Initially launched as a PlayStation 2 recreation in 2005, Yakuza (Ryu ga Gotoku in Japan) spawned a prolonged and beloved online game sequence that follows the numerous conflicts and schemes of yakuza households within the recreation’s fictional neighborhood of Kamurocho, Tokyo. (The sequence was renamed to Like a Dragon, the English translation of Ryu ga Gotoku, in 2022.)
The video games are notably motion packed, melodramatic, cinematic, and tremendous goofy all of sudden. (In case you skip the aspect quests, you are lacking out on an key a part of the video games’ humorousness.) It took years for the franchise to begin receiving the renown it is lastly achieved exterior of Japan, and its popularity solely grows due to a scarily constant output of localized re-releases, spinoffs, and new video games – together with the latest of the bunch, the Majima-led spin-off Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.
Which Yakuza Recreation Ought to You Play First?
With such a sprawling saga accessible to play, the place ought to a curious newcomer bounce in? We would suggest beginning chronologically with Yakuza 0 or leaping forward to the clear slate of a brand new era with Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
Yakuza/Like a Dragon Video games in Chronological Order:
Beware: Gentle spoilers for the plots, characters, and a few main occasions of every recreation comply with.
1. Yakuza 0 (2014)
The sixth recreation launched is definitely the primary chronological Yakuza recreation. In Yakuza 0, we play as a two protagonists through the financial increase within the late Nineteen Eighties. The primary: a younger Kazuma Kiryu, member of the Dojima household, who’s being framed for a homicide that befell on the Empty Lot, an undeveloped piece of land that will likely be an important asset for whoever owns it.
The second is former Shimano member of the family Goro Majima, who’s working in a cabaret as a punishment for being a part of an assassination years in the past. He’s tasked by his ex-patriarch, Futoshi Shimano, to kill a blind lady named Makoto for unknown causes. (It’s later revealed that she’s the authentic proprietor of the Empty Lot.)
By the tip of the sport, Kiryu will get again to the Dojima household after defeating all of the lieutenants, Majima leaves Makoto to dwell her life, and the Empty Lot is destroyed; the Millennium Tower, a key location within the sequence, is constructed on the land.
Out there on: PS4, Xbox One, PC | IGN’s Yakuza 0 Overview
2. Yakuza (2005) / Yakuza Kiwami (2016)
The primary Yakuza recreation stars Kazuma Kiryu after he goes to jail for taking the blame for a homicide he didn’t commit in 1995. The sufferer was Sohei Dojima, Kiryu’s boss, who was murdered by Akira Nishikiyama, Kiryu’s finest pal. The explanation behind this crime was that Sohei tried to rape Yumi Sawamura, a pal of each Kiryu and Nishikiyama.
When Kiryu is launched from jail after a 10-year sentence, he’s expelled from the Tojo Clan, somebody has stolen ¥10 billion from the clan’s account, and Yumi is nowhere to be discovered. In the midst of this, Kiryu meets Haruka, the daughter of a lady named Mizuki. Haruka has a pendant that appears to be a key aspect associated to the misplaced cash. Additionally, Nishikiyama shoots Kiryu’s former captain and adoptive father, turning into an antagonistic power.
Through the climax, Kiryu finds Yumi and the misplaced cash, and fights Nishikiyama. Kiryu is requested to be the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, which he accepts. Moments later, nonetheless, he names Yukio Terada, a former Omi Alliance yakuza, as the brand new chairman, and he quits the yakuza to lift Haruka as his adopted daughter.
Out there on: PS4, Xbox One, PC (Yakuza Kiwami), PS2 | IGN’s Yakuza Overview | Yakuza Kiwami Overview
3. Yakuza 2 (2006) / Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017)
Yakuza 2 begins with Terada, the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, asking Kiryu to assist him forestall a warfare between his clan and the Omi Alliance, their everlasting rivals. After being shot in an ambush, Terada appears to be lifeless and Kiryu seems to be for Daigo Dojima, son of Sohei Dojima, to nominate him as the brand new chairman of the clan.
Whereas serving to Daigo, Kiryu meets Ryuji Goda, the son of the Omi chairman, and so they turn out to be enemies as a result of Ryuji refuses a truce with the Tojo Clan. One other character, detective Kaoru Sayama, comes into play and tries to assist Kiryu whereas studying about her dad and mom, who disappeared when she was younger.
Out there on: PS4, Xbox One, PC (Yakuza Kiwami 2), PS3 | IGN’s Yakuza 2 Overview | Yakuza Kiwami 2 Overview
4. Yakuza 3 (2009)
The primary recreation within the sequence launched on PlayStation 3, Yakuza 3 begins with Kiryu distant from the yakuza way of life. As an alternative, in 2007, he’s taking good care of the Morning Glory Orphanage in Okinawa. He’s assisted by Haruka, and he takes care of many new youngsters residing there.
Sadly, peace doesn’t final for lengthy. Our protagonist has to face a number of troubles with completely different characters, involving new yakuza households, a number of assassinations, shootings, betrayals, an arms smuggling group, and even the CIA.
