Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth looks set to provide franchise fans and action RPG players alike with the biggest series entry to date, boasting a massive game world, a reliably entertaining cast of characters and an almost overwhelming amount of quests, side-quests and other activities to get stuck into.
Given that Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth is technically the ninth core entry in the series, excluding the various last-gen versions and the 19th century set Like A Dragon Ishin!, there’s a lot of story to catch up on. Luckily, we’ve cobbled together this handy abridged recap to do just that.
Yakuza 0
Unfolding against the neon twilight of Japan during the tumult of the 1980s, Yakuza 0 introduces us to a fresh faced Kazuma Kiryu who immediately finds himself framed for murder in an empty lot within Kamuorocho’s development district, forcing him to flee the Dojima family in order to safeguard his adoptive father, Shintaro Kazama. Shortly after, Kiryu joins forces with Tetsu Tachibana, a real estate mogul who promises to clear his name, bringing Kiryu in direct confrontation with the sprawling Dojima Yakuza family and more specifically, Dojima lieutenants Hiroki Awano, Keiji Shibusawa and Daisaku Kuze. Realising the danger, Kiryu’s oath-brother Akira Nishikiyama severs their ties as a means to protect them both as Kiryu sets about protecting Tachibana and taking on the Dojima lieutenants that want to see him dead.
Meanwhile over in Sotenbori, disgraced Shimano Yakuza Goro Majima is tasked with managing a hostess club as a means to work off his punishment for getting involved in the Ueno-Seiwa assassination which took place in 1985. Under constant surveillance by Tsukasa Sagawa, a member of the Omi Alliance and rival to the Tojo Clan, Sagawa tasks Majima with assassinating Makoto Makimura, a blind woman who also happens to be the sister of Tachibana and the unwitting owner of the seemingly lucrative empty lot. Refusing to do this, Majima soon discovers that another high ranking Yakuza, Sera, has captured Makoto and handed her over to Kiryu who in turn finds himself betrayed by Oda, spy under the employ of Shibusawa who eventually captures Makoto and holds her prisoner on a private boat.
Racing against time, Kiryu discovers that Kuze has imprisoned Tachibana and though Kiryu defeats Kuze it isn’t before he tortures Tachibana to death which leads to Kiryu storming Shibusawa’s boat, defeating him and rescuing Makoto. Before he can kill Shibusawa his oath-brother Nishikiyama appears and dissuades him from doing so, at which point Kiryu rejoins the Dojima family and begins a journey as a new Yakuza. Elsewhere, Majima discovers that Chinese assassin Luo Gui has not only murdered Dojima lieutenant Awano, but is also responsible for the empty lot murder that kicked everything off in the first place. After killing Gui and refusing to assassinate the head of the Dojima family on the orders of Sera, Majima returns to the Shimano family and leaves Makoto in peace to live with her new partner. Permanently traumatised by events, a wild-eyed Majima meets Kiryu in Kamurocho as Yakuza 0 draws to an end.
Yakuza Kiwami
Framed for the murder of Sohei Dojima, the patriarch of the Dojima family, (honestly, can this guy catch a break?) Kiryu takes the hit and subsequently spends a decade in prison, during which time his longtime friend and oath-brother Nishikiyama ascends and becomes a feared Yakuza crime boss in his own right. After leaving jail, Kiryu not only discovers that it was Nishikiyama that had him framed, but also that Yumi, his former lover, has gone missing along with ten billion yen from the Tojo Clan. Additionally, Kiryu also encounters a young girl called Haruka and learns that her father is none other than Kyohei Jingu, a corrupt politician that will stop at nothing to take down the Tojo Clan.
After being defeated by Kiryu atop the Millenium Tower and subsequently sacrificing his life to kill Kyohei Jingu, Nishikiyama’s death also results in the missing ten billion yen being showered across the city. With Yumi succumbing to a gunshot wound, Kiryu becomes Haruka’s adoptive father and subsequently leaves the Tojo Clan.
Yakuza Kiwami 2
Taking place one year after the events chronicled in Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2 sees Kiryu called back into action after the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, Yukio Terada, is assassinated by hitmen employed by the Omi Alliance. Enraged by this, Kiryu returns to Kamurocho only to discover that Ryuji Goda, the Omi Alliance’s deadliest fighter and self-styled ‘Dragon of Kansai’, is gunning for him. After a titanic battle in which Kiryu defeats Goda, the latter succumbs to his wounds while Kiryu helps to establish Daigo Dojima as the new Tojo Clan chairman.
Yakuza 3
With the Tojo Clan now stabilised under the leadership of Daigo Dojima, Kiryu opens an orphanage to honour the sacrifice of his adoptive father, Shintaro Kazama. Six months on, Kiryu is once again pressed into action as Daigo informs him that the land the orphanage is built on has been targeted for acquisition by Defense Minister Ryuzo Tamiya, who wishes to swallow the orphanage as part of a “Military Base Expansion Bill”. Two years after Kiryu seemingly secures the orphanage, Daigo is shot and left comatose which also results in the theft of the deed to the orphanage.
