Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name Reviews
The Dragon of Dojima is back in Like a Dragon Gaiden, a new entry in the saga that, far from being a spin-off, offers a lot of action and answers to numerous unknowns. An extremely fun installment, although this comes hand in hand with an inescapable nostalgia factor and knowing how to appreciate the references to characters or situations from previous games.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is an excellent addition to the series. You have an outstanding story, great characters, vibrant graphics, sizeable content, and, most importantly, the phenomenal combat and newer mechanics proving to be the best in the franchise. Switching between two unique fighting styles and struggling to decide which one I like more is a problem worth having.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is shorter than other titles in the series, but still offers another gripping adventure that’s packed with twists and thrills. Kiryu is a real treat to play as thanks to his colourful personality and brutal combat skills (his ‘Agent’ abilities especially stand out this time around), whilst Sotenbori is packed with fun things to do across its mini-games, colosseum, and substories found in the Akame Network. It is guilty of padding things out with some of its duller fetch quests and the smaller size of the world does get noticeable when you reach the later hours of the game, but there’s still plenty going on to ensure that Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name stands out as another impressive release in the series. It offers an appealing throwback to the series’ action-focused origins and once again proves that Kiryu really is one hell of a badass.
With that main course being the old guard rubbing shoulders with the new, I’m looking forward to seeing these guys interact when Infinite Wealth eventually drops. The story isn’t perfect, but still spins a tale worthy of the Dragon of Dojima. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name may be a shorter game, but there’s a surprising amount of depth in that brevity. It’s been a good year for Like a Dragon, and a game that celebrates their leading man like this is worthy of your time and money. Go ahead and devour this, and get excited for Infinite Wealth.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a considerably shorter experience than Yakuza fans expect, but the energy and charm of the series is still here for a captivating detour until Infinite Wealth.
At the end of the day, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name feels like a bonus adventure that would whet the appetites of fans even more for Infinite Wealth, designed specially to fill in the Kazuma Kiryu gap. Learning more about the popular character and catching up with him is always a good thing, but other than the combat, everything else feels a little stale and too familiar. There is still a decent amount of entertainment to be found in both The Castle and Sotenbori, just don’t expect the same level of polish that comes in the mainline games.
Apparently, it only took Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio six months to develop Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. I would like to laud each and every person in this team for coming up with this magnificent entry to the franchise in such short amount of time. It might be shorter, but its story is a lot more focused. It’s still packed to the brim with side content, with the Coliseum being one of the most entertaining (and hilarious) side modes to have ever been added to a Yakuza game.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is one last hurrah for the Dragon of Dojima and the classic brawler-style gameplay. After the botched sendoff of Yakuza 6, RGG Studio has gone back to the drawing board and delivered a short but fun and emotional rollercoaster. While there is 15–30 hours of playtime to be had in Gaiden, SEGA’s regional pricing leaves much to be desired. Thanks to Gamepass, fans around the world can get into the head of Joryu at an affordable price. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a tribute to the legendary character fans should not miss out on.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is Kiryu's best adventure yet, thanks to a narrative that actively explores the Dragon of Dojima's character depth in a tearjerker of an ending, alongside fun and engaging gameplay and tons of side content.
Though treading over familiar ground, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name holds enough payoffs and enjoyable moments to make this shorter trip an emotionally worthwhile one.
It is clear that this Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name! It is a minor title within the Yakuza saga, but it is still very fun and full of content as is usual in RGG Studio titles. It can be a good entry point to the saga due to its noticeably shorter duration than usual and its much smaller scale than previous games. And to the fan of the saga there is no need to even recommend it because they will almost certainly play it and devour it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
For fans who have enjoyed any of Kiryu’s adventures you owe it to yourself to take this one on as it further adds to the legend of the Dragon of Dojima.
The Man Who Erased His Name is a decent addition to the series, but it misses the mark in being a truly memorable experience.
Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a more than solid spinoff for the successful Yakuza-series. With a satisfying fighting-system, tons of side-activities and the typical Yakuza-humor, Like A Dragon Gaiden make veterans happy and gives newcomers a chance to get into the series easily.
Review in German | Read full review
As always, it’s those intimate and emotional human elements that make Like A Dragon Gaiden so gratifying. Whether or not we needed to see Kiryu be pulled back so heavily into the underworld against his will is another question entirely, but if we believe at this point that the end is truly nigh for Kiryu in Infinite Wealth, this one last go-around to spend a few more deeply personal moments with him is something to be cherished – as a bittersweet way to get ready to say goodbye (for whenever that time actually comes around).
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name may not be as long as other games in the series, but it still provides a deep sandbox in which to lose yourself for hours, whether it’s in the arena, the arcade, or simply helping out around the neighborhood.
Ultimately, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name provides the iconic Kiryu Kazuma with a fitting conclusion to his story and sets the foundation for the next game.
While Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name undoubtedly suffers due to its smaller scale and a heavy reliance on the Akame Network to pad out its 12-hour story, there’s no denying how good it feels to see the Dragon of Dojima back in action – especially with the grab bag of gadgets he has at his disposal. And while this spin-off’s story is over a bit too soon, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s penchant for spinning a compelling narrative shines through, showing Kiryu at his most vulnerable and setting the stage for what’s sure to be a momentous follow-up when Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth launches next January.
It’s hard for me to truly be let down by a game, but all the way until the final few hours, I was not having fun. A thought in the back of my mind that kept nagging at me, “What is the point of this existing? What purpose does this serve to introducing Infinite Wealth?”. There was no answer.
Like A Dragon Gaiden is another great game in a long-running series, that continues the high-quality tradition. It’s packed to the brim with content and offers great drama that not only gets Kiryu sucked back into the underground world, but also yourself.