Video Game / Like a Dragon: Ishin!

aka: Yakuza Ishin

The legend of Sakamoto Ryoma dawns.

^{See Like a Dragon: Ishin! remake cover art} 

Hasn't been a stranger tale in all my years. A man with his sights on the future gets gutted by a man stuck in the past. A killer who was never supposed to exist in the first place, takin' the life of a man who's had two of 'em. Right?

...Sakamoto Ryoma.

— Sasaki Tadasaburo

Like a Dragon: Ishin!, known in Japan as Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin! (translates to "Like a Dragon Restoration!") is the second samurai-based Spin-Off of the Like a Dragon series. It was released on February 22, 2014, for both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

Like its predecessor Kenzan, Ishin takes place in feudal Japan, this time during the 1800s (during the Bakumatsu period, to be exact, between 1853 and 1857) and focusing on the life of Ryoma Sakamoto, another real-life figure in Japan's history. After the murder of both his mentor and father figure, Sakamoto goes undercover to find out the identity of the swordsman who took them down. Under the name Saito Hajime, he infiltrates and joins the Shinsengumi, a police force organized by the government at the time, in order to get to the bottom of his predicament.

The combat expands upon the Hack and Slash-based system of Kenzan, but with several new elements including the addition of more special weapons, including spears and axes, as well as the addition of gunplay with the ability to use a pistol, either on its own or along with your sword to allow for more combo variety. Due to the universe of Yakuza expanding drastically since Kenzan, the open-world gameplay also received an overhaul, with a larger map, more substories and characters, and more of the quirky minigames that the series is now famous for, including fan dancing, chicken racing, and even raising a farm. Also included is the Battle Dungeon mode, which allows you to traverse several halls of enemies with the assistance of Soldier Cards, which give you a boost in a certain stat during combat; playing this mode allows you to gain rare items to craft better weapons and gear.

The PS4 version was a launch title for the system in Japan, making it the first game in the series to release for the eighth generation. As Kenzan launched when the series was still relatively new, Ishin boasts a much larger cast of familiar characters to model its own after, due to the series increasing its cast significantly since then.

Just like Kenzan, Ishin also only came out in Japan, with Western players able to buy an imported copy to experience it for themselves on either platform, due to the PS4 being region-free as well. If you don't speak any Japanese, KHHsubs once again has fans covered, with an in-depth, translated guide for the game, including a full text walkthrough, a downloadable PDF guide, help with weapon forging and substories, a translated video walkthrough in the works, and more. While Sega initially stated they had no plans to export the title, they revealed in August 2019 that localization was under consideration.

On September 2022, during the Sony State of Play, a Kiwami style remake of Ishin was announced. Titled Like A Dragon: Ishin!^JP  『龍が如く 維新！ 極』 ("Like a Dragon Ishin! Kiwami"), the game was released worldwide for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Steam on February 21st, 2023^note  Digital Deluxe Edition users get access to the game three days earlier. . It is the first localized game in the series to drop the Yakuza title in favor of its original Japanese title, Like a Dragon.

Teaser Trailer (Remake), Ambush Trailer (Remake)

Like a Dragon: Ishin! provides examples of the following tropes:

