I struggled to rate this game. A part of me wanted to give it five stars as it has a great story (when they decide to move the plot forward) and some fun combat. Ultimately, I decided to give the game four stars because the side content is rather lackluster and the story takes the longest pause.

When the writers move the plot along, the story is great. It nicely ties up with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. The ending is one of the best in the series. The new cast of characters it introduces is also great. However, the number of things they added to pad the runtime was ridiculous. Padding the runtime is nothing new with this series, but this game just pauses so it can introduce all the side content all at once.

The side content was also rather disappointing. There were some highlights: the new karaoke song is great, I loved the Coliseum, and it's always nice to have pocket circuit racing back. However, that's all the noteworthy things for the side content. Most of the substories were rather dull (with a few exceptions) and I wasn't a big fan of the live-action hostesses. Props to the team for trying something different, but they missed the mark with that decision.

RGG did finally manage to nail Kiryu's combat in the Dragon Engine. In the past titles, Kiryu's combat was a bit rough with this particular engine. Now it's very smooth. I also like the Agent Style they introduced in this game. It was fun and the gadgets were neat.

All in all, Gaiden is an enjoyable title. While not the best Yakuza/Like a Dragon game, it's definitely worth checking out.