Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s Animal Crossing minigame is incredible, but it’ll take you a while to get there

polygon.com:

The Like a Dragon (née Yakuza) franchise is known and beloved for its idiosyncratic tone, lovable characters, and complete devotion to minigames. You get fishing minigames! Dating minigames! Cabaret club management minigames! Movie minigames! And they often come with a surprising amount of depth and replayability.

With the release of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the franchise has outdone itself with Dondoko Island, a ridiculously deep minigame that is a spin on the Animal Crossing formula. (Infinite Wealth also includes detailed parodies of Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Snap — the Nintendo love is real.) As someone who never got into Animal Crossing, I was surprised by how much I clicked with this game mode. It’s faster, more action-oriented, and a little bit trashier than Nintendo’s mega-successful series.

The fictional Dondoko Island, set off the coast of Hawaii (where much of the game takes place), is a former resort destination that has become littered with trash by a gang of local pirates who use it as a landfill. Infinite Wealth protagonist Ichiban Kasuga strikes a deal with the proprietor: Help clean it up and transform it back into a hot vacation spot, and he can take a portion of the profits.

At first, the minigame looks and feels a whole lot like Animal Crossing. Sure, there are decisions specific to this franchise — you clean up trash by whacking it with your bat and occasionally have to fight pirates that show up. But most of your time is spent building and placing new furniture and attractions, catching fish and bugs, doing interior decorating in your shack, and gathering resources. As you improve Dondoko Island, you’ll attract visitors, who you can help keep happy by giving them preferred gifts. Sound familiar?

Even as a non-Animal Crossing player, Dondoko Island has its hooks in me. Even though I’m deeply invested in Infinite Wealth’s sprawling story, I find myself spending more and more time on Dondoko Island, clearing out trash and chasing an