The Like a Dragon franchise is known for having many hits and misses. No RGG game has ever truly been bad that that doesn't mean some games feel weaker than others. Gaiden, a game made to bridge the gap between a game that released in 2018 and one that released in 2020. This gap has always felt almost inconsequential, as the appearance of Kiryu in Yakuza 7 is easy to believe after the controversial ending of 6 and the story of this game as a whole pretty much reflects this. Many characters feel created just to justify the events of a game whose conclusion is already known if you played 7, and if Gaiden is your first time jumping into the series it really will just remind you that you're getting a lesser experience. The peaks of Gaiden rely so heavily on the attachment to Kiryu's seven game spanning story and the weaker parts of the game are literally just montage recaps of events present in Yakuza 7 that are already known, and are presented in such a jarring way before having characters recap those same plot beats to you naturally anyway.

Ultimately, the finale of Gaiden truly is amazing and if you're an RRG fan I can recommend the experience of that alone to play this game. But the overall price point, the two chapters of padding to justify the existence of this story as a whole game and not a prologue bundled into Infinite Wealth and some very bland and frustrating fights with less than a handful of boss fights (that are admittedly very fun on the hardest difficulty) means I can't recommend straight out purchasing this. Grab it on sale or play it via Gamepass. It's something worth experiencing but not at the price it's being sold.

Also yes, I did absolutely bawl my eyes out at the end and it made me incredibly excited to see where Infinite Wealth heads with the narrative.