The newest installment of the “Like A Dragon” series takes us away from the neon streets of downtown Tokyo and into the history books. The gameplay involves four unique fighting styles, crazy combo kills, and an in-depth talent system that will keep any player busy. But before you get to all that, you’ve got to figure out which difficulty setting is right for you.

There are four options to choose from: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Legend. As always with difficulty settings, you need to choose one as soon as you start a new game, so we’re here to show you how to make the right choice. Keep reading for a breakdown of each difficulty level, how it works, and who it’s best for.

Like a Dragon: Ishin! - Difficulty Levels Explained

In this 19th-century tale of war and revolution, you’ll use both swords and guns to defeat your enemies — along with your trusty fists and pretty much anything else laying around nearby. All four difficulty settings will start you off with around 500-510 HP, but the damage you take from enemies will increase dramatically on harder levels. 

Before we start, here’s one useful thing to remember: you can change your difficulty at any point by accessing the Gameplay menu. This means you can use this guide to make an informed decision, but there’s no need to worry about making a mistake you can’t fix.

The game will also prompt you to temporarily switch to an easier setting if you fail a fight multiple times, which is great if you’re in the middle of some exciting story. 

Okay, now let’s get into it. 

1. Easy

“Recommended for players who are new to action games.”

"Ishin!" knows what you want to see — when you deal the killing blow to an enemy, you'll get a close-up slow-mo shot of it happening. 

Unsurprisingly, the easiest setting doesn’t present much of a challenge. The game recommends it to players who are new to action games — so people who have never played another “Yakuza” or “Like a Dragon” title, or any other similar game. 

Playing on easy is a very forgiving experience. You can attack NPCs as much as you want without getting interrupted, and when you get hit, the damage is minimal. This means you can focus on attacking without worrying about your defense. If you miss an evade or a parry, the consequences are so slight that it doesn’t really matter.

How it Works

• Your starting HP is 510
• In the opening fights, enemies hit you for 4-10 HP at a time
• NPC interrupts are minimal
• Enemies take more damage

Choose This Difficulty If…

• You’re new to action games or games with combo moves
• You’re more interested in the story than the combat
• You generally want to beat fights on the first try
• You’re not confident with well-timed button presses for defending

2. Normal

“The standard difficulty level.”

When Ryoma's fighting style is lit... he's literally lit (on fire). 

This is the setting for people who don’t want to choose a setting. It’s not specifically easy, but it’s definitely not too hard either. The game refers to it as the “standard” level, and some would say it’s how the game was intended to be played. 

The great thing about Normal is that you can go crazy with combo attacks and elaborate kills without worrying too much about dying yourself. While NPCs will occasionally interrupt your attacks, they won’t cause too much damage and you can get back on your feet quickly. Getting a perfect parry will feel amazing, but you don’t need to pull them off every time to stay alive.

How it Works 

• Your starting HP is 510
• In the opening fights, enemies deal 13-20 HP of damage
• NPCs will interrupt your attacks occasionally 
• Enemies take the standard amount of damage (a little less than Easy)

Choose This Difficulty If…

• You don’t want to spend time choosing a difficulty setting
• You’re happy to play the game at the intended difficulty level
• You don’t mind dying infights occasionally if you mess up
• You don’t want to perfect your defensive play

3. Hard

“Recommended for players skilled at action games.”

Imagine dying from a punch in the stomach.. how embarassing.

If you’re a long-time fan of the “Yakuza” and “Like a Dragon” series, Hard might be the right difficulty for you. While each title is different, you’re experienced in their various combat systems, and you probably have a few other action games under your belt too. You’re ready for a reasonable amount of challenge — you’re just not crazy enough to try Legend. 

The Hard difficulty is a satisfying balance of hard-earned attack combos and perfect parries. While you definitely have to focus on your defense to stay alive, it’s not so difficult that you’ll struggle to get combos in. The gap between Normal and Hard isn’t too large — the biggest difference is that you need to keep up the good work for longer as enemies will die more slowly. 

How It Works

• Your starting HP is 510
• In the opening fights, enemies do 13-30 HP of damage
• Your attacks will be frequently interrupted by NPCs
• NPC attacks will be longer and harder to break out of
• Enemies take less damage (a little less than Normal)

Choose This Difficulty If…

• You’re highly experienced in action games
• You don’t like to win a fight too easily
• You enjoy the challenge of having significant consequences
• You want to focus on defensive play as well as attack combos

4. Legend

“For players seeking a challenge.”

This guy nearly took Ryoma down with him... he was a real nasty piece of work.

Only true fans of action-based combat are fit to take on the Legend difficulty. Not only do you need to be skilled and disciplined, but you also need to really enjoy long and challenging encounters. Legend is for the people who see the difficulty settings on a game and can’t forgive themselves if they don’t choose the hardest one. 

At this level, combat is all about defense. During the opening fights on Easy difficulty, it takes a minimum of 50 hits to kill you, but on Legend, an NPC could take you down in just 10. As the game progresses, fights become even more unforgiving. To get by, it’s essential to parry and evade enemy attacks with a high rate of success, leaving you with less leeway to pull off attack combos. 

It’s also important to leverage the weaknesses of enemies, so you can incapacitate them with poison, blindness, or fire. Different fighting styles will suit different situations as well, so you’ll need to switch between The Swordsman, The Gunman, The Wild Dancer, and The Brawler as necessary. 

How it Works

• Your starting HP is 505
• In the opening fights, enemies hit for 25-55 HP 
• Your attacks will be interrupted by NPCs very often
• NPC attack combos will be long and often down your character
• Enemies take the least amount of damage (significantly less than Hard)

Choose This Difficulty If…

• You are, as the game suggests, up for a challenge
• You’re ready to fail fights multiple times before you clear them
• You want to perfect your defensive skills
• You’re okay with working harder to achieve good attack combos
• You like long fights (enemies die much more slowly!)

Final Verdict

Combat systems are essentially a collection of rules, and the difficulty settings determine how strict those rules are. In Easy, you’ll find they barely matter at all — you can ignore a lot of the finer details and play however you want. In Legend, the rules are absolute. If you don’t defend, you’ll die, and if you don’t get good combos, your damage will suck. 

Thanks to the game's ability to switch between difficulty modes, it’s easy to find the right balance for you. Maybe you coast through the game on Easy and just enjoy the story, or maybe you tackle normal encounters on Hard and then decrease to Normal for big boss fights. Whatever you choose, slashing your way through enemies with your katana is going to feel amazing. 

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