How to Play the Yakuza Games in Chronological Order

Mainline Yakuza/Like a Dragon Games successful Chronological Order:

• Yakuza 0 / Yakuza 0 Director's Cut
• Yakuza / Yakuza Kiwami
• Yakuza 2 / Yakuza Kiwami 2
• Yakuza 3
• Yakuza 4
• Yakuza 5
• Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Beware: Mild spoilers for the plots, characters, and immoderate large events of each crippled follow.

1. Yakuza 0 (2014) / Yakuza 0 Director's Cut (2025)

The sixth crippled released is really the archetypal chronological Yakuza game. In Yakuza 0, you play arsenic 2 protagonists during the economical roar successful the precocious 1980s. The first: a young Kazuma Kiryu, subordinate of the Dojima family, who was acceptable up for a execution that took spot astatine the Empty Lot, a tiny undeveloped portion of onshore that volition beryllium a important plus for whoever owns it.

The 2nd is erstwhile Shimano household subordinate Goro Majima, who is moving successful a cabaret arsenic a punishment for being portion of an assassination years ago. He’s tasked by his ex-patriarch, Futoshi Shimano, to termination a unsighted pistillate named Makoto for chartless reasons. (It’s aboriginal revealed that she’s the morganatic proprietor of the Empty Lot.)

By the extremity of the game, Kiryu gets backmost to the Dojima household aft defeating each the lieutenants, Majima leaves Makoto to unrecorded her life, and the Empty Lot is destroyed; the Millennium Tower, a cardinal determination successful the series, is built connected the land.

2. Yakuza (2005) / Yakuza Kiwami (2016)

The archetypal Yakuza crippled stars Kazuma Kiryu aft helium goes to situation for taking the blasted for a execution helium didn’t perpetrate successful 1995. The unfortunate was Sohei Dojima, Kiryu’s boss, who was murdered by Akira Nishikiyama, Kiryu’s champion person (who, amusive fact, is voiced by the aforesaid idiosyncratic arsenic Ichiban Kasuga). The crushed down this transgression was that Sohei tried to rape Yumi Sawamura, a person of some Kiryu and Nishikiyama.

When Kiryu is released from jailhouse aft a 10-year sentence, he’s expelled from the Tojo Clan, idiosyncratic has stolen ¥10 cardinal from the clan’s account, and Yumi is obscurity to beryllium found. In the mediate of this, Kiryu meets Haruka, the girl of a pistillate named Mizuki. Haruka has a pendant that seems to beryllium a cardinal constituent related to the mislaid money. Also, Nishikiyama shoots Kiryu’s erstwhile skipper and adoptive father, becoming an antagonistic force.

During the climax, Kiryu finds Yumi and the mislaid money, and fights Nishikiyama. Kiryu is asked to beryllium the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, which helium accepts. Moments later, however, helium names Yukio Terada, a erstwhile Omi Alliance yakuza, arsenic the caller chairman, and helium quits the yakuza to rise Haruka arsenic his adopted daughter.

3. Yakuza 2 (2006) / Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2017)

Yakuza 2 starts with Terada, the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, asking Kiryu to assistance him forestall a warfare betwixt his clan and the Omi Alliance, their eternal rivals. After being changeable successful an ambush, Terada seems to beryllium dormant and Kiryu looks for Daigo Dojima, lad of Sohei Dojima, to name him arsenic the caller president of the clan.

While helping Daigo, Kiryu meets Ryuji Goda, the lad of the Omi chairman, and they go enemies due to the fact that Ryuji refuses a truce with the Tojo Clan. Another character, detective Kaoru Sayama, comes into play and tries to assistance Kiryu portion learning astir her parents, who disappeared erstwhile she was young.

4. Yakuza 3 (2009)

The archetypal crippled successful the bid released connected PlayStation 3, Yakuza 3 starts with Kiryu acold distant from the yakuza lifestyle. Instead, successful 2007, he’s taking attraction of the Morning Glory Orphanage successful Okinawa. He’s assisted by Haruka, and helium looks aft galore caller kids surviving there.

