Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is an excellent little game that condenses many of the best aspects of the Like a Dragon series into a shorter but no less riveting package. If you need a short but exciting and content-packed title to play, this is the perfect title to play while waiting for the next RPG installment – Infinite Wealth.
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
Developer: Ryu ga Gotoku Studios
Price: $65
Platform: PS4, PS5 (reviewed), Xbox One Xbox Series X/S, and PC
MonsterVine was supplied with a PS5 code for review.
A Yakuza/Like a Dragon game is always such a wonderful time. They’re typically large and completely filled packages that span cities, each packed with side activities and intriguing stories. The Man Who Erased His Name takes everything great about this series and packs it into 15 hours, making for a refreshingly brisk but surprisingly dense adventure.
The story is as sweeping and dramatic as you could hope, though the fact that it features Kiryu constantly pretending he’s someone else named Joryu with the main visual difference being that he now wears sunglasses is very funny. Without getting into a synopsis, this is the exact sort of narrative that one comes to a Like a Dragon game for. It’s perfectly balanced with real emotion and bizarre goofiness as well as lots of intrigue and a spritz of melodrama.
Plus, it has Kazuma Kiryu – one of the most likable protagonists in the medium – back at the helm. Worth noting is that this is not a great entry point for the series, so if you’re a newcomer, this isn’t the one for you.
“The smaller map and approximately 15-hour runtime make for a pleasantly compact experience, which honestly comes as a bit of a relief in a year so filled with great (and long) games.“
While the main Like a Dragon series has moved towards the turn-based RPG genre, Gaiden sticks with the fast-paced beat-em-up gameplay of previous titles. The hard-hitting combat never gets old, and Gaiden proves this with its two distinct fighting styles.
One is the tried-and-true heavy style, while the other takes advantage of Kiryu’s goofy new role as an agent with wild gadgets like rocket shoes and Spider-Man-esque ropes. Swapping between them makes combat even more of a blast, as you can rack up some truly insane juggling combos with each one.
Then there’s the iconic breadth of side content. All the usual suspects are here, from UFO Catcher machines and emulated SEGA arcade games to bingo golf at the driving range and Pocket Circuit racing. There’s an expansive coliseum to plow your way through with different sorts of battles and stories, which serves as a nice option for splitting up story segments.
A lot of these end up being explored through the Akame Network – a series of side objectives and missions you take on to gain points, money, and rewards to power up and equip Kiryu. These quests are doled out with perfect pacing, and many of them are quick and just require you to give people things, win a fight, or take a photo to be completed. These kept me adamantly playing beyond the time each night that I’d resolved to go to bed, which is always impressive.
The smaller map and approximately 15-hour runtime make for a pleasantly compact experience, which honestly comes as a bit of a relief in a year so filled with great (and long) games. I’m used to 30+ hour Like a Dragon games, so having this smaller sequel between big entries that brings the focus back to Kiryu briefly has been very welcome.
The Final Word
Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a thrilling and compact continuation of the never-ending and exhilarating adventures of Kazuma Kiryu. There’s plenty of content to make you feel fulfilled alongside the expectedly explosive story. This is a delightful little Like a Dragon experience that will tide you over until the next main entry.
MonsterVine Rating: 5 out of 5 – Excellent