Out there on: PS4, Xbox One, PC (The Yakuza Remastered Assortment), PS3 | IGN’s Yakuza 3 Overview
5. Yakuza 4 (2010)
One 12 months after the occasions of the earlier recreation, Yakuza 4 raises the stakes in a story of households, betrayals, and crime from the eyes of 4 protagonists.
Other than Kiryu, three different new faces be a part of the streets of Kamurocho. The primary one, Shun Akiyama, is a mortgage shark who runs his personal agency, Sky Finance, and finds himself in the course of a battle between the Tojo Clan and the Ueno Seiwa Clan. He’s additionally requested for a ¥100 million mortgage from a mysterious lady named Lily.
Taiga Saejima, Goro Majima’s buddy, went to jail after performing a success in opposition to the Ueno Seiwa Clan in 1985. Twenty years later, after efficiently escaping, he seems to be for Majima, who deserted him after they needed to carry out the hit.
Detective Masayoshi Tanimura, one other new protagonist, is investigating one of many latest murders within the Tojo Clan. Whereas doing so, he meets Lily, who is definitely Saejima’s sister, and he or she’s being attacked by the Shibata household. Tanimura later finds out that the patriarch of that household was associated to the hit Saejima participated all these years in the past.
Finally, Kiryu meets his new companions and finds out what occurred to all of the characters concerned within the ongoing conflicts.
Out there on: PS4, Xbox One, PC (The Yakuza Remastered Assortment), PS3 | IGN’s Yakuza 4 Overview
6. Yakuza 5 (2012)
If Yakuza 4’s story acquired difficult with a number of protagonists’ factors of view, Yakuza 5 went even additional. This time, you play as 5 protagonists in several situations in 2012, making this one of many greatest and most bold video games within the sequence.
First you comply with Kiryu, who left Kamurocho and moved to Fukuoka with out Haruka, leaving his orphanage behind. As traditional, he gained’t get pleasure from calm for lengthy earlier than he learns that Daigo is lacking, and the peace between the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance is about to interrupt.
Saejima is in jail as soon as once more, however he’s seeking to escape together with his cellmate Shigeki Baba when he hears that Majima is lifeless. (After they escape, they study Majima had really faked his dying.) Within the meantime, Haruka is already an adolescent and he or she’s following her dream of turning into a J-pop idol. Issues get difficult when the president of her expertise company, Mirei Park, is discovered lifeless in what looks as if a staged suicide. Returning protagonist Akiyama seems to assist Haruka study who was actually behind Park’s dying.
The final piece of the puzzle is the brand-new character Tatsuo Shinada, a former skilled baseball participant who was banned after being framed for fixing an essential match. A mysterious man, who’s really Daigo, will meet Shinada and ask him to seek out out the reality of what occurred.
Out there on: PS4, Xbox One, PC (The Yakuza Remastered Assortment), PS3 | IGN’s Yakuza 5 Overview
7. Yakuza 6: The Tune of Life (2016)
Yakuza 6: The Tune of Life is offered as the ultimate beat in Kazuma Kiryu’s highlight within the Yakuza sequence. Our protagonist spends three years in jail, however this time it is for his previous crimes he really did. On the finish of the earlier recreation, Haruka revealed in a live performance broadcast that Kiryu was her father and that he was an ex-yakuza member.
After getting out of jail in 2016, Kiryu returns to Kamurocho, however just for a short while. He learns that Haruka is in a coma after a automotive accident, and he or she has a toddler named Haruto. Haruka was in Onomichi, Hiroshima for a very long time earlier than the accident, so Kiryu goes there to research what occurred and who Haruto’s father is.
Whereas discovering clues, essential characters like Daigo, Saejima, and Majima are imprisoned, and rival teams, the Chinese language Saio Triad and the Korean Jingweon Mafia, want to make their strikes in Kamurocho.
Out there on: PS4, Xbox One, PC | IGN’s Yakuza 6: The Tune of Life Overview
8. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020)
A serious turning level for the sequence, Yakuza: Like a Dragon begins the transition away from the Yakuza identify. It additionally introduces a brand new turn-based fight system and a brand-new essential character: Ichiban Kasuga, one other Tojo Clan member who, like Kiryu, begins his journey by agreeing to take the hit on a prison cost for his yakuza household and go to jail for a homicide he didn’t commit. On his launch 18 years later, Kasuga shortly learns that main adjustments have occurred whereas he was away, mainly that the Omi Alliance defeated the Tojo Clan.
Kasuga goes to confront Masumi Arakawa, his former patriarch and father-like determine who seemingly offered out the Tojo Clan, about what occurred and is greeted by his former compatriats with hostility. Arakawa shoots Kasuga and dumps his physique close to a homeless encampment in Yohokama’s Isezaki Ijincho. (New metropolis unlocked!)
Ichiban wakes up and finds himself within the care of Yu Nanba, a former nurse who handled his gunshot wound. That is the place to begin for Kasuga, who will meet a number of new faces for the Yakuza sequence to spherical out his combating get together, together with members from space prison teams the Yokohama Liumang, the Geomijul Mafia, and the Seiryu Clan. Collectively, they dig round Yokohama, Sotenbori in Osaka, and Kamurocho to uncover the larger image behind Arakawa’s play.
