Summary
Many open-world games do their best to make their places feel real, bringing their locations to life with things to do, characters to see, etc. But few are as meticulous, and as successful, in this area as theYakuza/Like A Dragonseries. They’ve recreated real-life cities and their red-light districts so effectively that their in-game maps could be used to navigate the real deals.
But theirY/LADequivalents have their ups and downs. Some can be dry and dull to walk through, while others have little to nothing to do in them but appreciate the scenery. Others are jam-packed with substories and minigames while being lush with detail. These are the best cities in theYakuza/Like A Dragonfranchise, where strutting the streets never gets old.
Based in Nagoya,Kineichōis one of the most underrated cities in the series. It’s the penultimate setting inYakuza 5, where the player follows baseball player-turned-struggling journalist Shinada as he investigates the conspiracy that cost him his sports career. But it was also the second-to-last campaign players went through after exploring three other cities with four other protagonists. By then, even the keenest fans were left feeling drained.
Yet the city is one of the best in the game, with clear streets to avoidY5’s overeager punks, some funny substories (escorting a Lady Gaga-esque popstar), and some nice landmarks like the TV Tower and Oasis 21 Mall. It was a step above the cramped Nagasugai and bland Tsukimino but hasn’t been seen again since its debut game. Maybe with any luck, they’ll get to make a return in a future game.
Yakuza: Like a Dragonwas a big change for the series. Aside from having a new story following a new protagonist with entirely new RPG-based gameplay, it had a new home city to go with it.Isezaki Ijinchōis a big place that offers a broad range of sights. Between the rather dry, more typical urban streets and buildings are some unique sights players can’t find elsewhere.
Its Chinatown makes up for Kamurochō’s condensed Little Asia by offering a barrage of Chinese architecture and restaurants, alongside an arcade for fun. Then the port features a nice sea view and a green park, which came into its own in the spin-offLost Judgment. If skating around the city regularly felt ho-hum, that game gave them ramps and rails to do tricks on and earn points topersonalize their board.
By design,Onomichiis a quieter, more easygoing place than the other cities in the series. There are no casinos, hostess clubs, or underground catfight clubs. Instead, it has a beautiful sea view, picturesque hillside streets, and great recreations of the real Onomichi’s Senkoji Temple and Ushitora shrine. Except they don’t give people stat boosts in return for donations in real life. Not without enough faith anyway.
That doesn’t mean it’s a sleepy place though. The spearfishing game plays likeTime Crisis. Kiryu engages in a sports management sim to help astruggling baseball teambeat their city-slicker rivals. Then there are the substories, where he meets time travelers, ghosts, and the local mascot Ono Michio, who’s since become an icon for the series. No one would’ve seen his charming hassaku face without the hometown he embodies.
Lost Judgment’s skateboarding mechanics were originally intended for Ichiban inY: LAD, but there wasn’t enough time left to implement them. Luckily, inLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth,he went overseas and got to ride acrossHonoluluon a Segway. He, Kiryu, and the gang don’t need to do stunts when they can just ride in style and comfort from one sight to another. It’s the series’ first foray abroad, and RGG Studio recreated Honolulu’s Waikiki district as accurately as the home cities of the other games.
On top of replicating the beach (Aloha Beach) and the International Marketplace mall (Anaconda Shopping Center), the game’s story also tries to cover the less fun side of Hawaii. Ichiban’s preconceptions of Hawaii as being a tropical paradise get challenged when he learns more about the cost of living crisis, and District 5. There’s more to Honolulu than the sun, sea, and sand.
On sights alone, Honolulu may be the prettiest city in the series, bumping shoulders with Onomichi. It helps thatInfinite Wealthhas a near-infinite amount of stuff to do too. However, only time will tell if it becomes as beloved as the series’ two top cities, like Osaka’sSōtenbori. It’s not so spellbinding looks-wise, as it’s a humble set of streets built around the titular canal that first popped up inYakuza 2.
But most people likely came across it inYakuza 0, where Goro Majima wandered its busy streets and introduced players to his addictivehostess club minigame. Or where he got pounced on by the Obatarian and met the infamous Mr Libido. But whether players went through it inY2,Y0,Kiwami 2,Y5,orY: LAD, RGG Studio made a lively place where there’s always something new and memorable to do.
The other big hitter in the series is, of course,Kamurochō. It’s the city that’s appeared in the most games and thus has changed the most in its lifetime.Yakuza 4made it bigger by letting players run across its rooftops and explore its underground subways and sewers, whileY6made it smaller, cutting off its infamous Champion District in favor of its expanded Little Asia area. But in general, the city has stuck to the same streets and districts, which has received criticism.
But it’s become such a familiar staple that it’s fun seeing how it’s evolved over the series, where places change with each game. Like how the Debolah nightclub inYakuza 1became a hotel inY6, or howY0’s Pocket Circuit building became the Sodachi dojo inY4. Fans can only visit the present-day Kabukichō, but they can visit Kamurochō in the 1980s, mid-2000s, 2010s, etc., whenever they like.
