Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name Review – Bridging The Gap

Like a Dragon Gaiden : The Man who Erased his Name, which is the sequel to what was once called the Yakuza franchise, has a great pitch: find out what happened between Yakuza 6 : The Song of Life & Yakuza : Like a Dragon to Kiryu Kazuma, protagonist of the Yakuza 6 series. Kiryu Kazuma faked his own death in the first game to protect his orphaned adopted family. The idea was his story was over – he was moving on to the next chapter of his life. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio marketed it that way. He was not seen again until the end of the game, in which he played a major role, launching the new protagonist for the series, Ichiban Kazuaga, into the spotlight. For the most part, Gaiden is an interesting bridge between those two games – even if it doesn’t always go as deep into Kiryu’s character as I hoped.

Kiryu had been a secret spy all these years. Following the events of Yakuza 6, Kiryu, now called Joryu, made a deal with the Daidoji, a secret organization with its hands seemingly in every part of Japan – from the underworld to the upper echelons of the government. The Daidoji staged Kiryu’s death and he is now their errand man, beating anyone who asks him to. Until he gets involved in a hodgepodge of various conspiracies that ultimately lead to him helping disband the Omi and Tojo yakuza groups – a plot point Like a Dragon players may remember.  

The story of Gaiden is up to the standard we have come to expect in RGG titles. It is well told and very gripping. The noir-style approach to what are often fantasy crime dramas is appealing, and Daidoji’s part in Japan helps me buy into some of the more dramatic moments. It’s also great how the third part of the game combines with Like a Dragon. You even get to play some events from that game. Even though the game takes great care to repeatedly remind you that Kiryu has died, everyone can see through this Joryu disguise. Kiryu, always a lovable idiot, commits to the bit to the very end, but you spend large swaths of the game listening to the same conversations about how people thought Kiryu died and Kiryu telling them he doesn’t know what they’re talking about – he’s Joryu.

What the story lacks is a bridge that is satisfying between Yakuza 6 & Like a Dragon. On one hand, I now know what Kiryu was up to – spy stuff. It’s almost as if the reasons he faked the death are an afterthought. Kiryu has a lot of conversations with his adopted family but there isn’t much time spent on the emotional impact that the staged death he committed had. He never seemed to be filled with regret about the way he lived. This is true until the end, which I think is one of series’ most moving and affecting endings. But it would be nice to have seen more of this throughout the entire game. 

The series returns to its trademark brawler-style combat. It also has some satisfying changes in the formula that are in keeping with Kiryu’s new role. Agent is a fighting style, while Yakuza is a different one. Yakuza plays similarly to other RGG games – you punch, kick, and beat up anything in your way. The Agent combat mode is faster, but less powerful. It also has cool spy gadgets. – including an exploding cigarette, drones, and a cord that can tie up enemies. The two styles of fighting are my favorites. To control crowds, I would start with the Agent’s style and tie them up or throw them around. This helped build my special meter and allow me to launch heavy attacks. Once I had whittled down the crowd, I would switch over to the Yakuza-style to concentrate my attacks against stronger opponents. This is a level of strategy that I haven’t seen in many RGG games, which can be fun and mindless.

Substories have been rewritten in a way that is very welcome. To the detriment of Yakuza fans, I have never liked the side story in these games. I prefer to focus on the main dramatic plot. The series forced you to take these diversionary routes by making the game automatically activate in an open-world environment. It’s not exaggerated to say this happened five to six times in old games on the short journey to a goal, depending on the route. Gaiden introduces Akame – a new player who’s like Kiryu. She is the one who now accesses most substories, as opposed to tumbling upon them in open world. The small change is one that I welcome with all my heart. 

Gaiden, which lasts only between 14 and 15 hours, is an enjoyable, but relatively short, return to the Kiryu Kazuma world. The game neatly establishes Kiryu’s role for the upcoming mainline title, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Since that game is out in a couple of months, this brief glimpse gave me plenty to look forward to. The story could have been more focused on Kiryu’s character now that he is forced to live a double life. But as a thin link between two games, it is an interesting one. The fact that I can use my favorite doll to take on the streets with the criminals is always a welcome excuse.