Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name lets players reunite with series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. It’s fun to again play as the yakuza organization’s star, but doing so raises a question: when does Like a Dragon Gaiden fall on the Yakuza timeline?
Like a Dragon Gaiden – where does it belong on the Yakuza timeline?
The official Yakuza timeline features games bearing two names: Yakuza and Like a Dragon. They are both the same franchise. The series simply had different names in the West and the East until Yakuza: Like a Dragon bridged the regional gap. Like a Dragon: Ishin! then cemented that change, earlier this year. At the time of its release, Like a Dragon Gaiden is the latest chronological update to the story and fits right at the end of the Yakuza timeline.
The timeline situation is set to change with the planned 2024 release of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. That upcoming title picks up the story of Kazuma Kiryu (pictured at the top of this page) and Ichiban Kasuga (pictured immediately above), the two series leads. Like a Dragon Gaiden essentially runs parallel to the events depicted in Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It also sets up the events that will follow in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
Related: Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name review – Abbreviated heroics
Like a Dragon Gaiden opens in Roppongi, Tokyo in 2019. Kazuma Kiryu is working a job escorting a VIP. The game explains how he came to accept this assignment, following the ending of 2016’s Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. As far as many members of the yakuza organization know, he is dead. By the end of Like a Dragon Gaiden, some of them will understand reality a bit better.
What Like a Dragon Gaiden does for the Yakuza timeline
The final moments of Like a Dragon Gaiden catch players up to important events that take place as recently as 2023. Without saying too much, a post-credits scene sets the stage perfectly for Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Originally, Like a Dragon Gaiden was planned as DLC. Then, it grew into a separate game. That evolution may help explain when it falls on the Yakuza timeline, as well.
If you can find the time, I highly suggest starting at the beginning of the current timeline. Play Yakuza 0 and then keep going, all the way through Like a Dragon Gaiden. But we don’t all have that kind of time, and there’s no completely wrong starting point.
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