You’re standing in front of a digital storefront or a physical shelf, staring at a dozen titles that all look vaguely like a neon-soaked fever dream. There’s a guy in a gray suit ripping his shirt off. There’s a guy in a red tracksuit screaming at a pigeon. You want to jump in, but the order of yakuza games feels like a math problem nobody asked you to solve. It’s intimidating. Honestly, the fanbase doesn’t always help because everyone has a "perfect" way to play that usually involves a complex spreadsheet.
But here’s the thing.
The series, now officially rebranded as Like a Dragon to match its Japanese name (Ryu ga Gotoku), is basically a playable soap opera. If you skip a season, you’ll be confused when a character shows up with a mysterious scar or a sudden grudge. You wouldn't start The Sopranos at season four. You shouldn't do that here either.
The chronological path is usually the right one
If you want the story to hit the way the writers intended, you start with Yakuza 0. Some purists will argue until they’re blue in the face that you should start with the original PS2 game from 2005. They’re wrong. Yakuza 0 was a prequel released in 2015, and it is widely considered one of the best games in the entire medium. It sets the stakes for everything that follows. You see Kazuma Kiryu as a bumbling 20-year-old debt collector instead of the "Dragon of Dojima" legend he becomes.
More importantly, it gives Goro Majima—the series' breakout chaotic neutral icon—a tragic backstory that makes his future appearances feel earned rather than just wacky. Without 0, Majima is just a weirdo in a snakeskin jacket. With 0, he’s a broken man wearing a mask.
Once you’ve finished that, you move into the "Kiwami" era. Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 are full-scale remakes of the first two games. They use modern engines to tell the old stories. It’s a seamless transition. You go from the 1980s bubble economy in 0 to the early 2000s in Kiwami. The city of Kamurocho evolves with you. You’ll start to recognize the street corners. You’ll notice when a pharmacy turns into a Don Quijote. It’s a weirdly intimate way to experience digital urban development.
📖 Related: Catching the Blue Marlin in Animal Crossing: Why This Giant Fish Is So Hard to Find
The awkward middle years: 3, 4, and 5
This is where people usually fall off. After the slick, modern feel of Kiwami 2, jumping into Yakuza 3 Remastered feels like hitting a brick wall. The graphics take a massive hit. The combat feels "clunky" because it was originally a 2009 PS3 game. People call it "Okinawa Dad Simulator" because Kiryu spends half the time running an orphanage.
Stick with it.
Yakuza 3 is the soul of the series. It’s where Kiryu finds something to fight for other than just "honor" or "the clan." If you skip it, the emotional weight of Yakuza 6 won't land. You have to put in the time at the orphanage to understand why the man is so tired later on. Yakuza 4 then introduces multiple protagonists, which was a huge gamble at the time. You get Shun Akiyama, a homeless-man-turned-billionaire who fights using only his legs. He’s effortlessly cool. Then Yakuza 5 goes even bigger, featuring five protagonists and five different cities. It’s an absolute behemoth of a game. You can go hunting in the snowy mountains or become a J-pop idol. It’s messy, overstuffed, and brilliant.
The transition to the new era
By the time you reach Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, you’re at the end of the Kiryu saga. It’s a bittersweet ending. Or it was supposed to be.
Then came Yakuza: Like a Dragon (technically Yakuza 7). This changed everything. It swapped the real-time brawling for turn-based combat because the new protagonist, Ichiban Kasuga, is a massive Dragon Quest nerd who hallucinates that his life is an RPG. It’s a soft reboot. If you are absolutely terrified of playing eight massive games, you could start here. You’d miss out on the gravity of certain cameos, but the game does a decent job of standing on its own.
