Like a Dragon Gaiden is a side story, so many players will wonder if they need to play the other Yakuza games first. Given that Yakuza 7 could be enjoyed without previous knowledge of the Like a Dragon franchise, it’s confusing what you need to know to play this spin-off. We’ll cover where Like a Dragon Gaiden falls in the series and the Yakuza games you need to play beforehand below.
Do you need to play the other Like a Dragon games before Gaiden?
We recommend you play Yakuza 6 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon (Yakuza 7) before starting Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. While Gaiden is advertised as a spin-off, it’s really more like Yakuza 6.5/7.5. It explains what happened to Kazuma Kiryu after the events of Yakuza 6 and serves as a bridge between his appearances in Yakuza 7 and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (Yakuza 8).
Gaiden isn’t an ideal place to start the series because, despite having a separate plot, it heavily relies on knowledge of previous games to fill in the blanks. While you can play the game and understand the basics without knowing about the rest of the Yakuza lore, many, many references will be completely lost on you. For example, you’ll get the basics of why Kiryu became “Joryu,” but you won’t understand why it’s such a big deal. You’ll also be lost regarding the numerous cameos and references to places, events, people, and organizations from the other games.
That’s not to say that Like a Dragon: Gaiden isn’t an enjoyable game on its own. It’s just that playing it first would be like starting Star Wars with Return of the Jedi. You’ll understand who the heroes are and get the gist of the conflict. However, you won’t get the opportunity to see how relationships developed between characters, how factions relate to one another, and how Kiryu fits into the larger picture.
