Kiryu is back. One last time. Again.

I liked the idea of another Kiryu game. Not because I thought 6 was lackluster, on the contrary, I really liked 6. But for the simple reason that I love Kiryu. He is my favorite character after all. I didn't need more reasons than that.

I was slightly skeptical of course, mainly because early on it seemed like another 'Kaito files'. I liked the Kaito files quite a bit, but it was undeniably under-cooked.
When more and more of the game got revealed, that worry slowly went away. Now I played through the game, and man, RGG outdid themselves on this 'small' spinoff.

The story starts off a bit slow, just setting up its pieces. If you played 7/Like a Dragon you will know where these pieces will lead. (You really should play it, too many people miss out on its quality due to the "muh turn-based" mentality.)
When it does catch up to the big event from 7, it really delivers. Both of the main villains really make this feel like the Yakuza's last stand.
Each villain basically being the Ideal version of the two sides of the Yakuza coin. A psychotic sadist, who should never have this much power. And a steadfast idealist, who strives to reach the top through his own strength. Despite both being done before in the series they really work in this context.
I always felt like the big event was a great plot-point was from 7, but it didn't have the build-up it deserved. It serves the plot in that game very well, but was kind of a lackluster conclusion to the Yakuza as we knew them in the series' past.
This time around it had all the spotlight it deserved.

Another aspect this game nails is Kiryu's characterization. Despite the fact so many characters know his identity, he remains steadfast in denying who he is. Keeping his promise to the Daidoji, and doing his very best to secure safety for his family.
The ending of this arc is absolutely gut-wrenching. Takeya's performance in that scene is nothing short of incredible.
Other aspects of the character were also handled very well. His determination not to kill, which people often joke about, is handled even better than it was in Yakuza 6. Personally I always took the stance that Kiryu kills in self defense, but choosing to execute a man is crossing his line.
A moment I also really liked was the entire chapter where Kiryu is essentially going out of his way to piss off Nishitani. A very fun aspect of him we never got to see more of due to his short reign as chairman.
It really felt like a celebration of the character and everything that made him so great. Further reinforced by all the references and callbacks to prior games. Mainly 5. If you know you know.

Common complaint people have when it comes to Yakuza 6, is that the combat stinks. I can see that. I like Yakuza 6 but its combat is definitely not as good as games like 4 or 5. (Though I think its a more engaging and rewarding combat system than 0/Kiwami.)
Regardless, I always saw the potential in the dragon engine and the cathartic chaos it can create. The proof of that is in the Judgment games.
All it needed to touch up Kiryu's undeveloped moveset. Making the punches more satisfying, not being combo-broken when enemies block, more visual flair, small stuff like that. Gaiden did exactly this and more.
Besides Kiryu's now formidable "Yakuza" style, (It should have just been called Dragon, but whatever.) you have an entirely new moveset to work with, and its one of RGG's most creative.
Agent style combines fast-paced self-defense martial arts with a wide array of gadgets; drones, explosive cigarettes, jet shoes, and the thing that makes every game better, a grapple hook.
Especially the grapple hook is fun, which shouldn't come as a surprise. Being able to fling 5 enemies around (the high number of enemies per encounter really play to the dragon engine's abilities), pulling them close for air-combo's, grappling objects from far away, and weaving all of this into your combos is very fun.
Even without the gadgets I found agent style to be very enjoyable, Its a more technical moveset in comparison to Kiryu's usual strength-based street-fighting. Falling somewhere in the middle of Kiryu and Yagami's movesets.
Speaking of Yagami, the combat is slower than that in Lost Judgment, but I feel like that should be expected, this is the Dragon of Dojima you are playing as. Not John Judgment.
There are a few new heat actions, but there were also a lot that were cut. I personally don't see this as a bad thing, the combat in Gaiden clearly incentivizes pulling off combo's. This also shows in the fact that heat gain in this game might be the slowest its ever been.

Whilst it's good all around, I still have a few gripes with the combat.
First off, it seems like grabbing enemies is very inconsistent. Whilst attacks don't bounce off of blocking enemies anymore, grabs do for some reason?
Another problem I have had for a while might seem like a weird one. I really miss challenging qte's, they've been gone for a while but were present again in Lost Judgment. I had the hope it would stay this time, but sadly that hope was misplaced. I think part of the reason Yakuza 5's final boss was so memorable was because of all the insane qte's. Ive seen no one else mention this though, so this might just be a me thing.
The main problem I had when it came to this game was the difficulty. I played on Professional, and found the game way too easy. To the point where I had to unequip my gear to avoid blasting through the story bosses.
Of course these games always had Legend mode for an extra challenge.
Which this game does not.
The game also does not have ng+.
I have tried to understand why, but I have no clue why it doesn't have these series staples.

What it does have is side content. And a good amount of it too.

