5/5 ★ – ROOK116's review of Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name.

Like a Dragon: Gaiden The Man Who Erased His Name To preface this review, I am not going to focus on a general overlook like how a media outlet would because, just like with any medium of entertainment, products mean differently to different people. This is for me, because putting words down on paper or doc had been my outlet for expression over something, but it has been long before I feel compelled to share such a magnitude of thoughts, especially over a video game. I found it entertaining to condense my feelings about games within Twitter’s (or X’s if you will) 140 Character Limit, even if seldom anyone in my 160-170+ following will see, read, and appreciate what I have to say. Of course, I see the brilliant minds of RGG Studios having to make peace with the idea that their Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise be reviewed from perspectives mostly irrespective of the legacy that has been building since 2005 with the release of Yakuza 1 on PS2. And I wish I could be as thoroughly as invested as being there from the start, but alas, I was seven at that time, playing Halo on my Xbox as my go-to comfort. All I can offer is my short, yet impactful journey into this series to properly highlight why LAD: Gaiden has a prominent place in the franchise, as well in my heart as a fan of said franchise. Expect Story Spoilers. It was early 2020, I’m in my college dorm being very occupied with a ramping up college semester. I just entered a long-distance relationship with my now wife, Kaci, and little did we all know about the upcoming pandemic that was about to put me out of work, put me on remote learning, and cancel spending my Spring Break with the love of my life. Isolation did not treat my mental health well, so I leaned on video gaming to get by. Luckily, Xbox had this nifty thing called Game Pass that had allowed me to try out games not tried before with a lower barrier of entry, economically speaking. Sea of Thieves became a new time sink for me through Game Pass, and I had caught up to games like Quantum Break from Remedy which had started my Fandom with their studio which I would love to talk more about when I do a review on Alan Wake 2. Most importantly, however is when RGG Studios decided to take the dive into the Xbox Ecosystem for the first time by both porting their prequel entry, Yakuza 0, to Xbox platforms and putting it into the Game Pass service. All over Twitter at the time was excitement for the expansion of access for Yakuza since it was a former PlayStation exclusive. I decided to go off hype alone when I installed and played it. To make a long story short, it made my time through the COVID-19 pandemic bearable. It was an incredibly dense game but a rich lore and story to back up an ever expanding and addicting gameplay experience. This is where we meet Kiryu Kazama, the main protagonist of most of the franchise, and it is the earliest in the timeline, so I got to know his story and his universe from the very start. From that point on, I got to grow close to Kiryu and regular cast of characters in the story of Yakuza, especially as every subsequent mainline entry made its way into Game Pass. It is hard to summarize everything Kiryu has gone through. For brevity, every mainline entry presented pivotal moments in Kiryu’s life, from orphan to fledgling Yakuza to legendary in the Yakuza world, against odds of grand magnitudes and devastating stakes. He dealt with expulsion, fighting his clan’s Old Guard, taking the fall for the murder of his patriarch, being in prison for ten years, coming back to his life in disarray and plots of inner takeovers, losing his father figure Shintaro, best friend Nishikiyama, and his love of his life Yuri, being chairman of the Tojo clan for a day, fathering Yuri’s daughter Haruka, being brought back to the fold to make a replacement chairman out of his former patriarch’s son Daigo Dojima, starting an orphanage, and more. It eventually all culminates in needing to outwit the authorities by faking his death so that no one would come for his family at the finale of Yakuza 6. RGG Studios took some side steps to focus on other protagonists, such as Takayuki Yagami in the Judgement series and then Ichiban Kasuga in Yakuza 7: Like a Dragon, meant to lead the rebranding of the franchise. The latter featured Kiryu in a supporting capacity where he was meant to pass the torch to Ichiban, but the question remained this: How did we get within the timeline, 2016 with Kiryu faking his death, to during the 2020 events of Yakuza 7: LAD, and then to his upcoming role in Like a Dragon: infinite Wealth, taking place in 2023. That is why Like a Dragon: Gaiden exists: to bridge that gap in Kiryu’s life during that period, and it was about time we talked about it. With the agreement made between him and the Daidoji, an organization working in the shadows, Kiryu spent time hiding out at a temple while on-call to from the Daidoji to do some of their covert operations, under the guise of “Joryu.’ It was during one of these where the assigned op was a coverup in an abduction attempt of Hanawa, Kiryu’s handler. It was made apparent that the Watase Family of the Omi Alliance, long-time rivals of the Tojo Clan, was seeking out Kiryu, needing him for what would be the connection to Yakuza: LAD. Along the way for our long-time protagonist is contentions for maintaining his cover in order to produce peace for his children at the orphanage, helping out Sotenbori’s information broker Akame with her network of homeless spies, one of Omi Alliance’s patriarchs, Homare Nishitani III, and the elusive cargo ship known as The Castle where Nishitani operates a hub for the unsavory rich for illegal entertainment. This is what we can make out from the story trailers with a few inner tidbits, as I hope who reads this can be motivated to play this pretty short story themselves. I will go over major spoiler material in the next paragraph. <SPOILER> The game makes many callbacks throughout the main story and side stories that made being a longtime fan of the franchise a bonus. Early in game, Kiryu must fight his first Colosseum tournament to satisfy his handler’s captors, and the fights were themed to recreate Kiryu storming the streets