• Adaptational Attractiveness:
  • Susumu Yamazaki in the remake, having his original model, the zombie-looking Kugihara, being swapped out in favor of the much handsomer Joon-gi Han.
  • Katsu Rintaro in the original shared his appearance with the middle-aged and gaunt Aoyama. In the remake, his appearance is based instead on Masato Arakawa, who's much younger looking.
• Adaptation Expansion: The remake features counterparts of characters introduced after the original release, such as Kuze, Joon-Gi Han, and Zhao. There is also the usual new content seen in previous Kiwami remakes, such as new karaoke songs and sub-stories.
• All Just a Dream: In Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Kiryu reveals that he dreamt living as Sakamoto Ryoma, although he (half-jokingly) doesn't dismiss the possibility that that he is seeing Ryoma's memories in his dreams. Stranger things have happened in his life...
• Anachronism Stew:
  • Yes, Don Quijote (the real-life Japanese store chain, not the Spaniard literary character, mind you) exists here in feudal Japan, albeit a fittingly historical adaptation of it that uses hiragana for its storefront logo.
  • Somehow, karaoke exists in the Ishin universe, at least a century before it was invented.
  • Texas Hold'em style poker is in the remake, despite said card game being invented in the 20th century.
  • While Mahjong would have existed in China during the time period, the popularity of the game in Japan and the invention of the Riichi ruleset used in the game would only happen around 70 years in the future.
• Apathetic Citizens: When the city of Kyo is set ablaze in Chapter 12, the blacksmith, both pawn shops, multiple apothecarists, and two different restaurants are still operating despite such a catastrophe. It's downplayed since the rest of the civilians are suitably frightened for their lives and/or trying to rescue other survivors. For the most part, they're only still operating for the sake of player convenience.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Even by the standards of the Edo Period, Tosa's class system is shown to be excessively if not ruthlessly stratified when women and even lower-ranking samurai could be cut down simply for not looking at their "betters" the right way. Especially after his experiences in Edo, this helps fuel Ryoma's desire for change.
• Bait-and-Switch Boss: Sengoku Toranojo. After chasing him all through his mansion, Okita kills him in a cutscene after he's been cornered and then challenges Ryoma to a fight.
• Bathhouse Blitz: Ryoma's first fight against Saigo Kichinosuke (who's Ryuji Goda's counterpart in the game) takes place in a bathhouse.
• BFG: Ryoma can use cannons as secondary weapons. They hit hard.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Due to its heavier emphasis on weapons than previous Like A Dragon games, Ishin! has the heroes and villains inflicting a lot more brutal injuries on one another both in cutscenes and gameplay. Expect to see massive splashes of blood flying everywhere once Ryoma and his allies start slashing and shooting their way through hordes of mooks.
• Bottomless Magazines: Ryoma's revolver never needs to be reloaded and can be fired as fast as the player can mash the button.
• Bowdlerise: Relating to the bathhouse scene above during the QTE in which Ryoma spanks Saigo, more steam is added to obscure the slap to the point it's barely visible in Ishin! Kiwami.
• The Cameo: Quite a few with the Trooper card system, containing characters from across the series like Rikiya from Yakuza 3, but the Elite Generals Pack border on Celebrity Cameo.
  • Professional wrestler Kenny Omega, complete with his "Essence of the One-Winged Angel" skill.
  • Actor Rahul Kohli, where he provides the "Essence of Firestorm" skill.
  • Cosplayer Vampy Bitme, who provides the "Essence of Embrace" skill.
  • Video game and Film composer Alex Moukala, where he is best known for his "funky" video game cover songs. Quite fittingly, his skill is "Essence of Crescendo".
  • Twitch Streamer Cohh Carnage, whose Trooper card is "Essence of Warfare".
  • Prominent Virtual YouTuber formerly from VShojo Nyatasha Nyanners is also a Trooper card, where she provides the "Essence of Conquering" skill.
• Combat Pragmatist: Ryoma is not above challenging someone to a swordfight duel and then pulling out his gun, honor be damned.
• Cooking Mechanics: In the "Another Life" segment, Ryoma can cook meals using fish and produce. These meals can then be used as powerful restorative items, or given to Haruka to sell at the market for profit.
• *Crack!* "Ow, My Back!": In the "All in the Hips" substory, as the Udon Shop owner is telling Ryoma how his technique for kneading udon noodles is "all in the hips," he cracks his back, which leads to Ryoma taking his place serving the customers and unlocking the Udon Shop minigame.
• Demoted to Extra: Haruka had a large role in Kenzan, being one of the central figures in its plot. In Ishin, she not only has much less screentime, but doesn't even contribute to the main story. Instead, she's the focus of the entirely optional Another Life sidequest. That being said, doing it will still allow you to build your bond with her and become her parental figure as you'd expect.
