If I didn’t know better, I could easily believe 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was the perfect swansong for the Like a Dragon series. For longtime fans especially, the foreboding sense of the end of an era is inescapable. Kiryu’s Bucket List feature — reminiscent of a similar mechanic in the Kaito Files DLC for Lost Judgment — hits you emotionally as much as it does Kiryu, as it ev🥃okes your own fond memories from across the series, but Infinite Wealth goes beyond simply taking you for a trip down memory lane.

“Live each day, as if it were your last

It's written in the stars, your destiny is cast

And that hourglass, runs too fast, no doubt

For the sands of time are running out.&rdquꦺo; - Elvis Presley.

Despite not being one of the Elvis Presley tracks used as a chapter title for Infinite Wealth, the lyrics to Wisdom of Ages are particularly fitting for the game. I knew going into this that Kiryu Kazuma, the former protagonist of the series until Yakuza: Like a Dragon, would be suffering from cancer. Even if we set aside the gut punch of seeing the Ryu Ga Gotoku poster boy this ill, you can’t shake the ꦗsense of finality with this latest entry.

The series, its themes, and its characters come full circle in Infinite Wealth with a masterful hand. Plot threads are revisited as far back as the first title, not onl🌺y with specific references but with new elements that mirror past events ✨as a clever, effective callback to where this journey started.

It’s something we’ve seen before with Kasuga mirroring Kiryu. Both orphans went to prison for a murder they didn’t commit, but Infinite Wealth takes this similar path they walk down one step further. Everything feels connected in an 𝓰endless loop - right down to the juxtaposition between the opening credits scene and the final cutscene, it’s easy to connect this sense of a looping ‘infinite’ pattern, itself mirroring the game’s title.

RGG Studios has always made its characters and locations age with the passing of the years, and you feel that more than ever in Infinite Wealth. We see our favourite characters long in the tooth, weary, and well past their prime. The yakuza groups as we knew them are largely gone, reflecting the very real decline of the ya🍌kuza and highlighting Japan’s five-year rule in which former yakuza are barred from opening bank accounts or renting property, creating an obstacle for those who wish to return to a normal life. Stores that became familiar on the digital streets we’ve walked for years have faded from existence. Kiryu didn’t need cancer to convey that this old dragon was ready to retire, but it sure as hell made the journey hit harder.

There were parts that caused me to gasp, others that made me cry. The raw emotion in the delivery of the acting in Infinite Wealth, especially in the closing chapter, when you hear characters’ voices break 🎃with grief and sadness, strikes your heart and soul. The series doesn’t shy away from having its strong, macho male characters just as emotionally available as everyone else, and embracing this tender side ensures that players feel a genuine connection with them. But for all the times your heart brea🦹ks in Infinite Wealth, it’s also warmed by joy and hope; an impossibly hard-headed hope that refuses to back down, just like Kasuga.

I thought Yakuza: Like a Dragon was the perfect passing of the torch. As much as I love Kiryu and the old gang, I didn’t think he needed another outing in Infinite Wealth. I was wrong. Infinite Wealth is the closure I didn’t know I needed. It gives an undeniable sense of the turning of the wheel, with Kasuga following in Kiryu’s footsteps once more and the series treading familiar territory in more ways than one, all while balancing effectively between these two protagonists sharing the limelight. I can’t convey how much the story layers themes and ideas from the past without spoiling these mom🅘ents, but just know I could talk about this all day.

Although I’ve heavily emphasised the feeling of familiarity and revisiting much of the series’ history, Infinite Wealth is both an ode to what came before and a vibrant promise of what’s to come. If this is the new bar the series sets, I can’t wait to see🥂 what comes next.

Infinite Wealth hits a home run with its fresh cast of allies and enemies, crafting characters with incredible depth that leave a lasting impression on you and a want to see more of them, regardless of whether they were friends or foes.♈ Taking the series in a new direction by going overseas to Hawaii offers an exciting new journey with fresh ideas and environments to explore while still building on the foundations the series ha🤡s already put in motion.

The pitfalls of being under-levelled are solved by the inclusion of improved dungeons that offer an easy way to earn XP, claim decent gear, and a few quirky moments along the way. Travel is improved with the introduction of the Street Surfer, and so꧋mething I particularly appreciated is that Infinite Wealth per༒fects its turn-based combat. As a steadfast classic Yakuza fan who always preferred the button-mashing of the action combat, I wasn’t sure how much I’d gel with Infinite Wealth. In LaD, the novelty wore off fast and I soon grew tired of lengthy battles with the same action cutscenes over and over.

Infinite Wealth fixes all that. Combat is more strategic, with party builds becoming more meta with the inclusion of Skill Inheritance (where you can take skills from other jobs each character has learned)🐼 and a focus on being able to move position in battle, so wh﷽ere you and your allies stand will factor into your attacks. It makes combat feel more involved as you must think more about your setup and attacks.

It also helps t⛎hat I didn’t mind the repetitiveness of battles that all games fall victim to because I wanted a chance to catch some Sujimon at the end.

Infinite Wealth pulls out all the stops to deliver the biggest game in the series to date, not just in the size of its densely populated maps but in the sheer amount of side content. Dondoko Island alone, the Animal Crossing-esque minigame that has you bug-catching, fishing, crafting, and building your five-star island resort, is worthy of being a game in its own right. I got sidetracked by this for days. The Sujimon Pokemon parody delivers quirky battles, monster collꦅecting, and draws from real life to create raids and the equivalent of PokeStops scattered all around the city.

There is so much side content that, as the embargo for the review draws closer, I still have yet 💃to even delve into some of the ava📖ilable minigames and have barely scratched the surface of others. It feels like there is an infinite wealth (eh?) of things to do.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth raises the bar in every way to take its rightful place as the new peak of the series. Whether you’ve been wit🌄h Kiryu all this time or you joined the series with Kasuga, you won’t be able to help falling in love with this captivating new entry to the series that perfectly pairs the past and the future, our two favourite protagonists, and RGG’s typical blend of quirky comedy and heartwrenching plotlines. If it’s not my GOTY in December, I’ll eat my Majima Construction hard hat.

Score: 5/5. A PS5 code was provided by the publisher.