Like A Dragon Direct reveals LAD: Infinite Wealth weaves the old and new with the utterly bonkers

rockpapershotgun.com:

Sega's Like A Dragon Direct happened in the early hours for us UK netizens last night, which meant I woke up today to an absolute heap of flaming hot Yakuza news. Not only is Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth launching on January 24th next year, it's taking Ichiban and co. to the sunny island of Hawaii! Kiryu's back and in a battle with his biggest adversary yet. And you can become an unhinged Pokémon master, among many, many other things. We're so back. We're so effing back.

Last night's LAD Direct dropped two big trailers, basically. The first of note is a ten-minute story trailer, which offloads a tonne of new details and does nothing to expand on how one could obtain infinite wealth. Maybe it's a metaphorical thing? We find out why Ichiban had his Johnson out on full show on a beach during the Summer Geoff Fest reveal: he's off to Hawaii, in search of his mother who seems to be out there. Perhaps infinite wealth could be found in a mother's arms? That would be fittingly Yakuza, I think. Still, an old enemy - an absolute bastard from the previous LAD - delivers the news, so I can't help but feel something isn't quite right.

Aside from making me point at the trailer and yell, "The boys!", and "The boy!", at both Ichiban being reunited with his pals and Kiryu, I wasn't expecting to let out a soft, "the... boy". Turns out Kiryu is suffering from cancer. Amidst all the chaos of finding Ichiban's mother and the inter-clan warfare it'll bring, Kiryu's chapter may finally come to a close. Daigo, Saejima, and Majima - all longtime legends - make an appearance, perhaps for one final hurrah. Either way, I can't wait to see how the story zigzags between the new in Ichiban and the old in Kiryu.

Then there's the gameplay reveal