ANOTHER FINAL FAREWELL
Gaiden is Japanese for side-story, and behind the long title Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name lies a powerful little interlude that accomplishes a lot. It's the protagonist Kazuma Kiryu's latest final farewell. It ties the storylines of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, Yakuza: Like a Dragon and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth together. It also happens to be a silly little gangster opera that moved me to tears.
This game comes with more localization options than usual, but I nevertheless opted for Japanese voice acting. After eight main entries, it would feel sacrilegious to have someone other than Takaya Kuroda voice Kazuma Kiryu. It paid off in the long, final scene of the game, where Kiryu's rock hard facade crumbles and he is overwhelmed with emotion after a life of hardship. That moment belongs to the most affecting animation and voice acting this industry has seen and heard - at least if you've played the entire series up 'til now.
That ending is a grim conclusion to the long tale of this honor-bound man, striving to lead a good life in a bad world. He has sacrificed a lot of happiness, and the story ends with him having to confront it all in a single moment. At the end of Yakuza 6, he staged his own death and abandoned those he held dear to keep them safe from his pursuers. His new identity is Joryu, and I gotta wonder if it's a joke, adopting such a similar-sounding name (like someone changing his name from Stephen to Steve).
This story sees him starting off as an agent in employment of a secret branch of the government, acting as a bodyguard for wealthy clients. But when a mission goes wrong, and he becomes the target of a Yakuza family, it's clear his secret is compromised. The remnants of the Omi Alliance have sniffed him out and try to extort him into joining their ranks for a special task. Something big is in the making, and Kiryu has to fight tooth and nail to reclaim his anonymity.
He doesn't do a convincing job at hiding - his Clark Kent-disguise consists of glasses and nothing more. This makes it all the funnier when people call him Kiryu, and he responds that he's not the guy: "My name is Joryu." Every Yakuza story repeats the same theme about capitalistic greed and crooks striving to become the number one, the most feared and influential Yakuza of them all. The winner takes it all and all that jazz. Kiryu is the one who won almost every fight but still ended up losing, because he valued his humanity too much.
In this spirit of competition, every Yakuza entry is both a celebration and satire of games, finding ways to gamify every little aspect of ordinary life. Every argument is a fistfight, even friendships form over brawls, finding love is a dating sim (now with live-action cutscenes), singing is a rhythm game and dining in a restaurant is an investment with short-term benefits (health gain) as well as long-term (earning Akame points to spend on new skills).
The action combat in The Man Who Erased His Name is peak Yakuza, providing you with two intriguing fighting techniques you can switch between at will. One is a new agent style with a cool assortment of James Bond-esque gadgets, like explosive cigarettes and a thin wire, shot from your wristwatch.
The other technique is the traditional Yakuza-style, a "greatest hits" of Kiryu's finest "Dragon of Dojima"-moves. It's more impactful, reducing enemy hitpoints quicker, although the crowd control aspect of the Agent style is great for small armies - of which this game has a lot. The combat is harder than it's been in a long time, and is all the better for it. Unless you buy protection, or learn to dodge, block or counter every move, your health will drop fast.
Unfortunately, the entire story takes place in Sotenbori, a recycled, tiny district with one of the most tedious layouts of the franchise. A river divides the city in a north and south part, forcing you to take many detours to get to your next objective. Almost all restaurants are located on the north end, making it a nuiscance to complete the dining goals. And it really could have done with some more shortcuts and side alleys throughout. Luckily, the oft-forgotten taxi service can get you to most places.
Technically, the game looks great, and it plays equally well. Every Yakuza game captures a sense of urban chaos, and it's only gotten better with improved hardware. The PS5-version runs smoothly, going in and out of combat seamlessly, and the environments feel alive as the fights leave broken debris around the battle zone. Bystanders stop and witness the spectacle from their cowering stances.
Just exploring the city reveals so much detail; the huge mascot in front of every restaurant or store; store clerks working their asses off behind the display windows; people gossiping about city events; a pro wrestler doing a silly pose on a passing riverboat. Every grocery store is brimming with detail on the store shelves, items you'll not notice because they're only there for decoration. And a lot of item pickups can be found in impossible places.
Although small, Sotenbori has room for a lot of activity. Beside fighting, mini-games like pool, darts, mahjong, shogi, karaoke and golf calls for your attention, as does a SEGA arcade cabinet with a number of racers and fighters. Halfway through the main story you also get access to a SEGA Master system, to which you can find cartridges scattered around the game world. I tried some Alien Syndrome, Fantasy Zone and Maze Hunter 3-D,among others, but they couldn't pull me away from the main story for long.
Two more fleshed-out side activities unfold throughout the game. The first is the belated return of the Pocket Circuit racing game, a fun toy car racer on a series of big racing tracks. It involves buying car parts and modifying your vehicle to meet the conditions of the track, whilst also beating the opposition.
The second is the Coliseum, which is back in its finest iteration yet. It utilizes the stellar combat engine to create a fun, arena-style fighting tournament. You can fight on your own or alongside recruitable allies in a Hell Team Rumble. Your squad consists of partners you get to know through substories, or hire through shady talent scouts. Both are amazingly well-crafted sidegames with their own story arcs and progression systems.
A new character named Akame, protector of the homeless, provides you with side jobs through her Akame Network. These develop into substories of their own. Although they are of great quality, they're unfortunately not very numerous. In one of them, a couple of characters from the Yakuza-spinoff Judgment make cameos. My favorite involved a young man wanting advice for dating after successfully picking up a love interest online with the help of an AI-bot. But many of them are little more than recruitment opportunities for your Coliseum team.
The Man Who Erased His Name is good, familiar Yakuza-turf with an incredible story payoff at the end, that elevates the game to the top-five of the franchise. Up until then it doesn't set one foot wrong. It goes through the entire emotional range of laughing fits, melancholy and rage, and presents an uncharacteristically clean Yakuza-experience. After all that, the emotional impact becomes like the cherry on top. I'd rate it in the same tier as Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
It's a pity that it's not for everyone. A newcomer definitely should not start here. Optimally, you'll have played all the previous entries before booting up this one. The more time you've invested in Kiryu's saga, the better you'll understand his reaction. For a moment there, I forgot I was watching a video game character. I just wanted to call out through the screen to tell the poor old guy that everything will be alright.
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