Like a Dragon: Ishin! and the original Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!

Like a Dragon: Ishin! and the original Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! Ishin has two versions to keep straight: the original Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! from 2014 and the 2023 remake, Like a Dragon: Ishin! These guides will mainly cover the remake, with the original's differences identified separately. A checklist for one does not automatically work for the other. This takes the series back to the end of the samurai era. You play as Sakamoto Ryoma, with Kiryu's face and voice, as he searches for the person responsible for a murder that has turned his life upside down. That investigation brings him to Kyo and into the Shinsengumi under the name Saito Hajime. The familiar faces are part of the appeal, but they are playing different people. This is a historical spin-off with its own story. You don't need to work out where Ryoma fits into Kiryu's modern life. The game also takes considerable liberties with Japanese history, so treat its conspiracy and character relationships as fiction rather than a history lesson. The remake changes some of the casting to bring in faces from games that came after the original, including Yakuza 0 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Playing those games first gives you more people to recognize, but Ishin explains its own plot. Combat gives you four styles. Swordsman uses a katana, Gunman uses a pistol, Wild Dancer uses both together, and Brawler gives you the hand-to-hand option. It's real-time fighting. You can switch styles, build up their abilities, and put quite a bit of work into your equipment. Trooper Cards are one of the big differences between versions. The original restricted their abilities to Battle Dungeons. The remake lets you use them in normal fights and story battles once that system opens. That matters when looking up boss strategies: advice written around the original's restrictions can miss a major part of the remake's combat. There is plenty to do outside the story. Another Life has you farming, cooking, fishing and filling orders while helping Haruka with her debt. Around Kyo there are substories, friendships, training, wanted targets, arena fights and minigames. Going for full completion means spending time with all of them, as well as the smithing system. The remake has 72 numbered substories. Its equipment requirements, minigame content and various completion totals also differ from the original. Check the version on any guide before committing hours to a requirement that may have changed. You can keep working on the remake's side content in Premium Adventure after the story. Still, it's worth doing the small repeatable jobs as you travel rather than leaving every pot, well, shrine visit and friendship interaction until the end. The guides will separate the story route from the completion work, then cover the activities in enough detail that you can find them and actually finish them. That includes the minigame ranks, the crafting grind, the farm, the collectibles and the optional fights, not just a list telling you they exist.