopers through random street encounters. Unless you’re a gacha slave who couldn’t resist rolling for the juicy Legendary Troopers, I’d recommend saving your money for equipment upgrades and healing items.

Levelling up in Ishin! will grant you Orbs (ability points) that could be used to unlock more Heat Actions and attacking combos under a specific style. There are also upgrades for Ryoma’s maximum health, maximum Heat Gauge, attack speed, and the unlock of special weapons such as the Kodachi and Spear. It is rather important that you should only focus on one or two styles to level up early in the game, as distributing your Orbs among all four styles would only make you a jack of all trades, master of none.

With the weapons and armors incredibly costly to upgrade, for me the only way to quickly improve my damage early on is through upgrading styles, thus I have spent most of my orbs on only two of my preferred styles. Luckily, most of the time the game would reward me with the weapon of the fallen boss, which allows me to survive until the end of the next boss fight, while also saving me the hassle of having to grind money and materials to craft a better weapon.

Ah, yes, the boss fights. While cutting down street bullies and stepping on the faces of random thugs are incredibly fun and satisfying, boss fights in Ishin! provide another level of gratification. I enjoy being challenged by difficult boss fights, and Hard mode in this game really kept me on the edge of my seat as the bosses are very quick in reacting to your attacking and defensive actions. Every boss would take me three to four retries to beat on average as I try to get a grasp on their fighting styles, and I find that just about right for an entertaining challenge. The spirit of the Yakuza series: QTE prompts are also present in Ishin!, where accompanied by heart-stopping battle animations, making the boss battles more intense than ever.

However, it is also in Hard mode boss fights that I discover the imbalance of strength among different battle styles during the early parts of the game. What is great about the game’s battle system is that attacks, when landed, could stagger a unit (no matter Ryoma or his enemies), thus encouraging players to be patient before attacking and wait for the enemies’ opening. What isn’t so great is that this rule doesn’t fully apply in boss fights.

I completely agree that bosses should give the players some surprises to challenge their on-the-spot decision-making. However, it sometimes frustrates me that some of their “openings” are just facades, giving me a sucker punch out of nowhere even when I was attacking from their backs. Add this to the fact that there is a significant disparity between Ryoma’s and the bosses’ health and attack power, the fair fight between two katanas might not be fair at all. Still, I’m not saying that it is impossible to fight blade to blade, but it might take you quite some time to fully grasp the attacking and defending patterns of these bosses, as to when would be the “right” moment to attack and when you should expect being sucker-punched in the face.

As a result, I might have tarnished Ryoma’s reputation as a virtuous samurai by shooting my way through blade fights. When keeping a distance between myself and the enemy is much less punishing than trying to get close just to land a few hits, I just couldn’t help it. But I still have to admit that I am pretty embarrassed every time Ryoma asks his enemy to fight with dignity. Hence in my experience, the Swordsman style is only more fun when it is levelled up considerably, in addition to having strong katanas and solid armors at your disposal. 

Although I’ve never tried the 2014 game, after looking at gameplay videos captured by other gamers, I feel that the improvements that the studio has done to the game’s visual presentation are spectacular. While not perfect, the combat system in this game still provides plenty of entertainment and thrill. Other than the abovementioned features, there are also tons of minigames such as cooking, mahjong, fishing, and so on for you to explore in the bustling city of Kyo. If you’re looking forward to a period drama-like game that tells the mind-blowing story of a samurai living in the Bakumatsu period, look no further than Like a Dragon: Ishin!.

That’s all for the review of Like a Dragon: Ishin! brought to you by Lluvia.