After 16 years, the Yakuza franchise is still going strong. With eight main games, two remakes, a spinoff series in Judgement, and a whole host of side games covering every setting from the zombie apocalypse to feudal Japan, it’s certainly had a full life. This has never been clearer than the transition from Yakuza 6 to Yakuza 7, or Yakuza: Like a Dragon. 6 definitively ended classic protagonist Kazuma Kiryu’s story, and Like a Dragon began Ichiban Kasuga’s. It’s a fresh start, but it’s difficult to ignore the “7” in Yakuza: Like a Dragon’s Japanese title. Is it safe for new players to start at such a late game in the series?
Kiryu’s adventures have spanned most of the series, and there are a lot of series traditions associated with him. First and foremost, Yakuza 0 to 6 were primarily about Kiryu and his tight band of friends, family, and rivals. While these games tend to be fairly self-contained, there has still been an overarching story involving Kiryu distancing himself from his former life of crime and ensuring the safety of his adopted daughter. 6 ended with Kiryu finally succeeding in his efforts to tie up his loose ends, but many of the characters involved are still alive and a few even show up in Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
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Another key point of contention for new players starting at Like a Dragon is that it doesn’t really reflect the series’ usual action-RPG gameplay. The Yakuza franchise has spent a very long time iterating on its simple 3D brawler gameplay. While not all of the games are made equal, their main draw is the contextual Heat Actions that nearly every interactable object, environmental feature, and major enemy has. In fact, even minigames have Heat Actions. These are still present in the new game, but recontextualized to more generic special attacks. Speaking of Yakuza minigames, a lot of them and their associated sidequests are still only present in one or two game apiece. There’s plenty of incentive for new players to go through the old Yakuzas, at least to experience what each game has to offer.
Fortunately, Yakuza: Like a Dragon takes what made the old games great and puts its own spin on it. Like a Dragon is a turn-based RPG featuring a whole new set of protagonists and villains, with the old cast still around on the sidelines. Ichiban is an ex-yakuza member by circumstance more than choice, and while he chooses to embrace his new life, he doesn’t regret his old one. Much more enthusiastic and cheerful than the stoic Kiryu, Ichiban is a clear indicator of great change in the series, and a new audience won’t need to know anything about the lore to get to know him and his friends.
While the new gameplay can be rough at times due to being the Yakuza team’s first turn-based game, it maintains all of the frenetic fun Yakuza is known for, and new fans can certainly expect that to persist if they choose to return to older titles. The new job system is interesting to engage with, and, more noticeably, the presence of a party following Ichiban is now keenly felt. While Kiryu often roamed the streets alone, Ichiban is never without his talkative party members, who can even prompt side quests and character-building cutscenes as they follow him. This is a whole new venture for the Yakuza franchise, and it can endear players to its new cast organically as they march through Like a Dragon.
While starting with an older Yakuza game like 0 or 1 can give new players some context regarding the setting, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is more than capable of standing on its own merits. If they end up enjoying it, then newcomers have every reason to go back and play through the main series. Every Yakuza is now available on most modern platforms, so there has never been a better time to jump in.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is available now on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It will be released for PS5 on March 2nd, 2021.