Yakuza and Like a Dragon games in order, and where to start

The Yakuza series, renamed Like a Dragon in the West in 2022, now runs to nine main games, three Kiwami remakes and a pile of spin-offs. The last eighteen months added a lot: Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, Switch 2 and PS5 versions of Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2, and Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties on February 12, 2026. A distant prequel, Stranger Than Heaven, follows on January 15, 2027.

The short answer: start with Yakuza 0. It's the first game in the story, it's the best-reviewed of the brawlers, and its Director's Cut is on Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Then play in numbered order: Kiwami, Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. If you'd take a turn-based RPG over a brawler, start with Yakuza: Like a Dragon instead. It introduces a new hero and needs no homework.

Yakuza and Like a Dragon games in release order

Years are the first release anywhere, which for most of these means Japan. Western versions often came a year or two later.

PS4 and Xbox One versions also run on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, which our backward compatibility guide explains. Ishin! is a remake of a 2014 samurai spin-off that never left Japan. The table skips a few others that stayed there or sit outside the story: Kenzan, the two Kurohyo games on PSP, and the zombie spin-off Dead Souls.

Yakuza games in story order (chronological)

The story order is simple once you move Yakuza 0 to the front and slot in the side stories. The Kiwami games stand in for the PS2 originals.

Ishin! is set in the 1860s with the series' cast playing historical figures, so it fits anywhere. Stranger Than Heaven will sit before all of it, running from 1915 to 1965.

Dark Ties is the awkward one. It's a prequel about Yakuza 3's villain, so it takes place first but only works once you know who he is. Play Kiwami 3 first, then Dark Ties.

Do you need to play the Yakuza games in order?

For Kiryu's story, yes, more or less. Yakuza 0 through 6 is one long character drama, and each game assumes you remember who betrayed whom in the last one. The plots are self-contained, but the payoffs aren't. Yakuza 6 is the last main game with Kiryu as the lead, and it lands much harder with the earlier games behind you.

Three entry points need no prior knowledge. Yakuza 0 is a prequel. Yakuza: Like a Dragon restarts with Ichiban Kasuga and swaps the brawling for turn-based battles. Judgment is a detective story in the same city with a separate cast.

The side stories have firm places. Gaiden picks up after Yakuza 6, overlaps with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and sets up Kiryu's part in Infinite Wealth, so play it right before Infinite Wealth. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii comes after Infinite Wealth.

Which Yakuza game should I play first?

Yakuza 0, for most people

Yakuza 0 is set in 1988, at the height of Japan's bubble economy, and splits its time between a young Kiryu in Tokyo and Goro Majima running a cabaret in Osaka. It has the series' best mix of crime melodrama and ridiculous side stories, and the PS4 version sits at 85 on Metacritic at the time of writing. Because it's a prequel, you start knowing nothing and miss nothing.

The Director's Cut, a Switch 2 launch game in June 2025 that reached PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC that December, adds new cutscenes, an English dub and an online mode called Red Light Raid. It's $49.99 on Steam.

Yakuza Kiwami, if you want release order

Kiwami remakes the 2005 original, so starting here is how the story was first told. It's shorter and rougher than 0. Its Metacritic score is 80 on PS4 at the time of writing. The catch is that it was built after Yakuza 0 and leans on it, so it plays better second. Start here only if a 1980s prequel doesn't appeal.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon, if you prefer RPGs

This is the first game in the series built as a turn-based RPG, with a party, jobs and a new lead. Ichiban is easier to love than Kiryu is to understand, and the game stands alone. It scores 83 on Metacritic on PC at the time of writing. Its sequel, Infinite Wealth, sits at 89 on PS5 and leans on Kiryu's history, so finish this one first. If long RPGs are your thing, our Trails series guide covers another saga with the same commitment problem.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 or Yakuza 3 Remastered: which should you play?

This is the one place where the remake isn't the obvious pick. Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties rebuilds the 2009 game in the modern Dragon Engine with much better combat, and bundles the new Dark Ties campaign. It also changes and cuts parts of the original story. Reviews were mixed: 74 on Metacritic on PS5 and 77 on Switch 2 at the time of writing, with 62% of critics recommending it on OpenCritic. VGC called it "a disappointing remake."

Yakuza 3 Remastered is the 2009 game with a higher resolution. It plays stiffly, but it's the story as written. GamingBolt reported in January that Sega was pulling it from standalone sale and keeping it inside The Yakuza Remastered Collection with 4 and 5, and Steam no longer shows a standalone price.

My pick: Kiwami 3 if you're on Switch 2 or care most about how a game feels in the hands. The Remastered Collection if you're on PS4, Xbox or PC and want Kiryu's story unaltered. It's the usual trade-off we describe in our piece on why there are so many remakes.

Which Yakuza games are on Switch 2?

Four, and they happen to be the first four in story order: Yakuza 0 Director's Cut (June 5, 2025), Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 (November 13, 2025), and Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties (February 12, 2026). Kiwami is also on the original Switch.

After that the trail stops. Yakuza 4, 5 and 6 aren't on any Nintendo console, and neither are Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Infinite Wealth or the Judgment games. Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama has said, in an interview reported by GamingBolt, that the number "may increase if fans tell us more," which is a maybe. If you want the whole saga on one machine, PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S have everything.

What's next: Stranger Than Heaven

RGG Studio's next game is Stranger Than Heaven, due January 15, 2027 on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, and listed at $69.99 on Steam. It follows Makoto Daito through five Japanese cities between 1915 and 1965 and shows the founding of the Tojo Clan, the organization at the center of the Yakuza games. Yokoyama has said it won't require knowledge of the series. No Switch 2 version has been announced. No tenth main game has been dated either.

Keep your Yakuza run in order

Seventeen games with three naming schemes is easy to lose track of, and these are long games you'll spread over months. In Perthro, you can build a list in story order, log each one with its platform and hours as you finish, and add Stranger Than Heaven to your Interested list so January doesn't sneak up on you. Our backlog tracker page shows how it keeps a series like this from stalling at Yakuza 3.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Like a Dragon (franchise)
• Wikipedia: Yakuza 0
• Wikipedia: Yakuza Kiwami
• Wikipedia: Yakuza Kiwami 2
• Wikipedia: Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties
• Wikipedia: Yakuza 3
• Wikipedia: Yakuza 6: The Song of Life
• Wikipedia: Yakuza: Like a Dragon
• Wikipedia: Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name
• Wikipedia: Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Wikipedia: Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Wikipedia: Judgment
• Wikipedia: Lost Judgment
• Wikipedia: Like a Dragon: Ishin!
• Wikipedia: Stranger Than Heaven
• GamingBolt: more Yakuza Switch 2 ports depend on fan feedback
• Gematsu: Yakuza Kiwami and Kiwami 2 coming to PS5 and Xbox Series
• VGC: Yakuza 0 Director's Cut, Kiwami and Kiwami 2 on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S
• Steam: Yakuza 0 Director's Cut
• Steam: Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties
• Steam: Stranger Than Heaven