izigame.me

This may be a spin-off with less playtime than your average Yakuza game, but it still delivers a blast of a story, plenty of engaging side content, super fun combat, and even a taste of Infinite Wealth through a special demo version

This is a spoiler-free review btw :)
Gaiden's events happen alongside the events of Yakuza Like a Dragon, here telling the story of a Kazuma Kiryu trying to erase his name under the codename of Joryu. Gaiden relies a lot on Kiryu's past, so a little bit of warning it has all sorts of minor and major spoilers from many games, and also spoilers of the one that happens alongside with it, so do be aware of that. WIth all that said, I was not ready at all for how hard this story would go, main story doesn't beat any longer than maybe 10-12-ish hours but they still manage to pack a whole lot of drama and feelings into this one small package, all of the new characters are memorable, and obviously some good old Kiryu coolness as we love it
Combat throws back to the hack'n slash formula, bringing Kiryu a bit of Judgment influence which is great. Agent style is nimble and tactical, full of gadgets and technical combat, and the Yakuza style brings back the street fighting dragon, full of heavy power and strong strikes. You can't go wrong with either style honestly, both have their unique shine in the right time, combos feel awesome
Side content also goes hard, the Coliseum is the big attraction of this game and the main moneymaker, spending time here experimenting with teams and even playing other characters is mighty fun. Akame Network is quite bulky and important to upgrade abilities, the return of Pocket Circuit is a welcome funsies add, show your charm for the girls in the Cabaret Clubs (this time in live action), visit the Boutique to customize Kiryu's clothes and face, and of course all the usual gambling and sports minigames are present as well. Also, big props for bringing an arcade of Sega Racing Classic 2 (renamed out of Daytona USA 2 due to licensing), that's a first ever PC/console release for that game and I was really excited for it
Dragon Engine had great graphical ugprades, more specifically to lighting, reflections and colors, everything is so much more atmospheric and colorful I love it, and once you have a taste of the Infinite Wealth demo you can tell they meticulously upgraded these departments thinking of this game to deliver a very lively and colorful Honolulu, definitely the peak in graphics for the series
And speaking of, Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth Special Trial is an extra gift you earn after beating the main story of Gaiden, packing a short story demo and an exploration demo, it's similar to the same event demo you've seen a few times on youtube but here with even more content and no time restrictions (thankfully!). Needless to say this game is looking and feeling awesome, I could fill another half-review with how many cool details it has but you've read a lot of text at this point already. Can't wait for it now, fueled my hype that was already skyrocketed
Gaiden only has one DLC. Not a huge impact in this one it's more for fanservice funsies, you get three legendary yakuza for the coliseum, obviously they're awesome and strong but if you want to spare some money it's okay, not that much to be lost in terms of content
After you beat the game you can still enjoy Premium Adventure as you always do in the series, but Gaiden unexplainably lacks New Game+ for you to replay the story carrying over your abilities. My theory is that it maybe just maybe could have to do with how Akame Network works, but it's just a silly little theory of mine we never really got word on why's NG+ just missing, but yeah that has to be my only big complaint about this game
To finish this, I want to thank RGG for yet another fantastic release and also make a wish here: a wish that they realize how far Dragon Engine has reached and how great it feels and looks now, please give it some extra thought before moving to Unreal guys, you have a fantastic proprietary engine in your hands. WIth all that said, Gaiden was such a blast, even in a shorter spin-off package they still deliver top quality content as always, and I can't even wait for Infinite Wealth now, crazy how we're just two months shy of it