For All Its Flaws, Like a Dragon Gaiden Gives Us a Glimpse at the Real Kiryu

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is, to put it bluntly, not the best Yakuza or Like a Dragon game out there and certainly not the best adventure we’ve seen Kiryu star in.

While admittedly a budget entry in the series more in line with a large-scale expansion or DLC offering, it’s not without some notable gaps. Its gameplay can get repetitive fast if players try to dig into the side content, and its story is substantially smaller than in most modern entries. It’s even host to a handful of localization errors, which definitely says something given the series’ track record of meticulously translating or modifying jokes and word play from Japanese to English.