In the decade since I first discovered the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise at a second-hand game store in a western suburb of Mumbai, I’ve played eight mainline entries, two spinoffs featuring the main characters (Yakuza: Dead Souls and Like a Dragon: Ishin!) and two other spinoffs featuring a different set of characters altogether (the Judgment series). Of course, not all of them knocked it out of the park for me, but they all had three things in common: An incredibly entertaining (if extremely cheesy in parts) storyline, oodles of engaging side content and a sense of occasion.
Enter Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name — which, going forward, will be referred to simply as Like a Dragon Gaiden — follows the trend in some ways and bucks it in others. But before we get into all that, here’s the customary walk down memory lane. Do be advised, dear reader, that a smattering of mild spoilers and a pinch of major ones for the series will follow. Consider yourself duly warned.
SEGA’s Yakuza series of semi-open-world brawlers kicked off in 2005 on the Sony PlayStation 2 and brought to millions the tale of Kiryu Kazuma, an idealistic yakuza lieutenant (Yakuza is a term used to describe the Japanese mafia). Loyal to a fault, he takes the fall for a crime committed by his best friend and is sentenced to 10 years in prison. And from there unfolds his journey to being hailed as the Dragon of Dojima and beyond. Each of the games features pulpy melodrama, extremely colourful characters and tonnes of brutal violence.
Since then, Yakuza, Yakuza 2, Yakuza 3, Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 have undergone remasters to bring them kicking, punching and screaming into the PS4 generation. A prequel, Yakuza 0, was released a decade after the series’ first appearance and soon after came Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Late in 2020, Yakuza: Like a Dragon dropped and featured a new protagonist, gallery of characters and combat system — the series that was renowned for its brawling had opted for a turn-based approach to turning enemies to pulp.
It was around this time that the series also underwent a rebranding exercise,... for the English-speaking world, in any case. While the series has always been known as Ryu Ga Gotoku (literally ‘like a dragon’) in Japan, it was branded as ‘Yakuza’ in non-Japanese markets — probably in order to clearly signpost what gamers were getting themselves into. With the franchise having gained a great deal of popularity over the years, it’s likely that a decision was made to keep things uniform in all markets.
It’s equally likely that with Kiryu seemingly out of the picture at the end of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and new protagonist Kasuga Ichiban being kicked out of the yakuza at the very start of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the scope of these games had expanded beyond the inner workings of organised crime groups.
Flash forward to September 2022, a very interesting time for RGG Studio aficionados. It had been four years since Kiryu’s (supposedly) final chapter was launched worldwide (two years after the Japanese launch), and the second instalment of the similar-but-different Judgment franchise had just been released for PC (a year after its console launch).
Then like a bolt out of the blue came the announcement that SEGA would be releasing three Like a Dragon games over the course of 2023 and 2024. The biggest of these would be Kasuga’s second adventure, the rather grandiosely titled Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, which is set for a January 2024 launch. The first of these was the Edo period (1603-1868) spinoff titled Like a Dragon: Ishin! that launched early this year and wasn’t without its charms. But it was the middle offering that simultaneously seemed the most intriguing and confounding.
Now, after having sunken close to 18 hours in Like a Dragon Gaiden’s fictionalised version of Osaka, I’ve been left with plenty to ponder.
Sa, iku ka (Alright, let's get going)
I played the Xbox Game Pass version of the game on both the Xbox Series X and PC—an Alienware Aurora R15 (with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 GPU and an i9-13900KF processor). Both of these would be a first, since all my previous dalliances with the series have been on the Sony console.
In terms of visuals, I’ve always found Yakuza/Like a Dragon games on PlayStation to be good, not great, but always extremely well-optimised. By which I mean that I’ve never seen any pop-in textures, compromises on draw distance (which probably has a lot to do with the fact that there aren’t any massively open areas in these games) or heinous visual glitches. Sure, there’s a bit of clipping—especially objects sticking through NPCs during fights—to be found here and there, but it never gets in the way of a good time.
