Sony and Yakuza series developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio turned a lot of heads with the announcement that Like a Dragon: Ishin will not only be getting a remastered port, but will also finally be coming to the West. What’s more, the game is far enough along to be one of Sega’s prime games at Tokyo Game Show 2022, and we had a chance to play it. Suffice it to say, it's too bad that it took this long to get a western release, because Like a Dragon: Ishin is already feeling like a solid entry in the series.

In terms of overall presentation and performance, Like a Dragon: Ishin is more or less on par with the rest of the series. The TGS demo was presented on PS5 hardware, and the framerate during normal gameplay felt around sixty most of the time with no noticeable drops. Cutscenes, on the other hand, seemed to run at a rate closer to thirty, but this is probably to be expected considering Ishin’s age and the series’ flair for the cinematic.

Art direction, voice acting and sound all felt more or less par for the series, but it must be said that the town presented in-game looked and felt authentic in terms of the visuals. The usual Yakuza goofiness and overabundance of street toughs are still present, but players should nonetheless feel like they’re walking around Kyoto as it was at the very end of Edo period Japan.

The TGS 2022 demo presented players with their choice of two modes: Day or Night, with daytime being more exploration and side-activity oriented and nighttime focused more on missions and combat. This isn’t to say that there aren’t fights during the day, though, as there were several during our time walking the daylit streets.

There’ll be more said about combat in a moment, but right now it must be mentioned that there is still plenty of side-activities to do. Most of these were not available to try in the demo, but they’re there nonetheless. In particular, fans should be on the lookout for shogi and karaoke (somehow) among other things as they explore the avenues of Kyo.

Returning to Like a Dragon: Ishin's combat, it’s more or less what one would expect from a Yakuza game by now. Saito feels as responsive and powerful as Kiryu always has, and it’s just as satisfying to take apart outlaws with katana and revolver it is to take them out with fists alone. Actually, it might feel even better since there are four styles to choose from and ways to mix things up between them.

By choosing from either Swordsman, Gunman, Brawler and Wild Dancer styles, players can make encounters feel very different from one another. The Wild Dancer style felt particularly fun as it allows Saito to wield both his pistol and sword simultaneously, making every move more dramatic. Further enhancing the combat is the “Troops” feature. Engaging this enables to Saito to tap into the power of other notable characters from the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. Depending on who he chooses, he can get buffs damage or cooldowns, extra health or even crazy moves right out of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Only a few of these moves were available in the demo, but even just dropping gravity wells, blasting dudes with a Kamehameha-like beam and messing them up with an overly-long energy sword was fun. It also helped that this was all handled through an intuitive control scheme that also still allowed for awesome Heat Actions.

Like a Dragon: Ishin isn’t out until February, but it’s already feeling good. Longtime fans of the series will no doubt enjoy their favorite characters in this historical context and newcomers should also find it easier to jump in since there’s no real connection to the other games in the series. In other words, this is a game to keep track of in the coming months.