Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name could also be a facet story in RGG Studio’s long-running Yakuza franchise, nevertheless it’s additionally one of many largest steps ahead in high quality and considerate design that the sequence has seen in years. Throwing among the ordinary Yakuza fixtures out the window (the sprawling maps, overly acquainted fight, and slice-of-life method) gave RGG the liberty to discover the often-neglected core of their system: the characters. Kiryu takes heart stage in a brand new method, not as a plot machine, however as a correct individual ultimately, and your complete bundle advantages from it.
Kiryu – sorry, “Joryu” and his peerless anime disguise of sun shades – finds himself in a state of affairs he by no means predicted. His huge sacrifice amounted to nothing, he’s caught on the finish of another person’s leash, and there’s little or no he can do about it. Gaiden takes place between Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Yakuza: Like A Dragon, in the midst of what’s arguably one of many sequence’ most fascinating and pivotal narrative moments.
Kiryu’s world has modified irreversibly and never simply due to the selection he makes on the finish of Yakuza 6. After main modifications within the heart of underworld energy, the yakuza are both in jail or hanging up their brass knuckles for a lifetime of political and white-collar crime, and a pet politician or former Tojo clan chief of their pocket would make an awfully good prize. It’s a setup rife for top drama and Gaiden delivers in a welcome and refreshing method.
Even when Yakuza video games had been ostensibly about Kiryu, they nonetheless weren’t actually about him. Yakuza 0 is a few energy battle within the Tojo Clan. Nishiki and Haruka have extra company in Kiwami 1 than Kiryu does. Yakuza 6 is the primary time Kiryu’s personal life and desires are allowed to floor, and even then, the Daidoji state of affairs takes over.
Gaiden is the primary time RGG has stopped and explored its characters as folks with dynamic personalities as an alternative of simply as individuals who reacted to conditions and drove a plot ahead. Harsh cynicism replaces Kiryu’s typical goofy optimism. He’s a tragic, damaged man, but in addition one who sees his world extra clearly and is extra keen to take dangers, an perspective that shines by in every little thing from his modified combating kinds to the marginally flatter, more durable supply from his voice actor.
It’s a superb development for a personality who’s remained largely unchanged for nearly 20 years, and it makes Gaiden really feel extra intensely human than some other sport within the sequence. There’s nonetheless loads of soapy melodrama and over-the-top motion, however Kiryu’s battle to seek out function and settle for the very fact his world is gone eternally are on the heart.
The sequence’ ordinary themes of corrupted energy are simply as current as ever, maybe much more so. One of Gaiden’s largest strengths is how pushed it’s. Cutting out half the same old size of a Yakuza sport means the plot and themes begin unfolding earlier and play a extra substantial function in shaping your complete expertise.
Sure, that sense of focus comes at the price of an epic story unfolding throughout dozens of hours and that feeling of belonging in a particular place, however – intentional or not – there’s additionally a wise little bit of narrative tie-in with that misplaced emotion. Kiryu doesn’t have a house anymore. Walking the acquainted streets of Kamurocho or discovering his area of interest in Yokohama simply wouldn’t make sense, nor would it not match for him to forge shut ties along with his new associates.
Yakuza fights at all times had an arcade-like really feel to them, however Gaiden’s battles really feel extra pure – or as pure as a combat may be whenever you get stabbed and shot half a dozen instances with out dying. Motion feels much less floaty, and there’s a satisfying weight to even essentially the most agile weaves and punches. Boss fights profit from this modification essentially the most, helped alongside by some considerate reconsiderations of how a Yakuza boss combat might play out.
Normally, these huge encounters are my least favourite elements of an RGG sport. They’re clunky, repetitive and generally downright gimmicky, with bosses repeating the identical predictable patterns till you lastly whittle down their forty third well being bar. Gaiden’s vital battles are completely different proper from the beginning. Patterns are a bit tougher to foretell, and also you want good timing and fast considering even simply to tug off your individual assaults. Bosses transfer sooner and blend up their critical hits with smaller feints and punches that may nonetheless smear Kiryu into the road in case you’re careless. These ended up being a spotlight as an alternative of a chore, although Kiryu’s new strikes performed a component in that enjoyment as properly.
Kiryu will get simply two combating kinds in Gaiden, however that’s actually all he wants. One is the Yakuza model, an amalgamation of his different varieties in previous RGG video games that facilities on heavy hits and block-breaking assaults. The different is Agent model, which is the most important and most fulfilling fight shakeup since Yakuza 0.
Agent model turns Kiryu right into a breakdancing James Bond of kinds with a powerful set of strikes and ridiculously enjoyable vary of devices to play with. His primary assault combo places Rush model to disgrace with a string of hits and hand thrusts that goes far past the same old three-to-five punch routine. He can pull off sick dodges, do a classy, dance-like floor spin and kick his opponents, and even throw collectively a string of combos that I actually don’t understand how I made him pull off. Yakuza fights have at all times been crunchy and brutal, however in Gaiden, they’re simply rattling cool. I believed RGG had run its course with innovation in motion, however Gaiden makes me hope the staff doesn’t simply give attention to refining their turn-based fight sooner or later.
Gaiden may be a facet story, nevertheless it’s nonetheless acquired the same old suite of Yakuza facet actions to divert your self with. If you wish to play aggressive Shogi on Yokohama’s again streets, beat the smirk off some thug’s face in a set of no-holds-barred matches on Sotenbori’s decadent pleasure ship, or play a traditional Yakuza mini-game, you are able to do that and extra apart from.
There’s additionally a set of substories of the same old off-the-wall selection, and whereas they don’t fairly dwell as much as among the sequence’ finest, they’re nonetheless brilliantly written and supply one other likelihood for Kiryu’s character modifications to return by.
Most of those tales come from Akame, a Sotenbori hostess with an info community that will make Majima and Judgment’s Makoto blush. She’s one of many sequence’ stronger feminine characters, much more so than Sae in Yakuza: Like A Dragon, although she’s additionally nonetheless not sufficient to make up for the same old rigidity in Yakuza video games. RGG very a lot desires you to see intercourse trade employees such as you would anybody else, however then in the identical brief, heavy breath invitations you to ogle a hostess. It’s not as icky because the bare beetle girls buying and selling playing cards in Kiwami 1, however it could be good to see RGG’s method to girls mature as a lot as its storytelling in different areas.
My huge takeaway from Like A Dragon Gaiden is that I actually hope RGG does extra facet tales sooner or later or no less than takes an analogous method to new mainline video games. The likelihood to decelerate and experiment with character progress, completely different storytelling kinds, and a extra targeted method to narrative constructing paid off brilliantly with Joryu’s tight story.
Like a Dragon: Gaiden launch on Nov ninth for PC (model examined), final gen, and present gen consoles. Basically every little thing besides Switch. It’s additionally on Game Pass. Cor, what a 12 months!
