Like a Dragon: Ishinis the latest foray from Ryu Ga Gotoku into dedicated and outlandish spin-off titles for the wider franchise, with this particular release being a bold and long-anticipated remaster of an original 2014 title. Despite being outwardly familiar with the returning faces and similar themes, the title’s core gameplay offers some seriously unique and complex mechanics that cannot be found elsewhere within the IP.
Many of these unique mechanics inLike a Dragon: Ishinpredictably concern the game’s combat experience, with combat always being one of the main pulls of theLike a Dragonidentity. Of all these unique mechanics inIshin, the Trooper Cards that can be collected, carefully equipped, and utilized by the player offer some of the most complex but rewarding combat decisions that the title has to offer.
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Trooper Cards in Like a Dragon: Ishin
Trooper Cards become available to the player during Chapter 5 ofLike a Dragon: Ishin’s main story, with the mechanic being directly tied to the events of the chapter. As part of the protagonist’s role as a captain of the Shinsengumi, a number of squads can be formed by the player to provide significant boosts to combat.
The soldiers within these squads take the form of Trooper Cards, which can vary drastically in rarity and the offered bonuses and skills they provide. Interestingly, a squad can be formed for each ofLike a Dragon: Ishin’s four combat styles, with the player then being easily able to swap between squads and fighting styles in-game on the fly. A squad’s Trooper Cards do not take the form of physical soldiers that fight alongside the player, but instead act as an ability wheel with each soldier possessing their own buffs and special moves that the player can use when fully charged.
The Strategy Behind Trooper Cards
The huge variety ofTrooper Cards that exist withinIshinlead to a great level of strategy, with players having at least four squads of up to four troops to curate and employ. Of course, each squad should be tailored to its corresponding combat style, with the player prioritizing ranged attacks for the Gunman style, for example. One member of each squad is designated as a Corporal, with each card possessing a potential Corporal buff that is continuously applied to the player during combat.
While Trooper Card abilities can simply be a boost to health or damage for a specific style, they can also range to devastating elemental abilities which can be some of the most powerful attacks in the entire game. Of course, these abilities are tempting for use but take longer to charge, and thus the player must compromise on having a range of abilities within a squad that differ in utility and the time it takes to charge them.
It is also worth mentioning that a freeDLC exists forIshinconcerning Legendary Trooper Cards, with many real-life celebrity fans of theLike a Dragonfranchise being immortalized as in-game cards. As Legendary Trooper Cards, they predictably possess massively effective abilities and buffs, being perfect candidates for Corporal roles within any squad.
Trooper Cards can then be used in the large majority ofcombat thatIshinprovides, even outside main missions. Using Trooper Cards during combat provides each card with experience, which in turn can level up cards to a certain rarity-based level cap, adding a greater health pool and level of buffs that the player can use. While Trooper Cards may initially seem an imposing mechanic to learn and master, a consistent level of shrewd strategy will make Trooper Cards one of the most rewarding aspects ofIshin’s combat experience.
Like a Dragon: Ishinis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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