Like a Dragon Gaiden is a spin-off of the mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon series. Taking place alongside the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Gaiden brings back the old-school beat 'em up combat style and follows the series original protagonist Kazuma Kiryu after the events of Yakuza 6 when he disappeared from the world and signed a pact with the secret organization the "Daidoji faction". Now under the codename "Joryu" Kiryu operates as one of the Daidoji's secret agents from the shadows until a mysterious figure who seems to know Kiryu's past draws him out of hiding and into a whole new conflict.

Gaiden is the shortest Yakuza game taking me merely 30 hours (As according to the in-game time counter) to not only beat the game, but to 100% it and get the platinum trophy as well. However due to being so short it's also one of the most focused and tightly paced Yakuza games in the whole series featuring some of the best moments in the whole series including the best final boss and best antagonist as well with some great twists too.

Gaiden is also the best Kiryu has ever felt to play in the entire series running on the Dragon Engine and giving him 2 styles similar to Yagami in Judgment and feeling very fast, fluid and stylish. On top of his standard Yakuza style which incorporates many different moves from all Kiryu's past styles in previous games and serves as the heavy style to be used on one-on-one fights and bosses, Kiryu now has the Agent style which allows him to fight with advanced techniques he learned from the Daidoji based on martial arts from all over the world alongside various spy-like gadgets like a grappling gun, exploding cigarettes and even jet powered shoes the agent style is tons of fun and acts as the crowd control style Kiryu uses when up against waves of enemies.

Gaiden also brings back a fan favorite system from Yakuza 0 allowing you to purchase skills with money, but it combines that with a similar SP system that the Judgment games have as well. You earn SP by completing challenges and side missions for Sotenbori's jack-of-all-trades Akame. There's also gear and stat increases similar to Like a Dragon. In a way Gaiden acts as a jack-of-all-trades itself and combines parts of systems from all past Yakuza games. I also have to mention that I enjoy how most sub-stories have something to do with Kiryu's past.

While Gaiden may be the shortest Yakuza game it still has just as many side activities and mini-games to do like the classics such as pool, darts, karaoke, gambling, Majong, Shogi and even the return of the fan favorite...Pocket Circuit! There's also a colosseum where you can partake in both one-on-one battles and clan battles where you can fight with a group of NPC characters you recruit and the colosseum even lets you play as other characters besides Kiryu as well.

Overall Gaiden is a short, but fantastic companion piece to Yakuza 7 giving Kiryu even more development and a new side to his character as he works as a secret agent with no name while fleshing out his side of the events that happened in Yakuza 7. There are plenty of memorable sub-stories, side activities and good fan service moments for those who have experienced Kiryu's journey from the beginning and the combat is the best the mainline Yakuza series has ever felt. The antagonist and final boss, their motivations and the themes have so much depth to think about and I would easily count them among the series absolute best as well and even if we never get another Yakuza game in the classic beat 'em up style I can think of no more fitting way for it to go out than Gaiden's incredible finale.