Like a lot of people, I played and very much enjoyed Yakuza 0, and am looking to continue the series. Just like, not every game in the series. While 0 was fun, the gameplay in it was already a little too stiff for my liking and I doubt putting in 300-odd more hours will leave a good taste in my mouth.

So, where's a good place to go from here? I know I will be playing Judgement and 7 after this next excursion.

Kiwami!

If you already don't like the combat and don't care about the story that much, I'd maybe just skip them all and play Judgment/7 honestly. If you want to stick to Yakuza proper, maybe try 4 or 5? Since there's a bunch of different main characters in those maybe the different play styles will shake it up a little for you.

I like 5 and 6 a lot. As someone who played through them all over the past couple of years (all remastered/kiwami) and based on your comments of things feeling stiff...I would say jump to 5 or 6. Look story beats up as you need to for things to make sense. Just my two cents.

I'd say Kiwami 2 is the second best game in the series. If you only want to play one more before Judgment or 7, go with that.

I think if you're going to skip one of them, skip Kiwami 1. It's the exact same mechanics as 0, with half of the playable characters, a kind of bunk plot, and some middling side stories marred by the fact that they're from an era before the series knew what it wanted to do with tone.

Otherwise, numerical order, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Sprinkle Judgement in whenever you want (I would recommend between 4 and 5). The clumsiest game you're going to hit mechanically at this point is 3: 4 and 5 manage to spice things up pretty well with the old engine, and Kiwami 2 is running on the same engine as Judgement and 6, so that's nice and fluid and modern.

@asylumrunner said:

Other way around, heh. I'm looking to play one, maybe two more, before Judgement and 7.

Honestly if you are tired of the combat don’t jump into another regular one because they don’t change THAT much. Play judgment or 7 and revisit later.

@mikewhy: Ah! My reading comprehension is in the toilet today. In that case, I don't think skipping around is necessarily super conducive to this series, I might just say to just go ahead and play Judgement and 7. It's like (pardon the choice of series but it's the only multiple-installment series I can think of that works as a comparison point) watching Harry Potter 1, then 4, then watching the Fantastic Beast movies.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I'm leaning towards 5 or 6. Probably 5 because I'll be playing on PC and it looks like 6 comes out at the end of March. But please, keep discussing cause I love mulling over things.

Probably 6 is the better one, although you are likely to get lost in the story.

Kiwami 1 is likely the better as a continuation of the story of zero, so if you want to experience the end of some arcs, I highly recommend it. However, the game is like a shorter, more boring version of zero, so it can lead to burnout on the series.

Out of the remastered edition, if it comes to only one, I would advise you to play 4. The reason is that most of the playable characters are new, and Kiryu returns fairly late in the story, so you are not going to get lost too much... Also, 4 has a pretty sizeable summary of all the games up to that point, so it gives you the tools to understand it if you are up to.

Maybe give Kiwami 2 a try. The game itself does a pretty good job catching you up to speed on what happened in Kiwami 1. It also has some of the most refined beat em up combat of the series since it was developed after 6. It's much more physics based than zero and a blast to play.

Maybe give Kiwami 2 a try. The game itself does a pretty good job catching you up to speed on what happened in Kiwami 1. It also has some of the most refined beat em up combat of the series since it was developed after 6. It's much more physics based than zero and a blast to play. All the Yakuza games are also currently on sale on Humble.

Maybe give Kiwami 2 a try. The game itself does a pretty good job catching you up to speed on what happened in Kiwami 1. It also has some of the most refined beat em up combat of the series since it was developed after 6. It's much more physics based than zero and a blast to play. All the Yakuza games are also currently on sale on Humble.

Something tells me I should give Kiwami 2 a try 🤔

7 / Like A Dragon was my second game I completed and thought it was a good next step. I did start playing Judgment but life happened and I never finished it, so that is a solid option from the 8 or so hours I saw of it.

If you’re wanting more Kiryu, I would probably just go to Kiwami. With Kiwami 1 and 2 and the HD collection on PlayStation, there’s a good way to jump into that entire story, but also not sure why you would skip a game (outside of one game just being weak compared to the others). My next step in my Yakuza journey is probably Kiwami.

Watch the Kiwami 1 cutscenes on Youtube, then play Kiwami 2, then play Yakuza 7. None of the other games live up to the story of 0, and the gameplay is pretty rough until Yakuza 5.

Goodness me don't play Y4 as your first or second Yakuza. It put me off the series for years until I gave 0 a go. I recently played the whole series (except 7) and if you don't really like the fighting so much I'd say go for Kiwami 2 and then 6. The story of 6 is perfectly understandable on its own but I am glad I played all the games before it since by then I was pretty invested in the story and (some) characters. My personal top 3 in the series are 0, 5 and 6 but 4 is the only one I actively dislike. So if you ask me I'd say go hog wild and just play all the games. You can get them all for pretty cheap now and with the HD editions and remakes it's only 3 that feels -really- old.

Definitely Kiwami 2. You'll get a recap of 1, which has a relatively easy to understand plot (especially compared to most of the games) and dive right into the new-and-improved combat system, with a narrative that stands up. Kiwami 1 does its best, but Yakuza 1's narrative is just too dated to fix at this point.

