Summary
Warning: This article contains spoilers up through Chapter 4 of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Proceed at your own risk.
While theLike a Dragonseries has developed a reputation for having a wacky side thatLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthheavily leans into, there is still a gritty crime drama story that balances out these more lighthearted segments. For as humorous asLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthcan be at times, there are also grim reminders of the criminal underworld that Kasuga and his party find themselves entrenched in throughout the game. One of the game’s antagonist factions, the Barracudas, shows just how intense the darker side ofLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthcan be, and establishes themselves as one of the series' most brutal gangs.
Fans of the series are likely used to the balancing act theYakuzaandLike a Dragongames play, going from zany misadventures in some of their substories to dramatic and gut-wrenching scenes in their main plots. This tonal disparity is no different inLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but almost feels like it’s dialed up even higher, with crazier levels of levity inmini-games like Dondoko Islandand the Sujimon League, as well as darker themes in its main plot surrounding the brutality of Hawaii’s criminal underworld. Players are shown these dark elements early on when introduced to the Barracudas, who act as one of Hawaii’s main criminal organizations.
The Barracudas are Ruthless in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Even following the Great Dissolution of theTojo Clan and Omi Alliance inYakuza: Like a Dragon, there are still remnants of the criminal underworld in both Japan andLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth’s new setting of Hawaii. While the Yamai Syndicate carries the yakuza mantle across the Pacific, it’s the Barracudas who establish themselves as Hawaii’s most infamous criminal organization when they are introduced in Chapter 3 ofLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. During this introduction, Tomizawa warns Kasuga and Kiryu about the threat of the Barracudas, which they later see firsthand in one of the series' most disturbing scenes.
Some of the Barracudas’ Kills Top the Series’ Most Infamous Scenes
After witnessing a pickpocket get taken behind an alley by the Barracudas, Kasuga, Kiryu, and Tomizawa rush to his aid only to find the handiwork of the Barracudas. While nothing too disturbing is directly shown, it’s implied that this man has been nailed up by his hands by the gang, who then sliced him open with a machete, their weapon of choice. This scene is clearly meant to be grotesque, even to hardenedex-yakuza like Kiryu and Kasuga, as Kiryu warns Kasuga and Tomizawa not to look at the scene, given how brutal it appears to be.
While theLike a Dragonseries has had some pretty intense scenes of violence in the past, nothing has come close to the level of gore that would disturb even Kiryu. The series has shown scenes of torture in the past, like inYakuza 0whenMajima is tortured by the villain Sagawa, or inYakuza Kiwamiwhere Kiryu is tortured by Lau Ka Long. Even the massacre of the Ueno Siwa hit carried out by Saejima inYakuza 4doesn’t compare to the level of brutality perpetrated by the Barracudas inLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
The Barracudas show this brutality once again when the party infiltrates the underside of District Five in Chapter 4 and the gang kills Roman by stabbing and slicing him with a machete. While this event only seems to strengthen the party’s resolve to press forward and find Chitose, it further highlights howLike a Dragon: Infinite Wealthcan go from lighthearted to intensely somber in an instant. Some of the intimidation of this organization is lessened after the group defeats theBarracudas' boss, Dwight, later in the chapter, but this doesn’t take away the impact of the Barracudas' earlier, gruesome kills.
