Like A Dragon Gaiden – it’s like Kiryu never left (Picture: Sega)

Before the next mainline game rolls around, the Like A Dragon series puts former protagonist Kiryu back in the spotlight.

When Yakuza: Like A Dragon, aka Yakuza 7, shifted the series from beat ‘em-up to turn-based role-player, and introduced Ichiban Kasuga as the new main protagonist, it felt like the start of another era; one without original lead Kazuma Kiryu. Sure, he made a cameo appearance in that game, but it was very much to pass the torch to Kasuga and give fans one last chance to say goodbye.

Since then, it’s felt like Sega and/or developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio got cold feet, because Kiryu is not only sharing Kasuga’s spotlight in the upcoming Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but he also has a new solo adventure in Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Billed as a shorter side story, it takes the series back to its beat ‘em-up roots, as it shows you just what Kiryu was up to during the events of Yakuza 7.

After faking his death at the end of Yakuza 6, Kiryu has changed his name to Joryu and become an agent for the shadowy Daidoji Faction, to ensure the world never learns he’s actually alive. Naturally, within an hour of the game starting, he realises several people have already figured it out and are keen to drag him back to the criminal underworld, so he can get involved with the plot of Yakuza 7.

While we went in expecting a shorter game, we were still surprised by how compact and straightforward Gaiden’s story is. It’s actually pretty refreshing given the series’ penchant for overly complex plots, although it can’t help but drop a couple of twists near the end that come out of nowhere.

Despite its efforts to keep newbies in the loop, some significant plot points will be lost on you if you’ve not at least played Yakuza 7. You’re also not going to emotionally resonate with it without being familiar with Kiryu’s history, making this a very poor choice for anyone’s first taste of the series.

We won’t hold that against the game though. Every other instalment has been mostly self-contained, with only occasional ties to previous ones, so having an entry made specifically for long-time fans is a nice change of pace. It’s very rewarding seeing Gaiden make references all the way back to the very first game and some of the side quests allow Kiryu to reflect on his old adventures and relationships in ways not seen before.

However, we do find Gaiden’s premise to be at odds with the series formula. This is a Kiryu who has been isolated from the world for four years and if anyone learns he’s alive the Daidoji won’t hesitate to punish him through his loved ones.

Yet not only does Kiryu ascribe to the Clark Kent school of disguises, with just a pair of glasses, he’s soon free to wander the streets of Sotenbori (a location returning from Yakuza 2) helping people in need, going to arcades and hostess clubs – all the things he could do in previous games. It doesn’t exactly gel with the isolated secret agent vibe the game is otherwise pushing for.

Part of us wonders if maybe it would’ve been better for Gaiden to be a more linear experience, to better encapsulate Kiryu’s solitude and loneliness, but a Like A Dragon game without copious amounts of side content would be like a Call Of Duty game where you don’t shoot anyone. So we don’t blame the developers for sticking to the formula and, to their credit, they’ve managed to pack as much as they could into what’s essentially half a game.

Gaiden’s main campaign is very short, consisting of only four chapters, and even with some deviations into side content, we completed it in just under 14 hours. Yet you could spend days, even weeks trying to fill out the in-game achievements list, completing all the side quests, and winning all the coliseum matches.

Like A Dragon Gaiden – the Castle is an all new area that is home to gambling, a boutique, and a coliseum (Picture: Sega)

As is typical of the series, there’s a plethora of mini-games to lose your time to. There are no major new additions, aside from the large scale coliseum matches where you build a team of fighters to help you, but series regulars like karaoke, mahjong, and classic Sega arcade games are all accounted for, including Daytona USA 2 – marking the first time it’s ever been playable on a console. We’re especially happy to see the Pocket Circuit slot car mini-game back after a six-year absence.

For the most part, though, you will be engaging in street fights, using simple combo strings and flashy heat moves to smack enemies down. If you never vibed with the turn-based gameplay of Yakuza 7, you’ll feel right at home with Gaiden, although we quickly noticed there’s a slight delay between pressing the attack buttons and the attacks activating.

We’re not sure why that is, when that was never the case with previous games and this doesn’t affect dodging or minigame controls, but it’s fortunately something you can adjust to. It helps if you have a good sense of rhythm, to help tie combo strings, although there’s nothing stopping you from just mashing buttons.