It’s soon revealed that Yoshitaka Mine, the chairman of the Hakuho Clan, has not only ordered the destruction of the orphanage but is also intending to kill Daigo in his sleep and take over control of the Tojo Clan as a result. After a lengthy battle, Kiryu defeats Mine who in turn sacrifices himself by tackling Andre Richardson, the leader of an arms smuggling gang, off the hospital roof before he can kill Kiryu. After being stabbed by Goh Hamazaki, a bitter Yakuza that stood to profit from the sale of orphanage’s land, Kiryu retreats to the newly rebuilt orphanage and rests as Haruka takes care of him and sees to his injuries.
Yakuza 4
After building his loan company with the money from ten billion yen that fell from the sky in Yakuza Kiwami, friendly loan shark Shun Akiyama encounters a woman named Lily who asks to borrow one hundred million yen for unknown reasons. Soon Lily goes missing and Akiyama encounters Goro Majima, who is also in pursuit of Lily. Elsewhere, Taiga Saejima, former blood brother of Goro Majima and perpetrator of the 1985 Ueno-Seiwa assassination, escapes from prison and is washed up on the beach outside Kiryu’s orphanage. After being nursed back to health by Kiryu and Haruka, Kiryu and Saejima speak to Majima who confesses that he was prevented from backing up Saejima on the day of the assassination, resulting in Saejima taking the entire brunt of the prison sentence.
Detective Masayoshi Tanimura meanwhile meets Lily and discovers not only that she is actually Yasuko, sister to Saejima, but that she has been blackmailed into handing over 100 million yen to corrupt police officer Isao Katsuragi who has promised to reexamine Saejima’s case, unaware that he has already broken out of prison. At this point, Tanimura returns the money to Akiyama and together with Yasuko begin to suspect that the rot of corruption runs deep in the Kamurocho police force. Forced back into action once more after the death of Yasuko at the hands of the corrupt police unit, Kiryu unites with Akiyama, Saejima and Tanimura atop the Millenium Tower as they face down the forces of Police Chief Seishirō Munakata and manage to defeat them all, causing Munakata to take his own life in the process rather than be arrested.
Yakuza 5
Working as a taxi driver under the alias Taichi Suzuki, Kiryu hears that Tojo Clan chairman Daigo Dojima has gone missing and sets off back into the neon jungle of Kamurocho to find him. Back behind bars once again, Saejima learns that Goro Majima has been killed and subsequently makes his escape to Kamurocho to track down the killer of his oath-brother. Now much older, Haruka seeks to make a career for herself as an idol and is promptly taken under the wing of Mirei Park, who it turns out was not only responsible for forcing Kiryu into hiding to protect Haruka’s reputation, but is also the ex-wife of Goro Majima to boot. With Mirei turning up dead shortly after in a fake suicide, Shun Akiyama takes Haruka under his protection and the two head to Kamurocho.
Kiryu arrives in Kamurocho shortly after and discovers that a cellmate of Saejima, Shigeki Baba, is part of an elaborate operation by the Omi Alliance to trap and kill Kiryu and Saejima, thus leaving the way clear for the syndicate to take over the Tojo Clan’s operations in Kamurocho. Soon, it is revealed that both Daigo and Majima faked their disappearance and death respectively in order to investigate Tsubasa Kurosawa, the terminally ill kingpin of the Omi Alliance. After defeating the forces of Kurosawa, Kiryu finds himself drawn into combat with Masato Aizawa, who reveals himself to be the son of Kurosawa. On the brink of death, Kiryu defeats Aizawa and is helped to his feet by Haruka, who declares that she is no longer an idol and will instead spend her time with Kiryu.
Yakuza 6
Released from prison in 2016 after agreeing to serve a sentence for his past crimes, Kiryu finds out that Haruka has secreted herself away in Onomichi to avoid the prying eyes of the paparazzi after she stepped down from her career as an idol three years earlier. Worse still, Kiryu learns that not only is Haruka in a coma due to a hit and run accident, but she also has a son called Haruto that Kiryu takes with him on his journey to Onomichi, discovering in the process that Onomichi has its own powerful Yakuza group known as the Yomei Alliance. Not long after, Kiryu discovers that Yuta Usami, Captain of the local Hirose family, is actually the father of Haruto and it isn’t long before Haruto is kidnapped by the Jingewon Mafia who delivers them into the clutches of the Yomei Alliance.
Yuta and Kiryu, together with other members of the Hirose family storm Millenium Tower (seemingly the place where all scores are settled in the Like A Dragon/Yakuza games) and manage to rescue both Haruto and a freshly recovered Haruka, who was kidnapped as soon as she awoke from her coma. It’s revealed that an elderly and highly corrupt politician named Minoru Daidoji was the mastermind behind not just these events, but also a plot to co-opt a secret battleship for use against the American forces that happen to be garrisoned within Onomichi.