• Disc-One Nuke: It's possible to get a maximum-rank Muramasa sword as early as Chapter 4. To do so, you need to craft a maximum-rank Yaksha Blade (which only requires a Silver Hammer), then take it to the Dull-Eyed Man in Mukurogai. He can upgrade it to a Skink Lizard of the same quality for no cost as long as you've got the crafting materials for it, then upgrade that sword to Muramasa the same way. This gives you a very powerful sword that lets you recover 16% of damage dealt per hit much earlier in the game than you'd normally be able to unlock such a weapon in the blacksmith, as well as saving you quite a bit of ryo.
• Double Unlock: Techniques learned from masters aren’t actually learned right then and there. It only unlocks the node on the respective style’s skill tree, which the player will then need to spend orbs on.
• Dwindling Party: The ranks of the Shinsengumi's captains fall over the course of the story. By the end of the game, only Ryoma/Saito, Okita, Hijikata, and Nagakura remain. In The Stinger, it is shown Ryoma survived.
• Elemental Weapon: Some weapons are infused with elemental powers, allowing you to stun enemies with lightning, ignite them with fire, corrode their armor with acid, inflict Damage Over Time with poison, blow them away with wind, stun them with light, or sap their health with yokai.
  • In the Kiwami remake, most of the story bosses will suddenly Turn Red and infuse their weapons with certain effects like stunning lightning, burning flames, poison, and "bleed".
• Empowered Badass Normal: Ryoma's skill with the sword and the gun already make him a bonafide One-Man Army but the Battle Dungeons grant Ryoma the ability to engage in outright sorcery through the Battle Trooper cards, casting out Chain Lightning and throwing out balls of fire from his bare hands.
  • In the Kiwami remake, Ryoma can now use Battle Trooper Cards outside of the Battle Dungeons after he's introduced to them. To balance this out, most of the main cast and boss fights will also demonstrate similar supernatural abilities after they take enough damage and Turn Red. Notably, Okada doesn't start using any mystical powers until the third time you fight him.
• End of an Age: Ishin! is set during the Bakumatsu era, which saw great social and political upheaval that ended 300-years of Tokugawa rule and would ultimately lead to the end of the samurai as the ruling class. Ryoma and his allies actually set the final dissolution of the Bakufu into motion by delivering a letter to Tokugawa Yoshinobu asking for him to abdicate, and they go on to play a role in the early stages of the Meiji Restoration afterwards.
• Farm Life Sim: As part of the "Another Life" portion of the game, you can farm various crops that you can sell at market or use as ingredients in cooking.
• Fighting Fingerprint: A major plot point that drives the first half of the game. Ryoma/Saito's Parental Substitute, Yoshida Toyo, is murdered by a masked individual, with a unique sword style that proves capable of holding back both Ryoma and Takechi, each skilled swordsmen that are formidable in combat. Accidentally blamed for Yoshida's murder, Ryoma only has the assailant's unique swordplay as an identifying mark whilst he tries to Clear My Name. He eventually discovers it's the Tennen Rishin style, drawing from various assets such as jujutsu, staff combat, and old martial arts, with a focus on function over form, the only practitioners of which relocated to Kyo and were eventually turned into the leaders of the Shinsengumi because of their fearsome swordplay. Having crossed blades with the assassin once, he infiltrates the Shinsengumi as Saito Hajime, looking for opportunities to observe their members in a fight to identify which one is the killer he's looking for.
• Full-Frontal Assault: A boss battle between Sakamoto and Saigo Kichinosuke takes place in a bath house, and both characters fight entirely in the nude, with only Censor Steam hiding the naughty bits.
• Genre Mashup:
  • Downplayed. The motifs of the soundtrack are very much faithful to the game's Bakumatsu setting, but there is still a fair bit of classic Like a Dragon motifs in the soundtrack, most prominently the theme for the Final Boss incorporating motifs from "Fly", as well as there being the usual "Receive You" remix.
  • The soundtrack for the Chicken Races, "Like a Chicken's Shadow" (courtesy of 83key, also known as Eshericks or on your groove), mixes traditional Japanese instruments with techno and drum & bass.
  • Of all genres, trap music makes its debut in the remake with a remix of Akiyama's Leitmotif from Yakuza 5, "Affected Fight".
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Not quite space fleas, but definitely giant 18-foot tall samurai wielding equally massive kanabō and arrows that they can throw like ninja stars appear during certain long battles in Ishin Kiwami. Much like the other fantastical elements added in the remaster, this is completely uncommented on by the story.