Obviously there are the substories.
A lot of whats on display here is good, fun callbacks rounding off some unanswered questions regarding prior games. Stuff like Ryuji's legacy, a nice one regarding Kiryu's thoughts on Kazama, that sort of stuff.
There is also the substory related to taking care of some color-themed gangs, which essentially amount to a couple of fights against punks and thugs. But all the games have their misses.
Another thing this game has is requests, which are essentially short versions of substories you can do real quick for extra cash and Akame points. This includes the iconic Yakuza substory of bringing paper tissues to a guy on a toilet. Kiryu will never escape that one.
Overall they're fine short breaks, and similar to the completion list, tie into the Akame network. The network is what all of the games side content runs through. This is where you accept substories and requests, trade points for items, that sort of stuff.
Having this much smaller stuff in comparison to the larger substories creates a similar feeling to Judgment's Kamurocho. Where the city feels very packed and alive. Sotenbori kind of needed that since, despite its appearances, its never been very interesting outside of Yakuza 2 and Yakuza 0. Even in 5 it didn't feel like there was much to do there.
Another thing helping this is the fact that there's npc's chatting, like in the other games. But this time they can give you hints on where you can find collectibles, their conversations tie into substories you can do, etc. Which is a nice touch.
A slightly annoying thing about the network is that you have to talk to Akame every time you want to start a new substory. Which means you have to re-enter the menu after starting a substory. Would've been nice if there was a way to accept them all.
Its not that bad, just slightly annoying if you have 8 unstarted substories lying around.

The minigame line-up isn't lacking either.
Of course you have stuff like the gambling games, mahjong, golf and shogi.
Unless I'm mistaken, we finally have pool back since it dissapeared after Kiwami. I quite like pool so I'm glad they brought it into the dragon engine.
I also like mahjong. Fuck you.

Pocket circuit also returns from Kiwami, and there's some nice small tweaks but its still mostly the same.
Which is fine, I really like pocket circuit. Tweaking your car to perfection because you have millions of yen whilst those stupid 7-year olds do not is great.
And then you still lose and Kiryu starts being so visibly upset he makes Yakuza 5 Kiryu look like sunshine and rainbows. Great stuff.

There's a hostess minigame. As there is sadly one in every game.
This time it's in live action for double the discomfort! It feels very out of place, especially when you consider the post-credits scene.
I'm sure everyone involved with the minigame are lovely people, but the minigame still just sucks.
They give you the option to skip nearly everything besides the final scene though, so that's considerate of RGG.

The main attraction when it comes to the side content is the Castle.
It houses one of the hostess clubs, the casino, gambling den, coliseum and boutique.
The boutique is nice, Being able to dress up Kiryu however you want. I mostly stuck with his default look though.

The coliseum is easily the biggest chunk of side content in the game.
There's a ton of different tournaments, big 10 v 10 fights, 1 v 100, optional bosses, so many challenges to overcome.
Of course Kiryu's new movesets really shine in these big fights, but the best part is that you are not alone.
Similar to clan creator, and Majima construction, you can recruit fighters to the Joryu clan. There are about 30, off the top of my head.
Every character has its own stats, buffs and specials. But the best part is that they all have fully playable movesets. All of them.
There are some stinkers, and there are some highlights.
It'd be difficult to cover all of the characters but some of my favorites are:
Chicken Man, Jacket Hotline Miami is in this game, and he has incredibly high damage output, easily instigated air-combo's. And a submachine gun that kills everything. He would've probably destroyed the Amon fight. If Ichiban doesn't work out as a successor, there's always another option.
Sugiura, the fourth Judge Man. He has no cooldown on his quicksteps giving him essentially the same speed as Kiryu on his jet-shoes, except with more control of where you are going, and being able to use quickstep strikes. Here's to hoping he'd be playable in his own games like this someday.
Kamiyama has a big cannon.

Cool about the coliseum, and the game as a whole, is the soundtrack. It continues the Dubstep/EDM direction the series took after 7. I liked the OST of 7 overall, but felt it was a bit unpolished in comparison to prior titles.
Gaiden definitely isn't unpolished. The coliseum alone takes up a third of the full soundtrack. Which also serves as an indicator of how large this side-mode actually is. Some highlights include Psycho's Anthem, Appassionato's remix, Un alto appassionato and anything by 83key. I'm a big fan of Soul of the Ogre, Kijin clan's battle theme.
Of course you cant talk about a Yakuza OST without discussing the karaoke minigame.
Its got one of my favorite lineups in the series (Bakamitai, Tonight, Hands and one of the best renditions of Like a Butterfly), although there's only two-ish new ones.
SHIN-I-CHI-ZU-ZAMURAI is a remix of Ichizu Samurai from Ishin, and its kind of a banger.
SAYONARA Silent Night is a fully new song, sung by Takaya Kuroda of course. It's a very melancholy song and will probably be my Christmas jam for years to come.

The whole game feels melancholy, especially towards the end. I have mentioned it before but Kuroda's performance in the ending could not be understated. There are very little things that have managed to make me cry, (The ending of Ten - Tenna Toori no Kaidanji, and Girls' last tour are the only two examples I can think of.) and this is now joining the ranks.

And after such an emotionally charged ending they hit you with the most random character reveal you could only expect from an RGG game.


After all these years they finally brought back Taichi Suzuki.