Kiwami or Like a dragon. If you are invested in Kiryu from your time playing 0, you should absolutely play the games in order, other than 3, because 3 is the low point of the series and the least important to the overall timeline.

Like a dragon you can play any time, next, in the middle of the rest or after it's all done. It does give slight spoilers for the mainline series, but it's enough of it's own thing.

And those stating kiwami 2 is better, you are correct, but Kiwami has the dark middle chapter of Pocket Circuit Fighter the MVP of the whole series.

I also only recently got in to the series and have so far played through 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2. I also came out of 0 tired of the combat honestly, but what I did was just jump into Kiwami with the combat on easy. It wasn't what I enjoyed about 0 anyway. I am mostly just into the fun story/characters/setting and want to see it through and enjoyed it a lot more that way.

Yakuza 5 is the best Yakuza game hands down.

So, whatever your choices might be, you really don't want to miss it.

Playing Yakuza 0 here and there, love it, i knew there were more in the series but i had no idea there was so many. Nice!

As others have said, if you're only going to play one game before jumping to Y7, Kiwami 2 is probably the best option.

The first Kiwami is very skippable. It's a decent remake but there are aspects of it, particularly the story, that feel very dated. You could maybe also jump straight to Y5 or Y6, but those might be a little tougher to get into without more context.

I played Kiwami not long after finishing 0 and thought I might just be burnt out on the series already. Fired up Kiwami 2 a few days ago and have already put in around 30 hours. The combat in this engine just feels better to me. Even going down to 30 fps with K2 on Xbox, the fights feel more fluid. It's a huge step up, IMO. Substories and mini games are also really solid. I ended up playing the cabaret club and clan creator past the point of finishing their storyline.

I'm also having a way easier time with Kiwami 2 thanks to the experience system. You get exp for meals, which cost money and fill your stomach meter. I have millions of dollars after doing cabaret club, and you can buy items that empty your stomach meter. Really easy to grind out some stat increases if you want to make the fights easier.

If you like entertainingly dumb plot, play Yakuza 4. It's also (outside of 7) the only other Yakuza game where Kiryu story doesn't really matter. It feels like they tried to start the series over without Kiryu but got cold feet at the end and scramble last minute to include him into the plot. So like I said, the plot is dumb, but it's entertainingly dumb (Remember the guy with 5 pistols on him, including one in his mouth, from Majima's cutscene in 0? That's from 4).

I'd also say that if you didn't really enjoyed the gameplay from 0, then it's downhill all the way from there so... Yakuza is a series that you have to enjoyed for the package as a whole, and not just for it's gameplay. I haven't played 6 yet but everything I've read about it point to the gameplay being worst than 0.

On a side note; I will be the dissident voice in the room and say that Yakuza 5 was my least favorite Yakuza game I've played yet (From 0-1-2-3-4-5). They tried to put so much stuff into that game that the plot became a mess to follow. Some plot point came out of nowhere and some others get dropped and brushed aside like they weren't there in the first place. Haruka never talking to Majima despite it being one of the last wish Park asked of her is just weird. That story failed to capitalized on so many moment that I was legit mad by the time the credit rolled.

If you only want to play one more of them, I'd actually recommend 6. It fills you in on all the interim story & characters you need to know up front (plus it has a bunch of text recaps of the other games in it if you want extra details). It's a really strong story that actually works pretty well as a standalone thing - it features a handful of core returning characters such as Haruka, Date, and Akiyama (plus the kids from Kiryu's orphanage) but the cast who get the most screen time in 6 are almost all newcomers. It's also probably my second favourite Yakuza story after 0, and it also kinda functions as a wrap to the entire Kiryu arc.

Don't skip Yakuza Kiwami! Yes there are some dated aspects but you get the continuation of the story along with the new Majima Everywhere system.

Majima Everywhere is like 2 funny jokes and then runs the risk of making you tired of seeing Majima and I will not forgive this.

Yakuza is not a story that requires you to see every part of it, also. Don't feel obligated to play a mediocre entry because you'd worry about missing out.

My favourites are 2 and 4, but I don't know how they'd go without the context of the previous games. I also haven't played Kawami 2 so I don't know how that translated. Actually, 4 is probably fine given you're largely dealing with other characters. I found a lot of 5 to be a drag but enjoyed it through the last couple of chapters. Funnily enough, the only one I haven't played is 0 (hoping to get to it once I finish 7).

One of the issues you may run into if you jump into a later game is having no context for the Haruka/Kiryu relationship. While the recap videos are generally fine, they don't really capture some of the great moments in the games.

I think you should play the kiwami versions of 1 and 2 after 0, but even 1 is skippable. Kiwami 2 is fantastic. Then I think you can safely jump ahead to 6 if you don't want to have to play all of the yakuza games. From there you can dive into 7. But absolutely play 7. Like if nothing else, play 7 because it's an incredible game.

That's it. That's the tweet.

Kiwami 2 for sure. The first Kiwami's story is kinda bad, especially coming off 0. Kiwami 2 does a good enough job getting you caught up with what happened.

A lot of people have been saying to jump straight to 6 but honestly if you aren't going to play the on between games there is no point. 6 is the culminating of Kiryu's story and if you aren't invested, or even if you plan to go back to the others later, you'd be robbing yourself of a great experience by doing it now.

It honestly sounds like you should just jump straight to 7.