Putting together a Yakuza games ranked list is tougher than ranking other games. More than most games, what you get out of Yakuza depends on what you want. If you want an innovative action game, you’d probably appreciate Like A Dragon Gaiden or Yakuza 0 more than others. If life-sims and mini-games are your thing, then Ishin, Yakuza 5, or, again, Yakuza 0 are the best ones for you. While RGG Studio’s melodramatic series seems unchanging in a lot of ways, there’s a quiet thread of experimentation in every game, whether it’s trying to introduce new perspectives, adding different combat mechanics, or, sometimes, throwing zombies in the mix just because you can.
Yakuza: Dead Souls
RGG decided to make a Yakuza zombie game in the early 2010s. I’m not really sure why, but with this studio, the real question was probably “why not.” The Yakuza horror spinoff remains surprisingly well-rooted in the series’ off-the-wall tradition and uses its source material pretty well. It’s fun as a novelty game, but there’s not really any compelling reason to ever go back to it after you play once.
Yakuza 3
The Remastered PS3 trilogy is pretty divisive among fans. None of the three reach the same heights as the games that bookend them numerically, and they all suffer from similar problems. Yakuza 3 is my least favorite just for how it rehashes so much of the plot from previous games. The Tojo clan is in conflict again! Okay, so that’s basically every Yakuza game from 0 to 6, but 3 adds very little to that core idea. The side stories are great, though.
Yakuza Kiwami 1
Kiwami 1 is rough, even with the remastered graphics and other quality-of-life improvements. It takes six chapters for the story to actually get going, some of the boss gimmicks are a downright pain, and while the re-localized script is excellent, the writing just doesn’t quite match the later games. Kiwami still manages to charm even with the less appealing aspects. If you start with this one, just know that the series does get better.
Yakuza 5
RGG looked at Yakuza 4 and said “what if we make it even bigger and messier,” and thus was Yakuza 5 born. If your favorite part of Yakuza is the chill, slice-of-life stuff and exploring cities, you’ll probably love 5. It divides its time between five playable protagonists and several large cities, and as you can probably guess from that description alone, the main story often gets lost in everything else. On the bright side, there’s so much “everything else” to do, from hunting in the snow-covered wilds to pursuing a career as an idol, that it’s easy to just sink in and forget about the plot.
Judgment
Judgment is a tough one to, well, judge. It’s not particularly good in the first half or so, where the story meanders and it seems evident that RGG isn’t too confident in this new storytelling format. Yagami’s detective segments are tedious, and it takes a while for the narrative build-up to finally pay off. The dynamic between Yagami and Kaito is excellent, though, and seeing the familiar Kamurocho from a fresh, non-criminal perspective goes some way toward making up for the less enjoyable elements.
Yakuza 4
A lot of people dislike Yakuza 4. Kiryu is barely the focus, and the story is a bit weak – two cardinal sins for this series. I appreciated the change of perspective, though. The three new protagonists are no Majima, but their stories are pretty interesting and add some much-needed new perspective on Kamurocho and the people who live there. The substories are some of the most in-depth in the series, and the combat animations – and visuals in general – are a big step above Yakuza 3’s.
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a brilliant rebuilding of the original Yakuza 2 that’s practically a new game, with a reworked script, much better visual direction, and some welcome tweaks to combat. It’s one of the more ambitious games in the series with its narrative and geographic scope and feels like more of a natural follow-up to Kiwami’s story than some of the other sequels. Unlike later Yakuza, it doesn’t get too big for its own good, either, despite unfolding across multiple locations. The side stories are brilliant, and combat benefits from some of the refinements from later games, though Majima’s fighting style is nowhere near as satisfying as it is in Yakuza 0.
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
Yakuza 6 is a personal favorite if only for how daring it is in the setup. Events take a tragic turn shortly after the game starts, and Kiryu finds himself in a much different situation than he’s ever been in. RGG experimented with the combat more than ever as well, combining the fighting styles into one and changing up how Kiryu improves his abilities, and the story ventures into some genuinely gripping territory.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Don’t get me wrong – I love Ichiban Kasuga’s debut adventure. The April Fool’s Day joke-turned RPG is brimming with emotion and sincerity, and switching the perspective to Ichiban seems like the most natural step forward for the series. He’s such a lovable doofus whose position as an unwanted outsider gives him strong affinity with society’s oppressed and forgotten, and RGG turning his love of Dragon Quest into a full-on job system is low-key one of the most brilliant things a game studio has ever done.
It’s just a shame they didn’t save some of that brilliance for LAD’s pacing. The grindfest at the end is a nightmare that’s put me off replaying for years, and while I think the story is probably one of the more interesting things Yakuza ever did, LAD does a terrible job actually explaining what happened. It’s a “fresh reboot” until you suddenly need 15 years of Yakuza knowledge to have half a clue what’s going on at the end.
Like A Dragon: Ishin!
RGG and Sega finally brought Ishin to the rest of the world in 2023, and despite some clunky combat, it was worth the wait. Ishin gives RGG the chance to get more serious and tell a different kind of story, a blend of historical fact and fiction set in the mid-19th century as Japan was in crisis. Ishin is just as bonkers as any other Yakuza, but the new setting gives RGG to tinker with new dynamics both for the side stories and the characters. Ishin puts familiar faces in new roles, and while Kiryu and Majima are still technically themselves, Ishin gives those personalities space to act, think, and speak in ways they never would otherwise.
Like A Dragon Gaiden
How much you enjoy The Man Who Erased His Name probably depends on your expectations going into it. It’s a side story that takes place between Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon, and it’s a way to bridge Kiryu’s story between Song and Infinite Wealth. More than that, it’s a chance to dig into Kiryu’s character more and explore him as a person instead of a device that moves the plot forward.
Gaiden is about a third the length of a usual Yakuza and places much more emphasis on story and combat instead of exploration and life elements. I think it’s better for it, though. The themes develop more thoroughly as a result, and it doesn’t lag like some of the earlier Yakuza games.
Lost Judgment
Lost Judgment took me by surprise with the intensity of its story. Sure, Yagami’s first investigation got pretty dark, but not until the end – and not in such a personal manner. Lost Judgment puts bullying at the center of the story and examines what happens – how twisted people can become – when justice is never served. It also ties in nicely with the big shift in city politics that Like A Dragon ushered in, though with the sex scandals at Johnny’s, the talent agency repping Takuya Kimura (Yagami’s actor), and its subsequent closure, this is probably the last we’ll see of Yagami, at least for a while.
Yakuza 0
I went into this one expecting something underwhelming. If I’m being honest, all the hype that elevated Yakuza 0 to masterpiece status just made me sceptical, and it turned out I was very, very wrong. Yakuza 0 deserves every piece of praise lavished on it. It’s the epitome of what makes the series great – bizarre side stories, sparkling localization, memorable characters, and a tense crime story with satisfying plot twists – and 0 executes every element brilliantly. Most of the series’ best and weirdest side stories are in Yakuza 0, from the brainwashing cult to the chicken business management subplot and some surprisingly sensitive interactions with the city’s less fortunate.
Unlike 4 and 5, 0 has just two protagonists, which gives them more space to develop fully, and two distinct battle styles, unlike Kiwami 2. One of the most interesting aspects of 0 is the setting, 1980s Japan in the middle of a boom-slash-bubble economy. Money is everywhere, and it changes how people – and the yakuza – act, think, and plan for the future. It’s a thoughtful glimpse at a past most of us have little knowledge of, and it feels like RGG at its most confident.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