of Kamurocho in Yakuza 1 and his fight with Omi Patriarch Ryuji Goda in Yakuza 2. Late in-game, Kiryu had revealed that he kept the ring he meant to give to Yuri before he was sent to prison, and that he wants to in his final days leave the ring in a church in Hawaii where Yuri once expressed marrying in one day. At the climax, Kiryu got to see his old brothers in arms and seeing Daigo Dojima try to reach out to his father-figure only to be held back by Watase since the agreement with the Daidoji was still in effect, stuck a cord with me. I can only wonder if people have envisioned reality were they to leave the world at that moment as much as I have, and here Kiryu must keep that idea going for him even if his old life was within arm’s reach for the first time in years. The part that crushed me to the point of bawling was towards the end, when two kids from the orphanage discovered a camera that was observing the grave made for Kiryu, and figuring it might be their old father, they recorded a message detailing the lives of every kid and how well they been fairing. Kiryu’s grief was on full display, out of relief that they were doing well but also out of realizing that he was lonely and that he needed them more than they needed him. Seeing one of the strongest men in fiction in such emotional turmoil is a rarity, as it goes against what society is pining masculinity to be. Yet, here we are, where unbeknownst to RGG Studios, they completed this full circle moment in 2023, where I see Kiryu breaking down from his loneliness when our first meeting in 2020 got me through my loneliness during the COVID lockdowns. <SPOILER> The heart of the review is the story and how it impacted me as a fan. If you skipped over the spoiler paragraph, out of hopes of playing the game yourself, then just know that the story beats hit their mark that hardly any contemporaries can come close to, especially for those who grown attached to Kiryu. There is still a very mature story that can be appreciated for newcomers, whether you were drawn by hype like me or saw the news of this game coming to Game Pass Day 1 as well. It is amazing that they would include a trial of their next game, LAD: infinite Wealth, which is unlocked after completing the main story. It's going to be one of the biggest modern JRPGs when that game comes out. I will have a brief gameplay review made soon, as I just needed to get this love letter to LAD: Gaiden off my chest. It is my Game of the Year by far, and this is in the same year as Starfield and Alan Wake 2 too! GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW UPDATE: Much like the areas of Kamurocho and Sotenbori, RGG Studios will continually innovate upon the same beat-em-up gameplay they are known for in almost all their games. I, for one, am grateful that they will save turn-based combat for LAD7&8 because we mostly associate that gameplay with Ichiban Kasuga, the protagonist of those games, for lore-friendly reasons. With that said, it's still as refined as ever, taking some notes from RGG's Judgment spin-offs to represent the same dichotomy of styles under Joryu's belt. Agent style is the most unique of the fighting styles pair, more focused on Joryu being more of a technical fighter as well as utilizing gadgets at his disposal to take on multiple enemies at once, much like the Crane Style in Judgement. The other style of fighting open to Joryu is Yakuza style, which is a bit of a mixed bowl of Kiryu's familiar style, meant to deal out massive damage to a singular opponent, much like the Tiger Style in Judgment. I can't say that I prefer what's there for Gaiden than I do for Judgement because of some balance gripes that are more apparent at higher difficulties, but it does the job well. The Gadgets do get more useful over time, which I feel can be the most fun to use in the late game, though they can be a crutch when fisticuffs tend to be underpowered. Luckily, there is a Heat mode that drives up the power and technique of both styles, Agent Style being more reminiscent of free flow combat in the Batman Arkham series and Yakuza Style leading to frame blazing flurries of attacks meant to bring down multiple health bars. Aside from the combat, you have your usual suite of side activities present in the open city of Sotenbori. They have karaoke for those yearning to listen to Takaya Kuroda's all-star voice shine bright. Billiards, golf, and coliseum cage fights are also some time sinkers present for the players, as was the case in previous LAD Games. My personal favorite had been the slew of new SEGA games you can play within Gaiden's arcade in Sotenbori. This really expands the amount of content on hand for this generally smaller installment in the franchise. There are two notable activities that have gotten the most press from RGG Studios, which are the interactive live-action Cabaret Club and the return of Pocket Circuit Racing. On the former, I did the one mandatory mission for it, which consists of actual footage of women meant to have a dialogue with you, which you pick from choices presented to you where results may vary. You can buy drinks, bring them presents, and pick the right words to say meant to max amout their affection for Joryu. Personally, not my thing as a Christian married man, but it's as executed as well as one may imagine. Kudos to KSON, superfan streamer of the franchise, for being able to participate in that. Pocket Circuit was the more appealing activity, as a precious callback to Kiryu's youth in Yakuza 0 doing the same activities very passionately. You get this tiny little car that you can race in a small track with other tiny cars. You unlock custom components as you win or find out through in the open world so that it can perform and look better. It's simple, fun, and near and dear to Kiryu's heart. That's about all that I can share. It's a refined beat-em-up game that gives Joryu fighting styles meant to represent his place in life at that point. It gets the job done and can be upgraded as you go so that you can dominate the battlefield better. There are plenty of activities for one to do on top of the main story and substories with some intersections. LAD games are known for being very content rich and do the most favors if you immerse yourself in them, getting the most mileage of the game.