• Hate Sink: Yamauchi Yōdō appears at the last minute of the story, taking all the blames, allowing for a Heel–Face Turn of Takechi, and just dies without even a boss battle. Not helping matters is that he's played by Kyōhei Jingu.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Ryoma gets a double dose of this trope. Firstly, he is considered a wanted fugitive in his native Tosa after he assaults two Joshi soldiers and then is framed for his adoptive father's assassination and his subsequent escape from the province. Then, in his search for the killer, he joins the Shinsengumi, a Bakufu-backed special police force with a reputation for ruthlessness and violence feared by the people of Kyo as the "Mibu Wolves". The latter one becomes downplayed as Ryoma builds up reputation in the various districts- NPC chatter will increasingly become people talking about how maybe things are changing for the better if he's part of the Shinsengumi or talking about the heroic acts he's performed.
• Historical Domain Character: The game has you play as Sakamoto Ryoma (modeled after Yakuza protagonist Kazuma Kiryu), and also features other Japanese historical figures of the time.
• Historical In-Joke: The author encountered in the "Death of the Author" substory, Natsumi Sokaku, is based on author Natsume Soseki. Even the books he asks for input on are parodies of three of Natsume's novels.
  • One of the historical Ryoma's accomplishments was arranging a meeting between representatives of Choshu and Satsuma, and getting them to set aside their rivalries to join forces against the Bakufu. In the game, it's because Ryoma got rip-roaring drunk after receiving a letter that his sworn brother had been executed and dragged Saigo and Katsura along on a pub crawl.
• In Medias Res: The opening cutscene depicts Ryoma's real-life assassination, which takes place much later in the game, through the eyes of one of the assailants; only breaking from his perspective when it becomes clear that his killer is the "real" Sakamoto Ryoma.
• Infinity -1 Sword: The Golden Gun only has 4 seal slots compared to the more powerful endgame firearms you can craft, and 2 of those slots are used on seal that manage heat consumption instead of something the player may find more preferable, but it's base damage is still one of highest around and you only need to use gambling tags to get it instead of crafting it at the blacksmith.
• Infinity +1 Sword:
  • The Last of The Dragons in the original Ishin was the best sword to craft by far, having the highest base damage of all sword weapons and a ranged Sword Beam to make all basic attacks into ranged attacks with more consistency.
  • The Dragon Hawke and Vortex are the best guns you can craft in terms of damage per second thanks to their innate seals that increase their firing rate far higher then the other firearms in the remaster. The Vortex's innate seal let's it shoot somewhat faster, but the Dragon Hawke also comes with an innate seal for firing 2 bullets at once that you don't need to grind for.
• Item Crafting: At the Kurogane Blacksmith, you can combine materials with weapons and armor that you own to create new and better equipment. For enchanted weapons (the blacksmith at Kurogane will not craft them), see the Dead-eyed Man in Mukurogai; as long as you have the right materials and weapons, he'll work on them for free.
• Jidaigeki: The game is set in 19th-century Japan, during the Bakumatsu period.
• Kick the Dog: As a way to show how brutal the Bakumatsu era was, anyone on-screen belonging to the "joshi" (high-ranking samurai) class is willing to commit acts of violence and even murder at the most trivial perceived slight.
  • At the beginning of Chapter 1, just as a young girl is suffering from appendicitis, a pair of joshi walk by. Per the customs, everyone else nearby must make way to either side of the street, kneel and stay silent until the joshi are out of their sight. However, the child can't keep silent due to extreme pain, forcing her mother to carry her away so that she can receive medical attention. The two joshi stops the mother, saying if the kid dies, it's because fate says so. When the mother protests, they knock her to the ground. When the mother refuses to yield, they draw their swords on her, dead set on cutting her down for defying them. This prompts Ryoma to intervene, giving the mother a chance to get away and kickstarting the story.
  • A literal example happens in the "Hope Blossoms Again" substory, where one joshi tries to cut down a mute elderly lady for splashing water on him as she was watering her plants, despite her husband's constant plea for mercy, and proceeds to kill her dog who kept barking at him.
  • Later in the story, Ryoma and Katsura come across some punks throwing rocks at a stray dog, similar to one of the most memorable scenes in Yakuza 1. This time, it's Saigo (Ryuji) who steps in to teach the punks a lesson, and he ends up adopting the dog afterwards.
• Later-Installment Weirdness: Whether it's the original or the remake, there's a lot to be had in this installment when compared to earlier and later entries in the series.
  • Starting with the original, this would be the first installment to introduce sprinting, with it becoming a staple feature in every game onwards (apart from Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, another game developed by RGG Studio that was built on the same engine used from the original Ishin! to Yakuza Kiwami).
