Like a Dragon Gaiden is exactly how it was advertised as: it’s a short romp with Kiryu as a secret agent that serves to explain what he’s been up to in-between Yakuzas 6 and 7 as well as expand on the role that he ultimately plays during the events of Yakuza 7. The game isn’t anything particularly groundbreaking for the franchise, but it was explicitly never trying to be. I wouldn’t really blame you if you questioned whether or not this game needed to exist. That being said, it is currently selling for $10 cheaper than the average price of a new game (or $20 cheaper now I guess, considering the upcoming Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is priced at $70), and most importantly: it’s pretty fun. Unless you’re an extremely dedicated fan of the franchise like I’ve become this past year, I don’t think that it’s necessarily an essential purchase. It is still a good time though, and if the trailers/promotional material for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth are to be believed, then this may be the final time we’ll be playing as Kiryu in the fashion of the traditional beat-’em-up Yakuza games (for real this time).

For the most part, Gaiden doesn’t really tell a particularly intricate or emotional story. The plot is really straightforward: it sets the stage for the role that Kiryu plays in Yakuza 7 and not much else honestly. In fact, the game is padded out with a number of sections that don’t really do much to advance the main plot. There are some potential hints towards the future of the series, but it’s not clear whether or not these hints are specifically for Infinite Wealth. I’d be shocked if they weren’t, though. The game does conclude with one of the most well-executed, gut punching scenes in the entire series that genuinely made me tear up. It really rewards long time and dedicated fans. Personally speaking, this ending alone made the game worth the $50 purchase for me. It actually made me bump my original rating from a 3.5/5 to a 4/5.

After ditching the multiple styles for Kiryu in Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2, Gaiden brings them back with the new Yakuza and Agent styles. The Yakuza style has Kiryu essentially play the way he does in 6 and Kiwami 2, with some minor adjustments that make him feel a lot better to control. They brought Extreme Heat Mode back and I’m so, so thankful that the camera no longer zooms in on Kiryu when it’s activated. That was a huge gripe for me in those two games and made me not want to use it altogether. The Agent style is brand new. Its primary focus is on crowd control, and it utilizes a number of fun spy gadgets to stun and distract enemies in order to give yourself some breathing room. It’s a little weird and hard to get used to at first, as to activate the gadgets, you need to hold down the corresponding button until it’s charged. If you get hit by an enemy, it cancels the charge. This means that you have to make breathing room in order to make breathing room… which doesn’t sound quite right, and doesn’t really seem what they were going for. The jet boots that you get partway through the campaign takes far less time to charge than your other spy gadgets, and they’re essential for clearing out groups of enemies so that you can safely plant your explosive cigarettes or summon your drones. There’s also a new counter move exclusively for bosses that Kiryu can do, where quickstepping during a special attack bosses can perform allows you to parry them and retaliate with an extremely satisfying drop kick. You can also upgrade it to perform an additional grapple attack following the drop kick. It’s not hard to pull it off at all, and it feels damn good when you do.

As usual, there’s a plethora of side content to do in Gaiden. While I focused primarily on clearing the main campaign, the few substories I engaged with were pretty solid, especially the ones where some surprise guests appeared. The Castle, which is a key location that you constantly travel back and forth from, holds this game’s Coliseum, and it’s the most fun iteration of it in any Yakuza game. I actually really want to go back to it and play through it some more now that I’ve finished Gaiden. The Team Battles in particular are a lot of fun, and I’m not going to lie, it makes me happy that I pre-ordered it so that I can fight alongside Majima, Saejima and Daigo. Playing as those characters however, is a different story. Majima and Saejima in particular feel pretty boneless in comparison to how they were in previous Yakuza games. I’m over the moon to be able to play as Saejima again, he’s one of my favorite characters in the series. However, he feels very hollow to play as, and it's quite disappointing. If you missed out getting these characters by not preordering, you’re really not missing much.

Like a Dragon Gaiden is definitely a game for the fans. In some ways, it does feel like a game whose sole existence is to squeeze money out of people that are hyped for Infinite Wealth. However, it offers a lot to enjoy, and still provides a decent experience all-around. I can’t stress enough how great that ending is. I’m really looking forward to going back to it and playing through some more of the side content. I think that if you’re a huge fan of the series, then you won’t be disappointed with this, but if you’re more of a passive enjoyer, you’re not going to get a whole lot out of it. I do still recommend at least looking up the cutscenes on YouTube though. I will say that I will likely look back on this game a lot less fondly if the trailers for Infinite Wealth turn out to be a red herring. If this game and Infinite Wealth really do end up being the final times we’ll be playing as Kiryu like the Infinite Wealth trailers strongly suggest, then I think that Gaiden is an excellent way to prepare fans for what I hope is a tremendous and fitting send off to one of the greatest protagonists in video games. Otherwise, this game will likely wind up just being a small footnote in the franchise’s legacy.

