Yakuza/Like a Dragon: Gaiden - FINISHED!

Another amazing experience from RGG Studios, this one I don't recommend you jump in at all if you haven't played the other Yakuza games.

In Japan, this game is known as Like a Dragon 7: Gaiden, but calling it just a sidestory of 7 feels inadequate, this is much more. This is how the legendary Kiryu Kazuma truly lost his name.

After Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, this is the second best game I've played all year, and I've already played tons this year.

This game starts off a little... Boring, but the story quickly makes up for it with some tremendously good and emotional moments.

• Plot

After faking his death in late 2016, Kazuma Kiryu continues to live in secrecy, operating as an agent for the Daidoji faction under the codename "Joryu". He undertakes various tasks for the Daidoji via orders from his handler Kihei Hanawa, in exchange for anonymous funding to the Morning Glory Orphanage. - Wikipedia.

I decided not to write the plot because there isn't much I can say without spoiling the game. I'd just be doing a disservice to anyone reading this so taking the info out of Wikipedia seems to be the best choice.

• The Combat

My previous favourite brawler style Yakuza/LaD game was Kiwami 2, but (ignoring Judgment and Lost Judgment) this is now my favourite one in the series. It just feels so fluid, full of weight on the punches and kicks and it's just so damn good.

There are 2 fighting styles in this game, much like the first Judgment. One is Yakuza style which is the classic Brawler style from previous games and the other is agent style now that Kiryu is working for the Daidoji.
You meet a man in the middle of the story who sets you up with some gadgets you can use in this style and they are genuinely quite fun to use.

But I stuck to just using the explosive cigarette in agent style to deal with large groups of enemies and then switching to Yakuza style to deal with them one-on-one.

• Graphics

It's the Dragon Engine here after all, so of course the graphics are good. But I've seen a very good improvement on this when compared to previous games. I played Infinite Wealth on the PS4 and while the game looked good there, Gaiden looks a lot better on my RTX 2060 (along with the Infinite Wealth demo that comes with this game).

• Side content

Important to any Yakuza game is the side content, this one has quite a bit, but not a whole lot of it is quite substantial.
You can fight in the arena, do favours for Akame (Kiryu's new friend) and eventually you'll have to defeat some dudes in the arena to get the gadgets back to that guy who makes them because they are stolen in the middle of the game.

• Length

This is a short game, with only 5 chapters and can easily be beaten in 10 hours or less. BUt considering that it often goes for very cheap prices and that it's on Gamepass, I'd say it's totally worth it... Not to mention there's Premium Adventure just like always so you can keep playing the game once you're done with the story.

• The Ending

I won't spoil anything here... I'll just say this: This had a better ending than Infinite Wealth.
It was so emotional, so beautiful, so good. I literally cried when a certain thing happened.

• Conclusion

A short review for a short game, but it was totally worth playing. If you still haven't started playing the Yakuza franchise, what the hell are you doing with your life?

Anyway, thanks for reading!