Unfortunately, his bid doesn’t past for long. Kiryu has to look aggregate troubles with antithetic characters, involving caller yakuza families, aggregate assassinations, shootings, betrayals, an arms smuggling group, and adjacent the CIA.

5. Yakuza 4 (2010)

One twelvemonth aft the events of the erstwhile game, Yakuza 4 raises the stakes successful a communicative of families, betrayals, and transgression from the eyes of 4 protagonists.

Apart from Kiryu, 3 different caller faces articulation the streets of Kamurocho. The archetypal one, Shun Akiyama, is simply a indebtedness shark who runs his ain firm, Sky Finance, and finds himself successful the mediate of a struggle betwixt the Tojo Clan and the Ueno Seiwa Clan. He’s besides asked for a ¥100 cardinal indebtedness from a mysterious pistillate named Lily.

Taiga Saejima, Goro Majima’s humor brother, went to situation aft performing a deed against the Ueno Seiwa Clan successful 1985. Twenty years later, aft successfully escaping, helium looks for Majima, who abandoned him erstwhile they did the hit.

Detective Masayoshi Tanimura, different caller protagonist, is investigating 1 of the caller murders successful the Tojo Clan. While doing so, helium meets Lily, who is really Saejima’s sister, and she’s being attacked by the Shibata family. Tanimura aboriginal finds retired that the patriarch of that household was related to the deed Saejima participated each those years ago.

Ultimately, Kiryu meets his caller partners and finds retired what happened to each the characters progressive successful the ongoing conflicts.

6. Yakuza 5 (2012)

If Yakuza 4’s communicative got analyzable with aggregate protagonists’ points of view, Yakuza 5 went adjacent further. This time, you play arsenic 5 protagonists successful antithetic scenarios successful 2012, making this 1 of the biggest and astir ambitious games successful the series.

First you travel Kiryu, who near Kamurocho and moved to Fukuoka without Haruka, leaving his orphanage behind. As usual, helium won’t bask calm for agelong earlier helium learns that Daigo is missing, and the bid betwixt the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance is astir to break.

Saejima is successful situation erstwhile again, but he’s looking to flight with his cellmate Shigeki Baba erstwhile helium hears that Majima is dead. (After they escape, they larn Majima had really faked his death.) In the meantime, Haruka is already a teen and she’s pursuing her imagination of becoming a J-pop idol. Things get analyzable erstwhile the president of her endowment agency, Mirei Park, is recovered dormant successful what seems similar a staged suicide. Returning protagonist Akiyama appears to assistance Haruka larn who was truly down Park’s death.

The past portion of the puzzle is the brand-new quality Tatsuo Shinada, a erstwhile nonrecreational shot subordinate who was banned aft being framed for fixing an important match. A mysterious man, who’s really Daigo, volition conscionable Shinada and inquire him to find retired the information of what happened.

7. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (2016)

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is presented arsenic the last bushed successful Kiryu’s spotlight successful the Yakuza series. Our protagonist spends 3 years successful prison, but this clip it's for his past crimes helium really did. At the extremity of the erstwhile game, Haruka revealed successful a performance broadcast that Kiryu was her begetter and that helium was an ex-yakuza member.

After getting retired of situation successful 2016, Kiryu returns to Kamurocho, but lone for a small while. He learns that Haruka is successful a coma aft a car accident, and she has a kid named Haruto. Haruka was successful Onomichi, Hiroshima (yes, hometown of of the Ono Michio mascot) for a agelong clip earlier the accident, truthful Kiryu goes determination to analyse what happened and who Haruto’s begetter is.

While uncovering clues, important characters similar Daigo, Saejima, and Majima are imprisoned, and rival groups, the Chinese Saio Triad and the Korean Jingweon Mafia, are looking to marque their moves successful Kamurocho.