My personal GOTY for 2023. Takes the best of the best from every Dragon Engine game thus far to create, while on the shorter side, an extremely fulfilling experience for any Yakuza/LAD fan. Kiryu's combat is at its best here by far, giving the Yakuza style the charge attacks from Tiger in Lost Judgment was an incredibly smart decision, allowing for incredibly strong and quick boss kills, while the Agent style is a fun gimmick style that has you laughing every time you do something ridiculous with it (this is the entire style). Unfortunately, I find the story hits far harder if you've played 3 and 6 (6 being my personal fav in the series), and given part of this game existing is to ease newer players from LAD7 into Kiryu for his upcoming dual protag role in LAD8, this move is very ??????. Thankfully as someone who HAS played those games, I can confidently say the story was at its best, and the way it bridges between what happened to Kiryu after 6 to his appearances in 7 are excellently executed. Most of this game is dedicated to the side content, which was fine for me, allowing me to fully indulge myself in the side content of an RGG game for the first time, as previously I had only done the sidequests in LAD7 for the summons and the karaoke in every game. My only real criticism is the file size. 24 gigs of this game is dedicated to the LAD8 demo, which is literally not even this game, and another 24 is dedicated to incredibly high quality footage of women for the cabaret club minigame, leaving almost half of the game dedicated to just those, which is frankly ridiculous.

I think one of the reasons this game manages to stand the test of time so well, at least for me, is its message. It's one that constantly changes and evolves with you the older you get. So many people have talked about this already, so I won't parrot what they've said, but I can't think of any game or even piece of media has managed to share this specific message and pull it off nearly as well, with such rich subtext too. I'm the same age as this game and it's one I still think about often, especially as I get older.

It's the beginning of autumn. I'm done configuring a fanmade PC port of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It's 2022. Four years. It's been almost over four years since I originally played this game, on my old 2DS system. I have many memories of experiencing OOT, whether it be from it's humble but impactful story, appealing atmosphere, masterful music, and most importantly, seeing if it held up to my expectations. For 20 years (at the time), it was, and still is, one of the most critically acclaimed and important video games of all time. I remember being drawn into the world and story of the game, and it quickly became an all time favorite for my younger self. It's an experience I held near and dear to my heart, and here we are again, four years later. Would the game still be as good as I remembered it four years ago? Or would it be where my memories failed me?
There's something awe inspiring about OOT's sheer polish for the first 3D game in the series. Link controls exactly how you expect him to, he has a handy arsenal of weapons, several means of fast travel the further you get through the game, and has now dawned one of his most iconic designs in the franchise. The land of Hyrule is interconnected brilliantly through many different shortcuts and pathways that tie the cohesion of this world together, it makes it feel like a real place. There's all of these dungeons, while not very difficult in the slightest, are designed so tightly and have a satisfaction to figuring out practically anything in them. Lastly, there's the combat. While simple in terms of control and enemy variety, it works excellently, having no clunk or questionable design choices. I feel that's a great way to describe this game- it all just works. I rarely felt like "what were they thinking???", because it's put together with so much competency.
Ocarina of Time, while not exactly a game that has gracefully aged graphically, puts a lot of effort into giving a heavy atmosphere and mood. Dungeons like the Forest and Shadow temple have so much weight to their feel, especially with the dark and grueling context to the Shadow Temple's history. The lost woods has such a feeling of magical whimsy and mystique with its emphasis on guidance of music and fog. The Final Boss is still one of the most visually impressive things the N64 has EVER pushed out, with the shadows interrupted by lightning to emphasize the horror of the opponent before you, the fate of Hyrule completely on your shoulders. It's immaculate.
The story of the game isn't exactly peak fiction or excruciatingly dense, but there's just something about it that leaves a profound feeling when it's over. Throughout my revisit, I was expecting some bit of emotion due to my past experiences and how time has changed me. I felt some chills here or there from a song in the game I remember loving, sure, but it took the ending to finally break me. A pedestal with the Master Sword, sitting profoundly as it can finally be put to rest for many, many, years. The bells ring as the curtain begins to close. This time, it broke me. The feeling of four years passing finally crushed me and I had to let it out. I cried. I cried for a solid minute. It made me completely shut down as I saw the ending come to a close. But when it was all over, I felt so much better. All that stress just melted away as I knew i had truly experienced something that I loved.
It's no surprise that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a game about growing up. The game taught me this well. I've grown a lot over four years, believe it or not. After Link turns away, leaving the Master Sword behind forever to further his own life, the life he deserved, it connected with me on a much greater level. I still have a lot of things to learn and grow from, but this game definitely reached out to me, and what I'm experiencing. It's simply amazing.

It's Ocarina of Time.

Understands that the true Dark World is adulthood and that Time will mold us all into adults, whether we want it to or not. Collect your spiritual trinkets if you want some illusion of choice, but those in charge are pulling up the strings of your playpen from the shadows. Seven years will pass and the apocalypse will arrive with droughts and flames and frozen wastes, the leaders and heroes of youth rendered useless against the unstoppable forces of evil, leaving you to pick up the pieces. Masterpiece. You had to be there. Each playthrough allows you to see your past gaming selves as Young Link; you now naively see yourself as the more capable and wise Adult Link who is too embarrassed to use the boomerang. A Nintendo game that forces you to grapple with mortality and innocence and the cycle of fathers and sons in ways that grim Atlus JRPGs about demons could only dream of. Godlike!!! Majora's Mask stans will talk about their little stories that they write down in their little bomberman notebook or whatever, but it was all in here too - you just didn't have a checklist or trinkets to reward you for engaging with the material. Gameplay is still rock solid (on Nintendo's first try!!), but you come to this thing for mood, atmosphere, text, subtext. OCARINA OF TIME BABY