I didn’t know what to expect from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Whꦍo Eraﷺsed His Name. As a massive Yakuza stan, I’ll eat up anyth🐽ing the series has to offer. Even if Gaiden was merely fluffy filler to whet our wanting Kiryu appetites before Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, I knew I’d like it. However, part of me was concerned Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio was messing with the plot in ways that would prove unnecessary. Perhaps it regrets packing its favourite toy away, so it’s bringing The Dragon of Dojima out of retirement, despite🙈 hanging his iconic grey and red suit up years ago.
If you didn’t know, Kazuma Kiryu faked his death at the end of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. It was a fate with a flimsy reasoning we accepted, given he’d carried the series on his back for an entire decade, and we’d never accept his death. Then he returned in the form of a cameo in Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon as Watase’s bodyguard. I'm unsure why or how, but you can never have too much Kiryu, so why complain? Now, we’re backtracking, and he’s running around as a secret agent, k🔥nowing full well that in the future, he’s going to end up with Kasuga in Ha🦄waii for Infinite Wealth. The narrative feels messy, and I was worried that past events would be retconned to make a new plot line fit. Like Annie Wilkes from Misery, I was ready to scream that he didn’t get out of the cockadoodie car.
I was worried for nothing. Gaiden doesn’t add to the problem, it s🐻olves it. Finally, we have more detailed reasoning behind why Kiryu faked his death, an explanation for how and why he showed up in Like a Dragon, and a narrative justification for passing the torch. Instead of awkwardly band-aiding over sore points, Gaiden weaves new threads into the existing plot ♓that feel like they’ve always belonged.
Gaiden sees Kiryu putting the Dragon of Dojimꦗa moniker to rest and taking on the alias of Joryu, a Daidoji agent, to protect those he holds dear. Keeping his identity a secret proves difficult when faced with those out to cast a light on his new life, and it doesn’t take much for Kiryu — sorry, Jorꦏyu — to get entangled with the yakuza once more. As usual.
Like a Dragon Gaide🐬n: The Man Who Era♛sed His Name is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Having played the other games and being aware of what awaits in Infinite Wealth, there ar🐻e naturally story beats in Gaiden to expect. This could have easily been a dull retelling of events, but Gaiden works hard to deliver intr༒iguing new characters and subplots, adding depth to a tale we thought we’d already been told.
Gaiden is interwoven with the events of Like a Dragon, so it doesn’t ever feelဣ out of place. While we get a couple of recycled cutscenes as Kiryu and Kasuga’s events crossover, Gaiden expertly blends in new moments from Kiryu’s perspective, adding narrative significance without ever causing awkward plot holes. Even though the overall story is restricted by fans knowing the starting point and final destination of Kiryu’s arc, it’s his journey in between that’s surprisingly deep on both an emotional and narrative level.
The return to action combat is incredible, leaving behind Kasuga’s turn-ba🌳sed approach for the sake of fans who adore the past games. There’s something particularly fitting about being able to button-mash your fist into someone’s face repeatedly when you’re playing as this renowned brawler. You can switch between Yakuza and Agent battle styles, and the latter✃ is bloody fun. It’s like Yakuza meets Kingsman, suited and booted in style with quirky little gadgets to help you defeat your foes.
The Spider gadget was my favourite. Shooting out a wire to restrain enemies, disarm them, and throw them around made combat feel more fluid, but can also be used to collect items in the environment and occasionally allow Kiryu to Spider-Man his way up to something. It’s a refreshing change to a battle system so tired they threw it out for turn-based combat. Secret agents and James Bond-style gadgets might seem far-fetched to some, ܫbut those people probably haven’t played a Yakuza game before.
RGG Studio forewarned us that Gaiden was a shorter gamไe, so while the main series normally has 12-15 chapters, you only get five chapters with Joryu. There’s less to explore, as although we get to revisit Yokohama and Sotenburi, as well as check out the new area of The Castle, the original Yokohama map has been downsized for Gaiden. Despite this, the pint-sized adventure with your favourite ex-yakuza doesn’t feel lacking. The newly added characters, both allies and enemies, are fleshed out so well that I hope they also have a place in future games. Storywise, Gaiden takes as much time as it needs to smooth out the cracks, but anything more would have been milking it. It probably should have been a little cheaper due to its short length as a side story, but it’s still damn good.
Despite a smaller map, Gaiden is packed with additional content. Minigames, substories, requests, and more. Pocket Circuit is also back. I repeat, Pocket Circuit is back. It’s not the seemingly endless reams of side content that will take fore🧜ver to Platinum like in the main titles, but it’s meaty enough to have you coming back f𝔉or a Premium Adventure playthrough and playing well after completing the main story. Gaiden could easily have just thrown in some old favourites and rested on its storytelling laurels, but it goes above and beyond.
The Cabaret Club has FMV hostesses, so now you can see women being disappointed in you in real life. I’ll be honest, this weirded me out,꧟ but some people will love it. The Coliseum has also been revamped, and now features Hell Team Rumble, which lets you battle with a team of allies, including some series favourites (if you buy the DLC). The Coliseum was never one of my favourite minigames, but Gaiden’s version felt more enjoyable than before. Also, it let me fight as Majima. Need I say more?
One of Gaiden’s strongest assets is the Boutique. It lets you dress Kiryu up from head to toe in more detail than any game in the series has ever done before. As well as dressing him in his best, you can make him go barefoot, give him flashy little earrings, put daft make-up on his face or even paint his nails. Natu💙rally, I made him wear a Majima Construction Helmet and an eyepatch. Peak husband material.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name packs a massive punch for such a little package. It’s an ode to Kiryu’s past in both its core narrative and substories. RGG Studio has featured enough cameos and traces of the series’ history for this to feel like Kiryu being visited by🦄 the ghosts of Yakuza’s past. Known events may have limited the main narrative’s direction, but Gaiden still digs deep to add a fresh perspective with exciting new characters and gameplay elements. It’s a bittersweet experience to be able to step back into the Dragon of Dojima’s shoes, yet have to deal with the heartache of doing so.
Gaiden left me wanting more. I want to see those new characters make a return. I hopeꩵ we see the Boutique again. But most importantly, I hope this isn’t the final time we see action combat in the series. Even with Infinite Wealth on the Horizon, I hope there is still room for smaller, more experimental games like this in the series’ future.
Like a🌠 Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
Reviewed on Xbox Series X|S.
- Released
- November 9, 2023
- Ties up loose ends nicely while delivering an intriguing, emotional story.
- Minigames and side content are on point.
- A refreshing return to action combat.
- Majima.
- Too expensive when comparing its size and cost to a standard Yakuza game.
- Having the Yokohama map reduced in size for Gaiden is a shame.