Out there on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Collection S|X, Xbox One, PC | IGN’s Yakuza: Like a Dragon Overview
9. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
The most important Like a Dragon recreation to-date groups up the outdated and new guard – Kiryu and Kasuga – in a real two-protagonist saga that takes the crew from Japan to Hawaii and again. Leaping forward to 2024 after the occasions of Yakuza: Like a Dragon (should you had been curious, the pandemic additionally exists within the Like a Dragon universe), Kasuga and pals try to dwell above-board lives in Ijincho till a well-liked VTuber posts a viral video that upends their normalcy. Quickly after, Kasuga learns that his mom, who he thought was lifeless, is alive and hops on a aircraft to Honolulu to seek out her.
After instantly moving into some bother after touchdown (basic), Kasuga runs into Kiryu, who can also be in Hawaii to seek out Kasuga’s mom on behalf of the Daidoji faction that agreed to provide him sanctuary and hold him in hiding (play Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Title for the total backstory there). Kiryu additionally reveals that he is been identified with most cancers from publicity to nuclear waste (which is linked to the Massive Dangerous of the sport). That is simply the very tip of the setup to the large story that embarks on new Hawaiian adventures, sentimentally displays on Kiryu’s previous, and builds a dramatic arc that entails a number of worldwide mob teams, a spiritual cult, dwell streamers, a nationwide conglomerate, and world governments, simply to call a couple of gamers on this cleaning soap opera.
Out there on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Collection S/X, Xbox One, PC | IGN’s Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Overview
The right way to Play the Yakuza/Like a Dragon Video games by Launch Date
Yakuza (2005) / Yakuza Kiwami (2016)Yakuza 2 (2006) / Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017)Yakuza 3 (2009)Yakuza 4 (2010)Yakuza 5 (2012)Yakuza 0 (2015)Yakuza 6: The Tune of Life (2016)Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020)Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)
How Many Yakuza/Like a Dragon Video games Are There?
Sega and Ryu Ga Gotoku studio have launched 9 essential Yakuza/Like a Dragon video games, two remakes – Yakuza Kiwami (2016) and Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017), with a 3rd promised down the street – and 11 spin-offs for the reason that sequence’ debut in 2005. They had been initially PlayStation exclusives, however later ported to Xbox and PC, with each new recreation since Yakuza: Like a Dragon releasing concurrently for each system aside from Nintendo Change. Nevertheless, as introduced within the Nintendo Direct from August 2024, Yakuza Kiwami was the primary of the Like a Dragon video games to get a Change port in October 2024.
Along with the mainline video games, Like a Dragon has tons of wildly completely different spinoffs. Kurohyō: Ryu ga Gotoku Shinsho (2010) and its sequel Kurohyō 2: Ryu ga Gotoku Ashura Hen (2012) are two video games unique to the PlayStation Transportable that includes Tatsuya Ukyo, a very new character. Judgment (2018) and Misplaced Judgment (2021) star one other new face, lawyer-turned-detective Takayuki Yagami, who’s investigating unusual murders in Kamurocho, and has a peripheral crossover with Kiryu and the others in that he brushes up in opposition to Tojo Clan subsidiary households.
Then there’s the zombie-infested spinoff Yakuza: Lifeless Souls (2011), which options the basic forged of characters in a dystopian setting. Yakuza On-line (2018) is a free-to-play TCG accessible on cell and PC which soft-launched Ichiban Kasuga, the protagonist of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The favored Japanese sequence Fist of the North Star obtained the Yakuza remedy with Fist of the North Star: Misplaced Paradise (2018), which shares Kiryu’s video games’ construction and gameplay parts.
Two spinoff video games are set in older Japanese eras and have historic figures as their essential protagonists: Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan! (2008) and Ryu ga Gotoku Ishin! (2014). The latter has been launched within the west as Like a Dragon: Ishin! in 2023.
In 2023, RGG launched Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Title, which takes place concurrently Yakuza: Like a Dragon and explains what occurred to Kiryu following the dramatic ending of Yakuza 6: The Tune of Life. The newest spin-off is Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii starring fan-favorite Goro Majima as an amnesiatic protagonist in and round Honolulu six months after the occasions of Infinite Wealth.
What’s Subsequent for Yakuza/Like a Dragon?
The Like a Dragon story is much from over. Although Infinite Wealth, which shortly grew to become the fastest-selling recreation within the franchise, closed the loop by itself story, it nonetheless ended on what felt like an enormous cliffhanger that leaves the door large open for the subsequent installment. Simply TBD when which may occur: On the 2024 Recreation Awards in December, RGG revealed it was reviving Virtua Fighter however dropped nothing about what we will anticipate from the subsequent Like a Dragon mainline or spin-off recreation.
In search of extra online game timelines? Take a look at these guides:
Leanne Butkovic is an Editorial Challenge Supervisor at IGN who needs they might befriend Seonhee.
