Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life seemed like the end of Kiryu, despite the fake-out death reveal climax that meant he was alive and well and able to return at any point. His ‘retirement’ made sense, as unlike many other series, the characters in Yakuza age with every passing title. While Kiryu could still grapple with goons in Yakuza 6 at 48 years old, how much longer could he keep that up?

By the time Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon launched, introducing a new cast of characters and a new turn-based combat style, a 50-year-old Kiryu appeared in what felt like the perfect passing of the torch. It was a bittersweet send-off as the original cast is much loved, yet it was time for some fresh new blood to liven the series up and welcome in a new generation of fans.

It was surprising then to see Kiryu returning in the reveal for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and his own standalone smaller title, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Was Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio second-guessing itself on retiring its prizefighter?

It didn’t take long for the studio to reveal that Kiryu would be suffering from cancer in Infinite Wealth, much to the dismay of fans. It seemed like the curtain would be drawing to a close on the Dragon of Dojima for good. At least going forward, since Gaiden was set between Yakuza 7 and Infinite Wealth, and more of these smaller titles that plug gaps in the series past timeline would be very welcome.

During our hands-on with the game in New York City, we checked out the Bucket List feature that has Kiryu taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting locations that remind him — and us — of different moments from the series. Checking off items from Kiryu’s Bucket List will regain more of his strength for his fighting styles, and likely break your heart in the process as you uncover nostalgic sights and view screenshots from past titles. Having this ode to Kiryu’s history as you explore emphasises the feeling of the end of an era for the series.

During a cutscene, Nanba tells Kiryu, “If you don’t want to go through any treatment, I respect that. It’s your body, you do what you want with it.” This seemed to drive home further the point that Kiryu wouldn’t be getting a happy ending in Infinite Wealth.

As much as I believe Kiryu’s overdue a proper retirement at this point, I wouldn’t want to see the poor guy dead. Kiryu could have the retirement he deserved and appear as a brief cameo now and then as the series continued to show him aging gracefully and reminiscing about the good old days. But it seemed like Infinite Wealth was preparing us for a more permanent goodbye.

However, in a Q&A with chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto after the preview, he told us that the team “don’t want the story to be so bleak and predictable” and that they didn’t want Kiryu to “rot away or anything like that or end in that kind of dark tone”. He went on to say, “We’re not trying to make anything that’s going to be super sad or disappointing at the end.” Does this mean that somehow, by some strange miracle or misdiagnosis, Kiryu might live?

If that’s the case, it throws up a bit of a problem. I feel that having Kiryu somehow overcome his illness, despite forgoing treatment, will be unrealistic. I fear that he will magically get better by some sense of closure via his Bucket List or some magical sense of friendship. If there is any whiff of a misdiagnosis, or it was all some bizarre ruse for some (undoubtedly, not good enough) reason, and he doesn’t have cancer, I would lose a little respect for the series.

On the flip side, maybe Kiryu will change his mind, start treatment, and possibly survive. Perhaps he will still die, and the team intends to avoid a “super sad” ending by balancing out his death with some super sweet, emotional plot device. We won’t know for sure until we can play Infinite Wealth and see how it ends.

I think the best way to end it at this point, and with how Infinite Wealth has been set up so far, is in ambiguity. Kiryu goes away, either with or without treatment, and we don’t know whether he will survive the cancer. Schrodinger’s Dragon of Dojima. Maybe he’d resurface as a surprise in Like a Dragon 15, just an old man making a brief cameo to delight fans. Whatever happens, and despite my love for Kiryu, Majima, and the rest of the original cast, it’s time for them to fully hand the series over to the new crew. Infinite Wealth should be our proper goodbye to Kiryu.