When I look at the trajectory of the Yakuza series over the last decade I feel dizzy. Yakuza 0 released 10 years ago and is arguably the game that catapulted the series from cult awareness to mainstream success in the west. The following year, in 2016, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio released Yakuza 6, which was meant to capstone the long and elaborate Kazuma Kiryu saga, thus making room for a series refresh. And boy did the series get a refresh, even if RGG refuses to let go of Kiryu.
After a relatively quiet 2017 (we got Yakuza Kiwami 2), the brilliant Judgment made its debut in 2018, which was meant to keep us company until the big seventh Yakuza instalment arrived in 2020. Yakuza: Like a Dragon famously swapped the series' crisp beat 'em up fighting with JRPG-inspired turn-based combat, and replaced the steely-but-gentle Kiryu with starry-eyed puppy dog Ichiban Kasuga.