  • The Heat Gauge in this game is different than what was seen previously in Yakuza 5, whilst bearing visual similarities to what would later be seen in the Judgment titles. Namely, instead of being one long segmented gauge like in most entries, it is instead a circular meter to the left of the health gauge (similar to Judgment), which has up to five bars when Ryoma is fully kitted out. A Heat Action usually consumes a third of one bar of Heat, unlike earlier entries where it would consume at least half of it.
  • The upgrade system would also pave the way to the upgrade system later seen in 0 and Kiwami 1 (which in turn would be revised from 6 onwards). Namely, the upgrades are split into four different skill trees for each fighting style. You get Soul Orbs by leveling up normally (White Orbs) and upgrading each style (e.g., Red Orbs for the Brawler style). This upgrade system would also be used in Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise.
  • While different fighting styles were present in Kenzan!, this would be the first game to properly expand on the concept by introducing four distinct fighting styles Ryoma can pick from. In Ishin's case, the four styles are unarmed, a sword, a gun, and one using both sword and gun.
  • With the increased focus on using weapons, they function differently from the mainline entries. The katana and revolver can neither break nor run out of ammo. The revolver even has different types of ammunition that varies from the standard, incendiary or explosive rounds.
• Leave Him to Me!: After each boss fight in the final battle before Ryoma fights Takechi, each Shinsengumi Captain that joins him breaks off to deal with the boss and survivors offscreen: Nagakura takes on Sasaki, Hijikata fights Ito, and Okita confronts Thomas Glover. They all return to help Ryoma corner and execute Lord Yodo.
• Magical Realism: While already somewhat present in the main series regarding Heat being a real thing that's just seldom ever actually acknowledged, the Kiwami remake takes it to a whole new level. With the new incorporation of the Trooper card system into the main gameplay and storyline, as opposed to being limited to a sidequest minigame, Ryoma can arbitrarily become a full-on Magic Knight with the potential for an absurdly varied amount of blatantly supernatural abilities. Other major characters in the main storyline have boss fights where they demonstrate similarly mystical skills as well to make things even. No one ever comments on any of it aside from the standard astonishment at Ryoma's fighting ability. Admittedly this is just the result of Gameplay and Story Segregation with none of the remake gameplay elements being factored into the original existing storyline.
• Musical Nod:
  • A remix of 2's opening theme, "As a man, As a brother" gets remixed during the infamous bathhouse encounter with Kichinosuke, being "As a man, As a brave".
  • Unlike the original, remixes of "Collisions of our Souls", "Massive Fire", "Affected Fight", and "Fly" are added for Sasaki (Watase), Nagakura (Saejima), Katsura (Akiyama), and Hijikata (Mine) during their respective boss fights in Kiwami.
• Mutual Kill: The Shinsengumi arrange it to seem like Todo and Takeda killed each other after an argument, so that Ito does not know Todo was The Mole and that the fake Ryoma isn't tipped off about the planned assassination (in reality, Todo bled out after a stomach wound courtesy of Takeda, and Ryoma killed Takeda in retribution).
• Occidental Otaku: A side story has Ryoma train an American man (in an American flag-styled hakama, no less) in swordplay because he wants to become a samurai. Nobody else, not even children, take him seriously, but after a few sessions with Ryoma, he's able to find it in himself to raise his sword to protect those children.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Like its predecessor Kenzan, having the ability to use weapons at will turns the ridiculous durability of enemies during random encounters even further. Even by the series' standards, it's quite baffling to see people survive getting shot at point-blank range multiple times with a pistol, sliced up with a sword, or both.
• Orphaned Series: Possibly. At the moment, the samurai subseries of Yakuza is likely done, as the gap between Ishin and Kenzan was 6 years as it was, and in the time since then, the main series moved away from action to turn-based RPG, with Judgment serving as a continuation of the brawler format. With the remake released in 2023, however, there is a possibility for the spinoff series to continue.
• Piñata Enemy: The Golden Sneak, a flamboyantly-dressed bandit in a kitsune mask is a solitary enemy that has more HP and strength than average foes and often wields an elementally-charged sword. Upon defeat, they drop rare and valuable crafting components, making it worthwhile to attack them every time they spawn.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: The Kakumei Joui are an extremist isolationist group, and about as violent as they come. Whenever there's a foreigner out and about, these xenophobic assholes are never far behind, ready to kill some "barbarians" and any "traitors" who dare to defend them.