After Daidoji passes away of old age, Kiryu is visited in January 2017 by his successor who demands his silence about Daidoji’s rather shady dealings. Kiryu accepts, but only so long as the imprisoned Daigo Dojima is released to stabilise the Yomei Alliance, Haruka is left alone and Kiryu’s own death is faked to ensure that Haruka can never again be used as a means to get him. With the agreement in place, Yakuza 6 ends with Kiryu paying one last visit to the Sunshine Orphanage to make sure that Haruto and Haruka are well and then leaves just as one child sees him disappear into the distance.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon
Marking the debut of new series protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, Yakuza: Like A Dragon begins in 2001 as Kusaga is convinced to confess to a murder that Masumi Arakawa’s captain has seemingly committed. After being released 18 years later, it appears that the world has greatly changed. Not only was Arakawa not present to greet him on his release, but the Omi Alliance has taken Kamurocho from the now defunct Tojo Clan. Shortly after, Kasuga runs into police officer Koichi Adachi who informs him that Arakawa was the cause of the Omi Alliance takeover as he betrayed the Tojo Clan, leading to their ruin. Furious, Kasuga and Adachi beat their way into an Omi Alliance get together only for Kasuga to be shot by Arakawa and Adachi to be arrested.
After a homeless fella by the name of Yu Nanba discovers Kasuga and nurses him back to health over the course of three days in the town of Isezaki Ijincho, Nanba and Kasuga reconcile with Adachi and newcomer Saeko Mukoda and set off to uncover why the Tojo Clan collapsed in the first place. Eventually the group discover that the Seiryu Clan and Geomijul Mafia had been running a money counterfeiting racket that Yutaka Ogikubo, a career politician, was using to bribe the local police force to keep the peace. Akira Mabuchi, second-in-command of the Liumang group meanwhile, catches the group and reveals that everything until this point had been engineered to frame the group as Seiryu Clan members that wanted to disrupt the peace. Freed by Joon-gi Han, the second-in-command of the Geomijul group, the party venture to the headquarters of the Geomijul to try and stop the Seiryu Clan and Geomijul Mafia from going to war.
Eventually, it is revealed that Kasuga is the legitimate son of Arakawa and after encountering an older Kiryu who uses intel from his Daidoji faction to reveal that Tokyo governor Ryo Aoki is the de facto leader of the Omi Alliance (now operating under the name ‘Bleach Japan’), the group manage to tempt out Aoki and Yosuke Tendo, a bloodthirsty member of the Omi Alliance. After learning that Tendo has killed Arakawa, Kasuga enrages and defeats Tendo in battle while Aoki escapes. However, Aoki in turn is killed by his right hand man who feels betrayed by Aoki’s use of the Omi Alliance. After incriminating evidence discovered in Arakawa’s office results in prison time for every official who took Ogikubo’s bribe money, Kasuga is last seen at the funerals of Aoki and Arakawa and resolves to stay in Ijincho.
Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
Presumed dead by friends and family alike, Like A Dragon: Gaiden sees Kiryu living a secret life as a special agent for the Daidoji faction, using the codename ‘Joryu’ to undertake missions selected by his handler Kihei Hanawa. Crucially, completing these missions pays money that is in turn used to finance the Sunshine Orphanage. Soon after in 2019, Kiryu has a meeting with Watase Family captain Yuki Tsuruno, who tells him that his group will free him from the Daidoji and return to the Sunshine Orphanage if he pledges his allegiance to them – so long as Kiryu’s fixer, Hanawa, is killed as part of the bargain. Obviously something of a non-starter for Kiryu, he refuses the offer and later tracks both Tsuruno and Watase Family lieutenant Kosei Shishido to Sotenbori where after an extended battle with the Watase Family, Kiryu rescues Hanawa. At the end of the battle, Tsuruno reveals that he wanted Kiryu’s help to destroy both the Omi Alliance and the Tojo Clan completely. Kiryu refuses, but it soon transpires that the Daidoji have made a deal with the Watase Family, one that allows them to make use of his services for an indefinite period of time.
A week or so after, Kiryu meets up with the Watase Family in an abandoned construction site only to realise that the Shishido has betrayed the family’s leadership and instead turns the Watase Family against Kiryu and Tsuruno. After the battle, Kiryu, the elder Watase and Tsuruno are accompanied by Hanaway to the Omi Alliance headquarters where it is announced that both the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance will be disbanded. Predictably a massive brawl kicks off, with Kiryu, Tsuruno and Ichiban Kasuga securing the safety of both Daigo Dojima and the elder Watase – ensuring that both organisations continue to exist. Eventually, a hostile faction of Omi Alliance remnants led by Shishido attack the group, only for themselves to be headed off by Daigo and the returning Taiga Saejima and Goro Majima. Finally, Kiryu confronts and defeats Shishido, who is kept alive by the Daidoji for possible use as an agent in the future.
One year later, Hanawa and the Daidoji reward Kiryu for not only securing the freedom and life of the elder Watase, but also in helping Kasuga in his mission to stop the corrupt Tokyo Governor Ryo Aoki. This reward is not only a tear-jerking recording of Kiryu’s two adopted children, Ayako and Taichi visiting his grave along with a drawing from Haruto, but he is also given some much needed time off outside of the country – on the condition that he takes on a new name, Taichi Suzuki. Later in 2023, a much older Kiryu is seen in Hawaii honouring Yumi, his former lover, as the events of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth begin.
