![]() ![]() Honestly, the game comes pretty close to inviting the notion that it’s simply a reskin of a modern Yakuza game, but that’s really the beauty of it. ![]() And yes, Ken will engage in all manner of outlandish and surprisingly deep minigames that are completely at odds with the tone of the story, just like Yakuza. He’ll gain experience to unlock new combat abilities and equip accessories to boost his stats, just like Yakuza. ![]() For most of the game, Ken will roam around a small city area, conversing with its denizens, completing favours and beating up gangs of thugs that he passes on the streets, just like Yakuza. Lost Paradise not only cribs story beats and themes from Yakuza but its overall structure is nearly identical. If it seems like a lot of comparisons are being drawn between this game and Yakuza it’s because this is, for all intents and purposes, just as much a spin-off of those games as it is FotNS. Of particular highlight is the bromance between Ken and Jagre, a city watch captain that reminds me a great deal of Final Fantasy X’s Wakka, only infinitely more likeable. It’s no small wonder that this team was chosen to produce a FotNS game, as it’s the same technique that’s been used to great effect in the Yakuza series and it works brilliantly here. Fist of the North Star is over 30 years old now and quite cheesy by modern standards, but the developers (and in particular the writers) have cleverly twisted that to their advantage and lean on the ‘camp’ factor at every opportunity while still retaining the drama needed to sell the story. This is just the beginning of an epic new version of events in the franchise’s lore, and saying any more would spoil some great stuff, but in all the developers have done an excellent job at penning an original story that stays true enough to the source material to please diehard fans while also retaining a lot of what makes their Yakuza games so compelling. Once there, Ken meets a cast of characters, some from alternate versions of the FotNS timeline and some brand new, and settles into a life of using his strength and skills to keep the city safe, all while uncovering the mysteries of Eden and the whereabouts of Yuria. Before long, Ken learns that a group of disciples guiding a woman fitting her description have travelled to a place known as Eden, or the City of Miracles, an oasis town built on the remnants of a technological marvel and one of the last remaining bastions of humanity’s hope. Ken emerges victorious, but learns that Yuria is long gone, and so he sets off across the wastes to find her. This retelling of Fist of the North Star introduces Kenshiro just as he faces Shin, the man responsible for kidnapping his soulmate, Yuria. Lost Paradise is no exception, with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio penning their own, new spin on the tale of Kenshiro and his quest to reunite with his true love against the harsh backdrop of a post-nuclear war Earth. It’s also famously loose when it comes to canoninity, with nearly each new piece of media in its universe taking all kinds of creative liberties with its main plot. Starting as a manga back in the early 80s before being adapted to multiple anime series, feature films and video games spanning the last few decades, it’s currently the 18th-highest grossing media franchise in the world at around $21billion USD. The Fist of the North Star franchise is an interesting one. Developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Lost Paradise is a positively hectic blend of the hyper-masculine and borderline homoerotic Mad Max-inspired Fist of the North Star anime and manga universe and the pseudo open-world martial arts action of their seminal Yakuza game series. It’s important to know this because it perfectly sums up the kind of game that this is. Roughly halfway through Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, a hyper-violent game set in a post apocalyptic wasteland full of murderous bandits, there’s a minigame that involves beating up said bandits to the rhythm of a collection of hip hop remixes of classical music while dressed as a doctor. ![]()
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