The overall experience on the Xbox Series X was well-rounded: Quick load times, framerates of 60 fps, the quality of graphics to which I am accustomed with a Yakuza/Like a Dragon title. The experience on PC was, however, more mixed. Expectedly, I was able to whack all the graphics options to the highest settings and call upon NVIDIA DLSS for a richer visual experience. And the game largely reflected this with well-defined blemishes and birthmarks on the faces of characters becoming visible, textures turning more vivid and the Osakan district of Sotenbori (modelled on the real-life Dotonbori) looking far more vibrant. All of this was happening at a very satisfying 165 fps—the most my monitor could muster. The drawbacks of the PC experience, however, were the markedly longer load times, random objects or NPCs going blurry in cutscenes and (in truth, only very few) instances of framerate drops.
Onto the game itself, and if you’ve played a Yakuza title before, you’ll know what to expect in terms of how it all works. Running around the city and brawling with gangs of random no-goodniks, watching super-cinematic cutscenes, and then brawling with gangs of story-specific no-goodniks. Rinse and repeat. In between there are sidequests (known in this franchise as substories) that range from the delightful to the sublime, and from the exciting to the flatout bizarre. And then there are such activity centres—as entertaining as they are time-consuming—as SEGA arcades (complete with faithful recreations of old SEGA games), pool halls, karaoke bars, driving greens, pocket circuit (toy car racing) arenas and of course, cabaret clubs.
As the word ‘gaiden’ (Japanese for ‘side story’) would indicate, Like a Dragon Gaiden isn’t a full-fledged outing for RGG Studio.
On average, Yakuza/Like a Dragon games span between 12 or 13 to 21 (as seen in Yakuza 5) chapters that can take as little as an hour or upwards of three (if you’re getting knee-deep into side content) to complete. Like a Dragon Gaiden comprises a grand total of five chapters.
A little kaizen goes a long way
In terms of the relative length of the game, it’s hard to describe Like a Dragon Gaiden as a proper expansion in the vein of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy or Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales. That I crossed the 18-hour mark has less to do with the size of the story than the fact that I took it upon myself to try and complete all the side content. But before we get into the finer details, I’d like to spend a moment on the role Like a Dragon Gaiden plays in the RGG-verse.
Taking place after the end of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (admittedly well-handled, but a copout nonetheless) and during the timeframe of the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, this title can, for many reasons, be considered a bridge. Although they had already met in Kasuga’s debut adventure, this title serves to connect his path with that of Kiryu’s in a more meaningful way. It’s also a connection between Kiryu’s life before and after a certain life-altering event. With the trailer for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth having shown us that Kiryu returns in the game’s brand new setting of Hawaii, this game sheds some light on how and why he ends up there. And finally, it’s a bridge between the Yakuza and Like a Dragon personas of the franchise.
For me, this is where Like a Dragon Gaiden gets it right and wrong at the same time. Let’s start with the areas in which it sticks the landing, and the most prominent of these is the action. RGG Studio has a track record of using a kaizen approach to subsequent instalments in the series. Kaizen, for those under the impression that I’m making up words, is the philosophy that small, incremental changes applied continuously over a period of time result in notable improvement. In fact, the decision to opt for a turn-based system of combat in Yakuza: Like a Dragon is one of the very few big bang changes the series has seen.
Combat is one of the areas where the fruits of that approach are being reaped in Like a Dragon Gaiden. From a fun, but mildly janky and limited system in the very first Yakuza game, past the introduction of various styles for a variety of playable characters, and all the way to the current day, we’ve seen the evolution of brawling to a point where it is very nearly an art form. Kiryu relies on a pared-down (compared to previous titles) two fighting styles—his trademark Yakuza style and the new Agent style that relies on a variety of gadgets and is better for crowd control.
