Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is the latest spin-off for Sega’s successful Yakuza series and one that had an unusual development cycle. Initially conceived as a DLC to expand on Kazuma Kiryu’s backstory before the launch of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, it evolved into a full game and was fully developed in just six months, an impressive feat no matter how you look at it. Far from seeming rushed, this is a solid and engaging adventure rooted in familiar ground, but story-wise it brings enough juice to make it a worthy experiencing for all fans of the franchise, despite a certain sense of repetition in side-quests.

Back From the Dead

Kiryu’s story ties some loose ends left from Yakuza: Like a Dragon while ramping up for the release of Infinite Wealth. The story isn’t as overwhelming as the ones from the main series chapters, being easier to digest due to a more focused nature, although playing this game without knowledge of the previous one may leave many questions unanswered. It still has a lot to offer as a standalone experience, many trademark aspects to appreciate, and quite a host of side-content to discover, albeit some of it borders on tedious.

Even if somewhat lacking in scope while in comparison, Like a Dragon Gaiden offers a few dense and rich areas with plenty of activities. A staple of the series, you can follow the main quest or indulge in many other options to build your character in various ways, or purely to entertain yourself. Sega again entices players with classic arcade games such as Daytona USA 2 or Virtua Fighter 2, among others, and the return of Pocket Circuit racing may appeal to others, although this little racing sim with toy car parts to collect ends up being more of a curio than a fun thing to spend some significant time on.

The cabaret returns as well but with a visible change – hostesses are now live-action models, a drastic departure from previous iterations, which may be a divisive choice. Nonetheless, the dating minigame remains interesting, as you try to match your answers with the hostess’ likings, and also increase your affinity via expensive gifts, all in the hopes of scoring a date.

Akame is a new entry in the series, a misleadingly frail but cheerful informant with more power than one might think. She’s going to aid Kiryu in many regards, from gaining entrance to the sumptuous and exclusive Castle, to assisting in countless side-missions, featuring a rank system and a reasonable number of quests to discover. These are easily tracked on the map and while the amount is considerable, the variety or fun of these missions aren’t something to shout about. Most of the time you will be engaging in quick brawls, using your wire to grab a random item from a tree or a rooftop, or scouring the shops for this specific food or beverage requested by the umpteenth homeless person or businessman, truly a task worthy of the legendary Dragon of Dojima. Dull tasks galore that are thankfully slightly diluted as you pick other avenues and avoid sticking to the same requests over and over.

Get in the Ring

Combat is traditionally brutal and furious, without tremendous depth but enjoyable in its usual last-second dodge and use of environmental props as weapons. This time Kiryu can switch between two fighting instances, Yakuza and Agent, properly shifting the style and above all the possibilities at this disposal. The Yakuza style is raw and powerful, not leaving much to imagination or extremely varied outcomes; on the other hand, the Agent style is less reliant on the strength of each blow, instead resorting to the aid of a series of tech gadgets that you unlock as the story progresses.

The Agent style didn’t feel like a crucial introduction, seemingly out of place in terms of tone with the remaining world building, no matter the amount of attempted reasoning or characters that are introduced to make it feel justified. The clashes take a slight detour into outrageous territory as you summon a host of drones in succession to crash into your opponent, use rocket boots to fly across the arena, eventually throwing a couple of explosive cigars to seal the deal. Kiryu also shoots electrified bind wires to grip enemies and throw them around in Spider-man style fashion, something that ramps up the weirdness without really being more exciting than the straight-up pure aggressiveness of the Yakuza style.

When you reach the Castle, a new world of lust and wealth opens before you. From customizing Kiryu’s looks to stepping into the arena for some one-on-one or group brawls, there are various ways of earning fans and money in no time. Recruiting some members for your newly-formed team, you engage in rumble matches where everyone’s going at it, with the option to use an Order ability to temporarily boost your crew’s attack and defense stats. The more you climb the ranks and earn tiger amulets, the more areas you get access to within the Castle.

Yakuza Tearjerker

Like a Dragon Gaiden is a solid and quite unexpected addition to the franchise, filling in the gaps and giving fans more to muse over before embarking on the next chapter, of which you have a demo available in this game. It’s a worthy companion to past games, bolstered by a substantial narrative focus and combat that remains gripping and fun, although the Agent style may be more of a bullet point than an actual absorbing addition.

This story may take you less than 15 hours to conclude, or double those numbers if you take your time to check every activity, every distraction. In the end, seeing where the adventure will lead us, to a place capable of making the toughest of men break down in tears, veteran or newcomer to the series, makes this journey alongside a dead man entirely worthwhile.

Score: 8/10

Pros:

• A solid spin-off with many activities to distract you
• Well-crafted and focused narrative
• Combat is mostly brutal and fun
• Appreciable length

Cons:

• High-tech Agent style is neither fitting nor fun
• Akame’s quests quickly become tedious
• Nothing really new to the series

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.