Summary
Warning: This article contains minor substory spoilers for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Proceed at your own risk.
Substories are an important part ofLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, providing players with optional content and telling stories outside of the main plot’s yakuza-based crime drama. Historically, these substories have ranged from wacky to heartwarming, andLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthcontinues this trend with all kinds of characters being found through its substories. However,Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s substories excel in building on the substories ofYakuza: Like a Dragonby incorporating characters first established in this previous title, allowing players to see a continuation of the stories introduced in that game.
It can be intimidating for players to tackle all optional substories inLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthgiven all of the content available within the game. When players are tired of following the game’s main plot, challenging the Sujimon League, or rebuildingDondoko Island, taking on some of these substories is a great way to meetLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s supporting characters. Fans ofYakuza: Like a Dragonwill enjoy the game’s substories even more given how many familiar faces return with new stories to tell in these optional missions.
How Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Builds Upon the Substories from Yakuza: Like a Dragon
TheYakuzaandLike a Dragongameshave always incorporated substories as side content for players to explore when taking a detour from the main plot, and often feature recurring characters between entries in the series.Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealthlives up to its position as a sequel toYakuza: Like a Dragonby bringing back several characters from its predecessor’s substories and giving them new tales to tell in the game’s Hawaiian setting. While not every substory fromYakuza: Like a Dragonsees its characters return inLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the ones that do are fan favorites who can end up in unexpected situations.
The substory Litterbugged sees the return of Professor Okita and his robotic cleaning invention Sojimaru, while the substory Playing With Fire continues the story of Ikari as a new employee ofOunabara Vocational School. While these substories tend to feature similar arcs as their counterparts inYakuza: Like a Dragon, they are often worth doing for fans of these characters' antics.Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealthalso features a wide range of substories featuring new characters, who could end up returning in a sequel to conclude their stories.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s Saddest Substory is Also Its Most Ridiculous
One of the best examples of howLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s substoriesutilize characters established by the previous game is in the Let It Snow substory. This substory starts as an emotional request from a man desperate to find a way to show his dying wife snowfall in Hawaii as her final wish. Given how most of these substories involve Kasuga showing kindness and helping people in need, it’s obvious that he is going to do whatever he can to help this man make good on his wife’s last request, even if it seems impossible.
This substory takes a wild turn as players continue its questline when they encounter Susumu Gondawara, who originally appeared inYakuza 2but is likely most recognizable as the patriarch of theGondawara Family fromYakuza: like a Dragon, where he and his subordinates don diapers as adult babies. InLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Gondawara and his crew are once again played for comedy as they are diaper-clad when Kasuga encounters them, but offer to help Kasuga make it snow using the absorbent material of their diapers. This story has a touching ending as the dying woman gets her final wish, showing the game’s breadth of emotions within its substories.