• Recycled Soundtrack: "Pledge of Demon" and "With Vengeance" from 0, as well as "FM-Sounds Storm" from 3 are added into the remake in their original forms during the Boss encounters with Ito (Kuze), Takeda (Awano), and Thomas Glover (Andre Richardson), respectively.
  • There's also "Pray Me -Revive-" from the Kiwami remake which is an arrangement of "Pray Me" from the original Yakuza game. It was also added to the remake for the Boss fight with Yoshida (Shimano).
  • Lastly, "Town Bully" from 6 plays during the Dual Boss fight against Kichinosuke (Ryuji) and Katsura (Akiyama).
• Rule of Cool: In spades. Half the stuff that Ryoma pulls with a revolver in this game sure as hell wouldn't be possible in the present day let alone during the Bakumatsu period that the game is set in. All the same, it still makes for a spectacle to see Ryoma channel his inner Neo on some unsuspecting Joshi in his Gunman or Wild Dancer styles.
• Sad Battle Music: While the first two phases of the Final Boss theme start off bombastic... the final phase theme however takes on a very melancholic tone compared to the other two.
• Secret Identity:
  • Sakamoto Ryoma takes on the alias "Saito Hajime" while living undercover.
  • Later in the game, it is revealed that three of the Shinsengumi captains are also living under aliases. Back when the Shinsengumi was known as Miburoshigumi, Hirayama Goro, Hirama Jusuke, and organizational co-founder Serizawa Kamo took on the respective names of Okita Soji, Nagakura Shinpachi, and Inoue Genzaburo after their namesakes died due to infighting.
  • Takechi has been using Ryoma's name for some time before the game begins, and even fakes his death to continue the charade until he is finally outed in the final act.
  • Sodachi Nobuyasu is using the Sanada name to gather an army, with his main goal being to overthrow the Tokugawa and install himself as Japan's new de facto ruler.
• Shout-Out:
  • One sidequest involves helping a seasick foreigner, who's based on Commodore Matthew Perry. In the remake, the very first thing he says is "Knock knock! Time to open the country!"
  • Another sidequest has Ryoma meeting an American named Tom who wants to become a samurai despite his status as a foreigner.
  • At one point, Aguri says "Once again, I have cut a worthless object".
• Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: In the story (and historically), the arrival of modern firearms by Western traders bring a huge change in tactics and power dynamics. In gameplay, the Gunman style is a Game-Breaker, used to decimate foes without taking a scratch.
• Stance System: Just like its predecessor Kenzan, this game has a stance system, this time more diverse than Kenzan, and you unlock more styles as you progress. The stances include Swordsman, a well-balanced fighting style that offers a mix of offensive and defensive abilities; Gunman, a long-ranged style that can use special ammo to inflict status effects; Wild Dancer, a Sword and Gun style that trades defense for speed and attack power; and Brawler, which eschews weapons in exchange for bare-handed ass-beatings and versatile parries.
• Sword and Gun: This is one of the fighting styles you can use, called Wild Dancer. While fast and able to dish out extreme amounts of damage, that speed and power comes at the expense of being unable to block.
• The Rest Shall Pass: During the final raid on Kochi Castle, each of Ryoma's remaining Shinsengumi allies volunteer one-by-one to stay behind and fend off one of Takechi's allies (Nagakura for Sasaki Tadasaburo and the Mimawarigumi, Hijikata for Ito Kashitaro and the Goryo Eji, and Okita for Thomas Glover and the British Royal Navy) so Ryoma can go onward to face Takechi.
• Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: The Shinsengumi do not take kindly to traitors or deserters, as per their "Iron Code". When Ryoma attempts to spare a deserter on his first assignment, Todo steps in and executes the poor guy on the spot.
• Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay: Bringing a gun to a swordfight tends to end it pretty fast. Of course, even the weakest enemies can tank half a dozen bullets, so this is Zigzagged.
• Universal-Adaptor Cast: Like Kenzan, many characters in this game are "portrayed" by various characters across the Like a Dragon franchise. The remake extends the roster, incorporating characters from the games released after the original Ishin, from Yakuza 0 onwards.
• Variable Mix: The normal battle music subtly changes in instrumentation when Ryoma switches between his four stances.
• Velvet Revolution: Toyo's original plan was for a bloodless coup of the ruling council of Tosa, though he did have his men carry arms just in case things went south. Takechi thought this was hopelessly naïve and had Toyo murdered so he could steer the Tosa Liberation Party down a more violent path.
• Where It All Began: The final chapter takes place in Tosa, with Ryoma and what's left of the Shinsengumi raiding Kochi Castle, the place where Yoshida Toyo was killed and Ryoma's life was changed. The final battle with Takechi even starts in the same room Yoshida was killed in.

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To all my brothers of Japan...tomorrow is yours!

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