8. Yakuza: Like a Dragon (2020)

A large turning constituent for the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon begins the modulation distant from the Yakuza name. It besides introduces a caller turn-based combat strategy and a brand-new main character: Ichiban Kasuga, different Tojo Clan subordinate who starts his travel by agreeing to instrumentality the deed connected a transgression complaint for his yakuza household and spell to situation for a execution helium did not commit. On his merchandise 18 years later, Kasuga rapidly learns that large changes person happened portion helium was away, chiefly that the Omi Alliance defeated the Tojo Clan.

Kasuga goes to face Masumi Arakawa, his erstwhile patriarch and father-like fig who seemingly sold retired the Tojo Clan, astir what happened and is greeted by his erstwhile compatriats with hostility. Arakawa shoots Kasuga and dumps his assemblage adjacent a stateless encampment successful Yohokama's Isezaki Ijincho. (New metropolis unlocked!)

Ichiban wakes up and finds himself successful the attraction of Yu Nanba, a erstwhile caregiver who treated his gunshot wound. This is the starting constituent for Kasuga, who volition conscionable aggregate caller faces for the Yakuza bid to circular retired his warring party, including members from country transgression groups the Yokohama Liumang, the Geomijul Mafia, and the Seiryu Clan. Together, they excavation astir Yokohama, Sotenbori successful Osaka, and Kamurocho to uncover the bigger strategy down Arakawa’s play.

9. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth (2024)

The biggest Like a Dragon crippled to-date teams up the aged and caller defender – Kiryu and Kasuga – successful a existent two-protagonist saga that takes the unit from Japan to Hawaii and back. Jumping up to 2024 aft the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon (if you were curious, the pandemic besides exists successful the Like a Dragon universe), Kasuga and friends are trying to unrecorded above-board lives successful Ijincho until a fashionable VTuber posts a viral video that upends everything. Soon after, Kasuga learns that his mother, who helium thought was dead, is live and hops connected a level to Honolulu to find her.

After instantly getting into immoderate occupation aft landing (classic), Kasuga runs into Kiryu, who is besides successful Hawaii to find Kasuga's parent connected behalf of the Daidoji faction that agreed to springiness him sanctuary and support him successful hiding (play Like a Dragon: The Man Who Erased His Name for the afloat backstory there). Kiryu besides reveals that he's been diagnosed with crab from vulnerability to atomic discarded (which is connected to the Big Bad of the game). That's conscionable the precise extremity of the setup to the monolithic communicative that embarks connected caller Hawaiian adventures, sentimentally reflects connected Kiryu's past, and builds a melodramatic arc that involves aggregate planetary mob groups, a spiritual cult, unrecorded streamers, a nationalist conglomerate, and satellite governments, conscionable to sanction a fewer players successful this soap opera.

All of the the Yakuza/Like a Dragon Games and Spin-Offs successful Release Order

Mainline Yakuza games are marked successful bold with an asterisk.

What’s Next for Yakuza/Like a Dragon?

The Like a Dragon communicative is acold from over. Though Infinite Wealth, which rapidly became the fastest-selling crippled successful the franchise, closed the loop connected its ain story, it inactive ended connected what felt similar a large cliffhanger that leaves the doorway wide unfastened for the adjacent installment. We're definite to perceive astir different mainline Yakuza crippled astatine immoderate point, particularly aft the merchandise of the spin-off Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza successful Hawaii, which had Majima traipsing astir Honolulu.

At the 2024 Game Awards successful December, RGG revealed it was reviving Virtua Fighter, and the workplace announced a caller unfastened satellite crippled nether "Project Century" astatine the February 2025 State of Play. During this year's Summer Games Fest, RGG yet revealed the sanction of that crippled – Stranger Than Heaven – successful a teaser introducing america to its protagonist (presumably Mako Daito) and the brutal combat successful 1943 Japan. And, uh, Snoop Dogg mightiness marque an appearance.

Leanne Butkovic is an Editorial Project Manager astatine IGN who wishes they could befriend Seonhee.