Almost exactly nine years after its initial 2014 release exclusively in Japan, Like a Dragon: Ishin is finally being made available worldwide in the form of a remake that largely stays faithful to the original version, for both better and worse. As a whole, the samurai-themed spin-off of the Like a Dragon (formerly Yakuza in the West) games is a blast to play, but some strange technical issues are notable enough to hurt the overall experience.

Like a Dragon: Ishin's premise can ultimately be boiled down to asking, "What if the characters in the main games were members of the Shinsengumi from Japan's Bakumatsu period?" While a historical figure like Okita Soji is a major character in the game, he has the personality of fan-favorite mad dog Goro Majima, carrying over his likeness and voice actor. There is something inherently funny about seeing how the characters would act in a setting outside the present day and then remembering that they represent people who had been alive at a point in history.

The actual story is quite compelling as it follows lower-class samurai named Ryoma Sakamoto who is framed for his father figure's death and travels to the city of Kyo to find the real killer, someone who is likely a captain in the Shinsengumi. This special police force serves the Bafuku to keep peace in the area, but has a reputation for its brutal ways, making it a controversial figure in Kyo. While some of the reveals are on the more predictable side and the overall story is not the strongest in the entire series, it does remain gripping throughout its runtime. A powerful theme, in particular, is the meaning someone gives their name through their actions, and what it means to cast aside one's name and live with another.

What can hamper some scenes is the stiff animation accompanying many of the cutscenes. Pre-rendered sequences carry the emotional weight thanks to the excellent voice acting, but some potential impact for several reveals gets lost when the characters are animated like robots. This is thankfully not much of an issue since most of the biggest moments are pre-rendered while other lesser animated scenes are reserved for smaller bits of exposition and to keep the plot going.

Another aspect that helps make it easy to immerse oneself in Like a Dragon: Ishin's narrative is the setting of Kyo itself. Each district carries a specific vibe that makes the city feel coherent while ensuring each part of the map is unique. These can range from the bustling market in Fushimi to the dusty streets of Rakunai that look straight out of an old samurai movie. Much of the map could have looked muted, particularly the aforementioned Rakunai, but it has just enough color smartly placed along many spots to give the area significant amounts of character where it matters. On current-gen consoles and PCs running Like a Dragon: Ishin at recommended settings, the game will be a treat to look at.

Like most games in the series, Like a Dragon: Ishin is an action RPG that has random encounters littered across a condensed open-world setting. But unlike most of the other titles, which primarily use brawler-style combat with weapons breaking, this one is the opposite, as Ryoma constantly has a pistol and sword equipped as 2 of his 4 main styles. Another one of these styles is hand-to-hand, but since the game focuses on using weapons, sticking to fists will likely not be effective unless someone builds into it specifically. Whether someone decides to use powerful swings to slice through enemies with the Swordsman style, pick off foes from a distance with the Gunman style, toss enemies about using Brawler, or go crazy swinging the sword and shooting at the same time with Wild Dancer, combat never grows stale even with the high number of enemies patrolling Kyo.

Finding what works for a play style is especially important on the game's higher difficulties. On Like a Dragon: Ishin's Medium or Hard difficulty, the game should take roughly 25-30 hours to complete with a healthy mix of story progression and side content, but on Legend difficulty, players can expect to spend 40-45 hours in order to properly build up Ryoma's stats and with restarts from save points only. It does provide a nice challenge for players experienced with the Like a Dragon games, but can be brutal for anyone unfamiliar with the general flow of combat.

Something else that makes combat satisfying is the build variety that is on offer. As mentioned before, hand-to-hand combat is generally not as effective as other styles when it comes to damage, but it is possible to make it stronger through armor enchantments. Beyond that, there is a variety of choices in swords that deal raw damage, ones that offer elemental effects, slower guns that are more powerful, faster ones that are incredibly quick to shoot, and armor pieces with special effects. It can take a while to gather the materials for higher-level weapons, but the game does make sure players don't lag behind by giving new weapons as story progression rewards.

Another layer to the combat is the use of Troop Cards, randomly obtained ability cards that have effects including buffs, healing, and special abilities. While the most powerful cards are fun to use, the fact that many of them are powerful magic spells feels at odds with the rest of the game's tone. Similarly, when bosses uses magic it creates a level of dissonance that is actually pretty funny but noticeable.

As fun as fighting in Like a Dragon: Ishin is, there are moments it feels like this remake plucked the combat from a 9-year-old game and ported it over to this latest release. At the very least, it feels like some more could have been done to improve the pace of Like a Dragon: Ishin's combat while remaining faithful to how the original played.

Besides experiencing the story and fighting anyone who wants to mess with Ryoma, Like a Dragon: Ishin contains a plethora of side modes and mini-games. For example, singing is back and brings a mix of traditional Japanese songs and remixed ones from other Like a Dragon games. Baka Mitai is a stand out because it receives a beautiful rendition that is arguably better than the original.

Buyo dancing is another wonderful rhythm mini-game where players have to keep track of inputs on both the directional buttons and face buttons, and it is a rush to get a high combo on a song when playing on higher difficulties. While singing has a good number of tracks, Buyo dancing could have used more.

The hostess mini-game from previous entries has also somewhat returned by way of a brothel Ryoma can visit to spend time with a courtesan named Anna. Here, players compete with her in mini-games like drinking and rock-paper-scissors that have such a ridiculous twist that they are worth experiencing at least once.

Of all the side activities, the most involved are Battle Dungeons and Another Life. Battle Dungeons are combat challenges that Ryoma can take at the Shinsengumi barracks and involve him raiding caves full of bandits to fulfill an objective like rescuing an official or recovering stolen money. These are a fun way to test skill in combat and grind for materials but can feel repetitive since all are set underground and can easily blend together. Meanwhile, Another Life features Ryoma taking care of a farm with a character named Haruka. Progress with making money on the farm is slow at first, but as it grows larger and the player unlocks more crops, the farm soon provides a great way to make money while also having scenes showing Ryoma and Haruka bonding over what it means to have a family.

While much of the game's technical issues are minor, mostly limited to strange moments where random street NPCs walk sideways into the ground and texture pop in when entering a new area, a few stood out. On PlayStation 5, Like a Dragon: Ishin becomes prone to freezing for anywhere between 15-30 seconds when entering or exiting battle and the same happens with menus. This issue seems to come up after an extended play session but is also present when coming back to the game after putting the system on rest mode. Another technical oddity involves text boxes that would seemingly offer dialogue options but none were visible.

The scariest of the game's technical hiccups occurred roughly 25 hours into the playthrough, where the game would crash upon leaving a small area to go back to the main hub. Hopefully, the incident remains isolated to this playthrough, and Sega addresses the cause in a patch.

Like a Dragon: Ishin is a joy to play for many reasons. It has a compelling story dealing with revenge and identity, combat that is incredibly satisfying despite being a bit dated, and a setting filled with many fun activities. Unfortunately, there are technical issues that grind the pacing to a halt and can take players out of the experience. Still, when looking at the game as a whole, it is an easy recommendation, and the extended wait for fans to play it in English seems well worth it.

Like a Dragon: Ishin comes out February 21 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Game Rant was provided a PS5 code for this review.