Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

Review

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is the latest title in the previously named Yakuza series which represents the missing link between Yakuza 6 and the upcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. As such, it’s really recommended to play Yakuza 6 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon (which introduces Kasuga Ichiban as the new protagonist), because Gaiden spoils many important events from those games. For obvious reasons, there will be a couple of spoilers in this review too, so if you don’t want to read any skip the next paragraph or come back later after you have completed the above mentioned titles.

The story of LaD: Gaiden plays at the same time of Ichiban’s personal quest, but this time you play again as Kazuma Kiryu, who at the end of Yakuza 6 was forced to fake his own death in order to protect his loved ones (Haruka, her son and the Sunflower Orphanage kids); a perfect ending that probably should have marked the end of Kiryu’s story, but something made SEGA and the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio reconsider his role. With the new codename Joryu, he now works as a mercenary/special agent for a (not so) secret organization who protects his real identity while manipulating Japan’s politics. Things go wrong and Kir…uh, Joryu is caught once again in a major plot filled with mystery and suspense. This time, he will be supported by an interesting new character, Akame, a young woman who manages a network of homeless people in Sotenbori (Osaka), which is the game’s main location.

Let’s immediately address the elephant in the room. Despite the price (which is not as expensive as the other Yakuza titles, but not really cheap either), this is definitely the shortest title in the series. The other games offer at least double the content of LaD: Gaiden, delivering a better value for the price. The story, while being always interesting and excellently written, often stops to remind you that there are many side activities and mini-games available, making their tutorial completion a requirement for your progression. You first experience this with the Akame’s network, where she requires to complete many repetitive tasks to reach a certain level before moving forward to the next story event. Later on, you experience this again when she asks you to go back to the Castle, a huge playground filled with mini-games and secondary activities, such as the Coliseum. While it is true that side content like this has always been predominant in each Yakuza title, this time it directly affects the progression of the story, which only spans five chapters. If you have played the previous games, you have already seen 85% of this secondary content (darts, pool, golf, karaoke, cabaret romances, pocket circuit and the Coliseum), but after so many titles I think it’s time for the series to re-invent this type of content. Another related issue is that substories aren’t normally unlocked by exploring the city, but must be accepted through Akame, after leveling up her network by doing many fetch quests (like buying a bento box for a hungry random guy or defeating some thugs who are harassing another random guy). Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy the grind needed to unlock substories this way. The grind feels unnecessary, other than making the game last longer than it should.

The negatives above are my only complaints, because LaD: Gaiden does everything else perfectly, starting from combat. During fights, you can choose the “Agent” style, which allows you to use some unique gadgets like a Spider web that can swing enemies around or Hornet, which summons drones that attack enemies. All these gadgets can be further upgraded to increase their damage and unlock new attacks by spending money and network points (obtained for completing Akame’s activities). Later on, you also unlock the “Yakuza” fighting style, which is entirely based on Kiryu’s heavy force and brutal combos. There is a lot of combat in Gaiden and a big part of it can take place at the Coliseum, a battle arena in which you fight alone or with your own team of fighters, trying to reach the upper ranks and beat the strongest warriors. In this mode, you can also play as anyone in your team, which is rather refreshing (though most of your allies don’t have a powerful move-set like Kiryu). Another nice addition is that you can finally buy, change and mix different clothes freely, both inside and outside the Castle. I think that this is the first time in the series you can fully customize Kiryu immediately on your first playthrough and with plenty of options.

Just like any other Yakuza game, I loved playing LaD: Gaiden, but at the same time I also have mixed feelings about it. On one side, the game successfully manages to bring back Kiryu without making him look bad (which was my biggest fear), thanks to a very well-written story and intriguing characters. On the other side, Sotenbori is a very small location that offers ton of (repetitive) side content, definitely too much compared to the story length. Although it can be considered like a sort of “skippable” spin-off (since the story only serves to justify Kiryu’s presence in Infinite Wealth), LaD: Gaiden is something you should definitely play if you have completed the previous titles. I don’t know how Kiryu’s story will really end, but this game kept my love for the series intact, something I didn’t take for granted considering that Yakuza’s father, Toshihiro Nagoshi, had left the studio to make his own.

Review written by Sonic Punk for Zeepond.com

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name Steam Store Page