The legendary Dragon of Dojima has been laid to rest, and in his place rises a familiar face in the shadowy organization, the Daidoji Faction. This new agent is about to face off against threats new and old in an effort to maintain balance in his erased life and the brewing storm coming for all yakuza. Lets find out if this side-entry can take the heat and stand proud, or will it be burnt to crisp from the dragon's fire.
Gaiden picks up nearly immediately after the events from Yakuza 6 where we find the dragon making sure a young woman gets home safely. A small pack of fools tries to seize a foul opportunity but Kir- I mean Joryu puts them in their place. It's swiftly revealed that Joryu is working as an agent for the Daidoji, the same group that announced that, Kazuma Kiryu had died. We're also quickly introduced to Joryu's handler, Hanawa who finds himself a bit of trouble a couple times but thankfully Joryu's a tenacious protector.
Joryu is forced to go to a familiar haunt of the series, Sotenbori in hopes of finding someone who knows something about a red tiger trinket that was given to him earlier. Almost no time is wasted as we find exactly who we were looking for, the lady with a growing knowledge network, Akame. Her personality is just as lively as her look and she gets Joryu's help with improving her network a bit before we make our way to the latest land of debauchery, the Castle.
Let's put the story aside for a bit while we look at some of the other aspects of Gaiden, like the combat. The good ol' real-time punch and kick combat that the series is most well known for is back in Gaiden, and included with that comes a pair of fighting styles. The initial one we have is called, Agent where Joryu's attacks are faster and he has more maneuverability, not as much as Rush from 0 or Kiwami 1 but it's still fast. The real draw to Agent style is the gadgets we get to use in the style. There's a wire we can use to wrangle foes from afar and toss them about, or even snatch up far away weapons for immediate use or toss them at our enemies too. Another tool we get later on is a set of drones we can call out to harass and damage our foes but don't worry, we get a couple more really fun toys later but I'll let you discover those yourself.
The 2nd style is simply called, Yakuza style which hosts a lot of attacks and moves that are eerily similar to the Dragon of Dogima's style. Yakuza style offers you the simple pleasures of knocking dudes' lights out with ferocious power and devastating heat actions. To help both styles, we also have access to extreme heat mode which empowers all attacks while there's still heat to burn but be careful as enemy attacks will siphon away your heat rapidly. Thankfully both styles feel great to throw punches with and neither feels underwhelming, maybe under powered at first but with some upgrades, it all comes together nicely.
How about we talk about some of that good ol' side activity goodness that we've all come to know and love. Gaiden brings back some oldies like; mahjong, darts, karaoke, billiards, pocket circuit racing, even locker key hunts! Gambling mini-games are here too but you might find the greater pull towards the coliseum for a plethora of reasons. The coliseum is by and large the main draw at the Castle and it's no wonder why as awesome fights are waged within. There are 4 separate tiers of fights to indulge in; 1 vs 1, Joryu vs a large group, special matches, and what's most likely the most exciting one... Hell Team Rumble. The rumble pits you against a group of enemies, with some towering a couple feet over you, but you have the added benefit of the Joryu Clan. With the Joryu Clan, you can gather 30+ members to join you and most of them are faces you'll remember from previous titles which is just wonderful to see. Just to give you an idea of who can show up, you remember the yakuza patriarch with the baby-play fetish, or the guy whose dojo you saved in 4 as Saejima? Yeah, and just wait until you see who else joins the clan.
Sub-stories are of course back too and they're paired nicely with the growing Akame network missions. The smaller network missions are pretty simple and quick, most revolve around getting an item or fighting some punks or even snapping a picture. But if you're paying attention, you might catch small references to other characters, like a kid who got a crawdad because he saw some frizzy-hair guy palling around with one awhile ago. The sub-stories somehow continue to toe that wonderful line between being funny and heartfelt in moments while poking at some modern things too. Besides the sub-stories just keeping their charm, plenty of them also do a great job of calling back not just previous events but previous characters from other games that while is unexpected, is quite welcomed.
We'll round this out by divulging a little more into the story some shall we? As expected with a Yakuza title, it's got a great assortment of action set-pieces and a couple twists that you may not see coming. The final fights are all exciting and will have you smiling if you've been a longtime fan of the series. Overall from the story, it acts as the perfect in-between story for 6 & 7 and doesn't come off as forced or unneeded at all. In fact, there are some characters they introduce that we'll hopefully see in future titles as their impact here leaves you craving to see more of them. And for the finale, all I'm gonna say is if the ending of 0 got a tear or two out of you... make sure you have some pocket tissues ready for this ending.
But what about those achievements? Do you need to be worried about the 100% completetion? Nope, the achievement hunt in Gaiden is probably the easiest it's been since Yakuza 6. I am happy to report there is no 100% requirement and no achievement is difficult at all to grab. Just from your initial playthrough, you'll likely pick up the majority of them if you're just playing normally and the few remaining can be picked up with ease. Rest easy fellow achievement hunters, this Yakuza/LAD game can be completed with very little stress and additional time investment.
LAD Gaiden sets an excellent precedent for hopefully more of what will be coming in the future along-side the mainline series. It manages to give us another, albeit smaller chapter of the Dragon's life but it's impact is absolutely justified and it feels like a small celebration of the series through and through. The Man Who Erased His Name is a great time and it's events and moments won't be erased from your mind anytime soon, until we meet again, maybe in Hawaii?
4.5