The name Kazuma Kiryu is dead. One of Japan's most feared gangsters has escaped his previous life, protecting the kids at the Sunflower Orphanage and ensuring a future for his (in all essence honestly) adopted daughter Haruka. But now he is a stooge named Joryu working for a government dog. With the appearance of a new villain who knows who he is, the newly christened Joryu is thrust once again into the political machinations of the unraveling world of Japan's gangsters. Caught between working for unlikeable government gangsters or underworld hoods, Joryu punches his way through Osaka...and a container ship where the rich and powerful hold battles to the death in a floating casino.
If you've played a Yakuza game in the past you know exactly what to expect from Gaiden. You'll explore a meticulously recreated portion of Osaka where roving bands of punks want to fight you for no apparent reason. You'll step into karaoke bars, collect the parts to build the perfect pocket racing car, eat your fill of the local delicacies, and pursue side missions that offer everything from big laughs to emotional callbacks to previous games.
But some quality of life improvements make for a smoother experience than ever before. Substories, which used to be difficult to find as they were organically spread through the city in certain chapters, now come through a new reputation system. Through this you can see the whole list and any requirements to unlock them. It's something I hope to see implemented in future games...perhaps one of the best additions in Gaiden.
Another addition is Kiryu's new combat style, utilizing gadgetry and quick kung-fu moves to dispatch enemies. With a big glowy whip that can send enemies flying or tie them up, kamikaze drones, and shoes that add a little extra power through propulsion, you'll find taking down punks even more smooth than ever before. You can still, of course, opt for a brawler style, picking up everything on the street to beat people's faces in. That yin-yang variety of styles makes for a lot of fun combat portions.
The fighting arena is also awesome. You can recruit characters to help you in group brawls or go for a more personal beat-down in a one-on-one brawl. It's such 80's goofy schlock and I couldn't get enough of it.
The usual issues with the series persist though. Random encounters with punks are plentiful to the point of making basic traversal of the map a pain. While it is important to grind them for money (which I'll discuss in a moment), many times when trying to complete simple tasks it can become burdensome to the point of annoyance.
Another issue that comes down to personal taste for me is how money is utilized for pretty much everything. You need money to buy items and do minigames of course, but it is also tied to leveling Kiryu up alongside the "Akame Points" you earn by completing side content. Money must also be used to upgrade the Akame system which means money management becomes such an integral part of progression. It also means grinding becomes a must if you want to be able to take on some of the harder challenges and spongy bosses that come in the late game side content, the hardest portions of the brawls on the ship, and some of the final bosses. There is plenty of opportunity to get rich and be extremely strong (in fact if you focus on side content as it becomes available you will easily smoke any bosses in the main story), but I like when the systems for all these things are separated. Integrating money into everything makes every major money decision a little more stressful than I like.
Like a Dragon Gaiden was pitched to me as a little appetizer before the main course of Like a Dragon 8 which drops early next year. So I was under the assumption this would be a ten hour simple story with minimal side content. I was so wrong, and if that is the impression you got I implore you to consider checking Gaiden out. This is a full-fledged game that may not be as long as the series' entries generally get, but has more content than a lot of full-priced titles on the market. The five chapter main story will take around ten hours to complete but the sheer amount of stuff to do otherwise makes this a hefty 20-25 hour endeavor.
And that doesn't even include the demo for Like a Dragon 8 that you unlock at the end. Supposedly containing exclusive content you won't see in the final game and with the ability to save your progress and start from where the demo ends when the game comes out, it's a fantastic extra incentive to play Gaiden.
I've been playing the Yakuza series since about 2007 (I hate to be the one to go I played them before they were cool....but I played Yakuza 1 with the dub on PS2) and I am so happy to see this series grow and evolve to what it is now. Kiryu remains a multi-faceted macho man you love to invest in and his return is a fittingly twisty, manly, and ultimately heartfelt introduction to the next phase of the Like a Dragon franchise. If you're new to the series I think it is contained enough that you will catch on to whatever backstory you may be missing. For series vets, this is a game that doesn't necessarily innovate in the same way as Like a Dragon 7 but certainly pays homage to the series' roots, in the words of a great Like a Dragon protagonist, with finesse.
Rating: 9/10
Played on: PS5
Publisher offered code for honest review
Check out our review of the previous Like a Dragon game here
