Yakuza: Like a Dragon was my favorite game for many years, and I absolutely love it to death. I thought that it would be my number one until the end of time, because the bar I set for this game was astronomically high. Only one game had a shot at tackling it, and sure enough... Yakuza 8 has taken the top spot, but I will say that this game will always be special to me in its own way, and I’ll soon explain why.

Yakuza 7 is a lot like the games that came before it, but the base formula is flipped entirely on its head. It takes on a whole different style than its predecessors. As opposed to using the classic Yakuza combat system of "action combat", this game uses a turn-based combat system instead. The new system may be disorienting for some longtime fans, but I thought it was really interesting.

Here’s the backstory about me and this game — this was actually the first Yakuza/JRPG game I ever played. My dad got this game for my birthday about 6 years ago to play on my Xbox. I had no idea what the Yakuza series was at the time, and my dad had also gotten me Cyberpunk 2077 along with it, so I ended up playing that instead. After I squeezed that game dry, I felt bad for not playing this game at all, so I ended up trying it out. At first, I thought it was going to be kind of lame, but after I played it for a while, I got completely enamored by the game's story. I really loved the boss fights, the soundtrack, the characters, the minigames — I had realized this game was meant for me. Only after I completed it had I discovered that there were SEVEN other Yakuza games before this one. Then it hit me — I had a new favorite game series, so I decided to purchase every single one. I played them all and enjoyed them as much as I did this one.

Enough about me and back to the game. Another thing I really love about it is how it parodies the long-running JRPG franchise Dragon Quest, and the whole RPG genre in general. It’s a nice touch that adds more humor and depth into the game.

If you are a fan of the genre, and you haven’t tried Yakuza yet, I highly recommend you do, these games are truly works of art.