Like A Dragon Gaiden – who’d have thought Kiryu was a Spider-Man fan? (Picture: Sega)

Combat isn’t too complex, with Kiryu boasting two fighting styles – his classic yakuza style, that’s all about heavy damage and tanking hits, and his new agent style that’s more agile and comes with nifty spy gadgets. It’s only a small line-up and they’re more gimmicks than proper extensions of Kiryu’s moveset, but they can prove helpful, like the drones you can summon to distract enemies.

The most useful inclusion is a wire Kiryu can fire from his wrist to grapple enemies and swing them around. It’s a bit finicky sometimes but it’s great for crowd control, especially when fights often consist of a lot of enemies, and can snatch weapons and objects from a distance.

Speaking of the enemies, they’re far more aggressive than previous games which, combined with how many of them there can be, means the game can be surprisingly hard even for veterans; especially if they have swords, which leave Kiryu bleeding and haemorrhaging health over time. Bosses also boast powerful attacks that can outright kill you if your health is already low, but with the right timing these attacks can be parried and it’s always satisfying pulling that off.

We were compelled to stock up on healing items often, even more so than the samurai spin-off Like A Dragon: Ishin! The game itself seems aware of this, as some segments consisting of back-to-back encounters let you pick up items that fully heal you. We’re not going to call this the Dark Souls of Like A Dragon games, but the standard difficulty level certainly feels higher than usual, almost as if Gaiden is trying to compensate for its short length.

We suspect combat would’ve become more manageable if we’d fully invested in better equipment to boost our defence (you can unlock up to four gear slots) and acquired all of Kiryu’s stat upgrades and skills before starting some of the tougher fights. You need money and Akame points for unlocking skills, and both can be easily acquired through completing side quests and participating in coliseum matches. Or you can spend your cash on various cosmetics to dress Kiryu up, making him look as cool or as ridiculous as you want.

Given the recent backlash towards the short campaign lengths of Spider-Man 2 and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, we’re curious to see whether Like A Dragon Gaiden elicits anything similar from its audience. We suspect not since this game is being sold at £45, not £70, and there is plenty to do even after wrapping up the story.

However, our biggest question is not whether Gaiden justifies its short length; it’s whether it needed to exist at all. It’s not as if it does anything to advance the beat ‘em-up gameplay, beyond giving Kiryu new toys to play with, and while the story itself is perfectly fine, it’s one that didn’t need telling.

In a recent interview with Automaton, series producer Masayoshi Yokoyama said they could’ve had a 30 minute interlude in Infinite Wealth to explain Kiryu’s whereabouts but figured it’d be more interesting to make it an actual game. Frankly, had they just gone with a long cut scene in the next game, very little would have been lost. There are a couple of genuinely heart wrenching scenes involving Kiryu that’ll leave fans sobbing, but the overall plot barely expands on Yakuza 7’s and doesn’t do all that much with Gaiden’s spy theme.

Fans are sure to lap Gaiden up, if only to spend more time with Kiryu and enjoy a more traditional Like A Dragon game after the genre shift. It being more condensed may actually be a positive since, while rich with content, it isn’t as overwhelming as previous entries. However, Gaiden ultimately feels like a glorified prologue to next year’s Infinite Wealth – you can even play a demo of it after reaching Gaiden’s credits.

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If you’ll indulge us, we have a conspiracy theory that the main reason Gaiden exists is because of issues Sega was having with the Judgment series. It was conceived as the successor to the beat ‘em-up formula, after Like A Dragon became a role-player but, a year before Gaiden’s announcement, there was talk of the Judgment series ending because of issues preventing it from coming to PC.

That might no longer be the case now that both Judgment games are on Steam, but at the time Sega may have felt compelled to fall back on Kiryu if they couldn’t work with Judgment anymore.

We don’t think you’re missing much if you just skip Gaiden and wait for Infinite Wealth. If you do pick it up, though, you’ll find another solid entry in the series with fun, if overly familiar, combat, side content, and fan service. Just don’t expect to see anything you haven’t seen from this series before.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
Price: £44.99
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio
Release Date: 9th November 2023
Age Rating: 18

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Before the next mainline game rolls around, the Like A Dragon series puts former protagonist Kiryu back in the spotlight.