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It’s been a strange week with the Counter-Strike 2 announcement being the highlight. We had a lot of interesting news from GDC and a look at upcoming games like Redfall and a TMNT game adaptation of The Last Ronin.
But I’ve been in the mood to talk about games themselves. So indulge me while I talk about a title that was overshadowed when Resident Evil 4 Remake fell into my lap: Like A Dragon: Ishin! I returned to playing the game after RE4R and have a few thoughts on it.
Set in Bakumatsu-era Japan, Ishin follows a fictionalized narration of real-life ronin Ryoma Sakamoto. He, like every other character in the story, is “played” by a mainline character Like a Dragon (formerly known as Yakuza) – in Ryoma’s case, he is played by Kazuma Kiryu, a hero from the old series. As usual in this series, you have a serious main story of revenge and social justice, balanced by wacky side activities and funny NPCs. There’s even an entire in-game life-sim side quest where Ryoma buys a house for no specific reason and starts a farm.
I didn’t get enough time with the game before starting RE4R to pass judgment. I’m still working on the finishing touches, but I’ve had a lot of fun with it. I would easily recommend it to fans of the series.
Ishin! has the same silly, charming fun as the rest of the series. It’s just a little strange to me that we’ve traveled centuries into the past and one of the first things the game does is give Kiryu a gun. Forging the entire subquest was unnecessarily busy work, but I still enjoyed the game and gave it a thumbs up.
In addition to more from Ishin!, I’ll also be working on a third walkthrough of Resident Evil 4 Remake – let’s see if I can make it in pro mode. I’ll check out Tchia too, if only because I feel like I need to see what the new launch on PlayStation Plus looks like on day one. It feels like we’ve already had several good releases this year, and I’m looking forward to the Star Wars/Zelda one-two coming in a few weeks.
What to play this week
What’s new:
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Atelier Ryza 3: Alchemist of the End and the Secret Key
- Tchia
- Happy death
- Narrator
New on subscription services:
- Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom – The Prince’s Edition (Xbox Game Pass)
- Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Extraction (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Ghostwire Tokyo (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Life Is Strange: True Color (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Immortals Fenyx Rising (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Life Is Strange 2 (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Street Fighter V Champion Edition (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Goose Game Untitled (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Final Fantasy Type-0 HD (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Anger 2 (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Neo: The World Ends With You (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Haven (PS Plus Extra + Premium)
- Ridge Racer Type 4 (PS Plus Premium)
- Ape Academy 2 (PS Plus Premium)
- Siphon filter: Dark Mirror (PS Plus Premium)
- Book of Demons (Prime Gaming)
- Peaky Blinders: Mastermind (Prime Gaming)
- Chess Ultra (GeForce Now)
- Amberial Dreams (GeForce Now)
- Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga (GeForce Now)
- No One Survived (GeForce Now)
- Clue: Hasbro’s Mystery Game+ (Apple Arcade)
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