Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Windows (Steam Deck OK)
Current goal: Protect Osaka as a friendly neighborhood gangster

Kazuma Kiryu’s back! And just like everyone else, he’s older and sadder than ever in 2023. Sega’s Yakuza / Like a Dragon series has enough twists and turns to fill a bucket of curly fries, but RGG Studio’s latest is a more compact affair that focuses primarily on Kiryu’s struggle to find happiness in solitude. Having taken a few days to recover emotionally after the sidequel’s sucker-punch ending, I’m ready to dive back into Sega’s gangster’s paradise

Despite its bite-sized scale, Gaiden has enough optional hijinks to hold its own within the series. I’m especially looking forward to cutting a swath through the colosseum battles aboard the casino boat in international waters. And once I’ve had my fill of beating goons to a pulp, I’ll head back to the Sotenbori vice district to chat with some saucy gals at the cabaret club. After that, I’ll mosey around the neighborhood’s showy restaurants, with its elegantly swaying mechanical crab legs and zepplin-sized pufferfish—many of which are facimilies of real-world eateries—and daydream about all the great food I ate in Osaka. — Jen Glennon