The Yakuza style is a very subtle improvement on the one seen in the previous edition, but the Agent style is brand new. Relying on four different gadgets (drones, explosive cigarettes, rocket shoes and binding wires), the style is a nimble and quick one that helps take out multiple enemies in creative ways. Using the wires to fling a bunch of enemies Spider-Man-style off a bridge and into a canal was one of the more entertaining methods upon which I stumbled. Combat is especially enjoyable in the Coliseum’s team battle modes.
This is a fitting way to ostensibly bring the curtains down on Kiryu’s life as a brawler (considering the upcoming title in which he features, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, is a turn-based RPG)—through the most polished version of combat yet. Similarly, a major story arc is handled very satisfyingly and it brings to a close one of the most evocative parts of the franchise. It must be noted that even with this story arc, progress occurred slowly but effectively over the course of the series. And it contributed to that warm, fuzzy feeling in the tummy at the end of it all.
Not quite a damp squib, but quite close
In my view, the most appealing aspect of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon games is their completely unhinged, violent soap opera approach to storytelling. Things generally tend to start off small before the first sign of conflict. The narrative rollercoaster then takes you on a ride higher and higher, with the conflict being linked to an increasingly murky conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. Just like the rollercoaster. It holds for a moment or two, allowing you to take in the sights and asks you thoughtfully whether there’s anything you’d like to do before we cross the point of no return. And then duly plunges you into a bone-rattling segment of violence, retribution, cheesy one-liners, some exposition and even more violence… until the denouement.
This story is what pushes me through the most tedious battle sequences, the most repetitive fetch quests and the most difficult mini-bosses at whose hands I die many deaths. In its absence, what would be my motivation? Each story also has a clear beginning and end, and exists as a self-contained tale. That isn’t the case with Like a Dragon Gaiden, which exists to bridge a narrative gap, and as a result, has a story that can optimistically be described as barebones.
Even the substories lack their usual zing and feel like a set of fetch quests punctuated by the odd interesting mission. And the less said the better about the cabaret clubs where the developers have decided to do away with computer generator hostesses and replace them with live action ones. The mild sexual deviance or perviness in previous games was more mirth-inducing than anything, but here, it feels like RGG Studio has jumped the shark ever so slightly.
Returning to the theme of kaizen, it’s clear where the developers have made small incremental changes in the way the story is presented—with shorter cutscenes and less obvious exposition, the way substories are brought to your attention. Instead of stumbling upon them randomly, they are brought to you by an NPC sitting in a fixed location, and in the way certain minigames play out—most notably, the cabaret clubs. However, they miss the mark, and this sense is exacerbated by the undeniably sad excuse for a story. That’s a key difference between this title and the aforementioned Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which although shorter than usual offerings, sacrificed none of the heart, excitement and narrative chops of the mainline entries.
Kasu-go or no-go?
Upon completing the game and taking in its post-credit scene, you are informed that a small playable demo of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has been unlocked for your perusal. Without being facetious, this was the most encouraging and enjoyable part of the entire package, because it has me quite psyched for Kasuga Ichiban’s next chapter.
But we’re here to discuss Like a Dragon Gaiden, so that’s what we’ll do. I’d stop short of calling it filler material, but it would take every shred of resolve in my being to do so. The three bright sparks for me were first: the refined combat; second: even though I knew that the ending was just going to be a setup for the next part, I found it satisfying both from a narrative sense and an emotional one; and third: the character of Akame, who shone through the dross like a beam of sunlight. Everything else felt somewhat half-hearted and lacked the sort of heart and drama that I associate with the franchise. Rather than feeling like a major occasion (one of the key events in the game certainly demands that level of fanfare), it all seemed quite perfunctory after a while.
While I would hold off on buying it until a discount emerges, the game is available on Game Pass for PC and Xbox, so it’s worth checking out anyway. However, I would not do so unless I had played the previous games in the series. I couldn’t help noticing that a certain website identified this title as the “perfect entry point” for the franchise, going as far as to compare it to “listening to an iconic band for the first time by opening Spotify and selecting Greatest Hits”. If you ask me, it’s more like listening to Metallica for the first time and starting with the Lulu album.
The game was reviewed on Xbox Series X and PC
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