👉 See also: Ben 10 Ultimate Cosmic Destruction: Why This Game Still Hits Different
However, the order of yakuza games recently got more complicated with Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. This is a shorter "interquel" that explains what Kiryu was doing during the events of the seventh game. It leads directly into the newest massive entry, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
The definitive checklist for your journey
- Yakuza 0 (The 1988 origin story)
- Yakuza Kiwami (The 2005 incident)
- Yakuza Kiwami 2 (The war between Tokyo and Osaka)
- Yakuza 3 Remastered (The orphanage years)
- Yakuza 4 Remastered (The four-way perspective)
- Yakuza 5 Remastered (The massive multi-city epic)
- Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (The conclusion of Kiryu's primary arc)
- Yakuza: Like a Dragon (The turn-based shift with Ichiban)
- Like a Dragon Gaiden (Kiryu's secret history during the Ichiban years)
- Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (The massive crossover in Hawaii)
Where do the spin-offs fit?
You might see games like Judgment and Lost Judgment. These are set in the same universe—the same streets, even—but they follow Takayuki Yagami, a private detective. You don’t need to have played a single Yakuza game to enjoy these. They’re gritty legal thrillers with incredible combat. Think of them as the "prestige TV" version of the main series. They are fantastic, but they aren't mandatory for the main plot.
Then there’s Like a Dragon: Ishin!. This one takes the characters you know and casts them as real historical figures from 1860s Japan. It’s a samurai drama. It’s completely standalone. You can play it whenever you want a break from the modern-day crime drama. It’s basically the cast of Yakuza putting on a play about the Bakumatsu period.
Common misconceptions about the timeline
A lot of people think you can just jump around. You can, but you'll lose the "Kamurocho effect." Part of the magic of this series is seeing the same 10 city blocks change over 30 years. You see the same shopkeepers grow old. You see a construction site in one game become a skyscraper in the next. If you play out of order, that sense of place—the strongest character in the series—is completely lost.
Another myth: "The games are too long." Well, they are long. But only if you do everything. If you just play the main story, most of them are 20-30 hour experiences. It’s the side content (the pocket circuit racing, the cabaret club management, the karaoke) that sucks up 100 hours. Don't feel pressured to do it all on your first run. The order of yakuza games is a marathon, not a sprint.
✨ Don't miss: Why Batman Arkham City Still Matters More Than Any Other Superhero Game
How to avoid burnout
Playing ten 50-hour games back-to-back is a recipe for disaster. Don't do that. You’ll start to hate the combat by the time you reach the fourth game. The best way to experience this is to play one, then play something completely different—like a shooter or a racing game—then come back.
The emotional payoff in Infinite Wealth is only possible because of the twenty years of history the series has built. When you see two characters meet after a decade apart, it actually means something because you were there when they first met in a grainy PS3 cutscene.
Start with Yakuza 0. It’s cheap, it’s available on everything from Game Pass to PlayStation Plus, and it’s the best entry point for a reason. If the ending of that game doesn't make you want to see what happens next, then the series probably isn't for you. But for most people, it’s the start of a very long, very emotional obsession with a group of honorable criminals who just want to find a decent bowl of ramen.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check your subscriptions. Yakuza 0 through Yakuza 6 are frequently available on services like Xbox Game Pass and PS Plus Extra. Don't buy them all at once.
- Start with Yakuza 0. Do not listen to the "release order" purists for your first playthrough. The narrative cohesion of starting at the beginning of the timeline is worth it.
- Don't skip the cutscenes. This is a story-heavy series. If you skip the talking, the fighting loses its context and becomes repetitive.
- Engage with one major "Minigame" per entry. Whether it's the Real Estate Royale in 0 or the Cabaret Club in Kiwami 2, these side stories often have the best writing in the game.
- Take breaks between games. The "map fatigue" is real since most games take place in the same neighborhood. Switch genres for a week before moving to the next sequel.
The world of Like a Dragon is one of the most rewarding experiences in gaming history. It's funny, it's violent, it's heartbreaking, and it's deeply human. Just follow the numbers, start from the beginning, and let the story unfold at its own pace.