Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth's Dondoko Island is a whole game within a game

If you thought Yakuza minigames peaked with running an amateur baseball team, think again, as Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is introducing Dondoko Island.

Revealed during the October 25 Xbox Partner Preview, Dondoko Island sees protagonist Ichiban Kasuga travel to a remote island destination (on the back of a dolphin, no less), where he's able to build and maintain a home away from home for himself and his friends. It's very clearly inspired by Animal Crossing: New Horizons, with the ability to catch fish and bugs, craft furniture, chinwag with island residents and so on.

Kasuga can also build a home for himself, where he can place the furniture he's crafted or bought from the island's store. It won't be constant sunshine and rainbows, though; as the trailer below shows, enemies can show up to cause havoc. Thankfully, Kasuga's able to beat them back with his baseball bat in what looks like a departure from the main game's turn-based combat.

Dondoko Island seriously takes the cake regarding the series' iconic minigames. While most in the series are relatively small-scale, like bowling, batting cages and chicken races, there are a few that stand out as more fleshed-out experiences. Especially in more recent entries.

Yakuza 0's cabaret club and real estate management both had hours-long stories attached to them, for example. 0 and Yakuza Kiwami also featured a fantastic slot car racing storyline that persisted across both games. Yakuza: Like a Dragon's kart, racing was incredibly moreish, too. And I really shouldn't forget the time in Yakuza 5 when Taiga Saejima spent some time hunting a bear across a snowy mountain. Yes, that was a thing.

I am pretty excited about what Dondoko Island brings to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth when the game launches on January 26, 2024. As an enjoyer of both high-stakes crime narratives and laid-back lifestyle games, I know I'm going to find myself hopping across the water frequently to get away from it all.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is still a few months away, so consider checking out our best Xbox Series X games and best Xbox Game Pass games in the run-up to its release early next year.

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