Like a Dragon: Ishin!

Originally released as a PlayStation 2 game in 2005, Yakuza (Ryu ga Gotoku in Japan) spawned a lengthy, sprawling, and now-beloved video game series that primarily follows Kazuma Kiryu, a member of one of the most important yakuza families (the Dojima family, under the Tojo Clan), in the game’s fictional city of Kamurocho, Tokyo, as he and his vast network of friends and allies navigate the conflicts and schemes that roil throughout society's underbelly.

1. Yakuza 0 (2014)<br> <p>The sixth game released is actually the first chronological Yakuza game. In Yakuza 0, we play as a two protagonists during the economic boom in the late 1980s: The first, a young Kazuma Kiryu who is being framed for a murder set up by one of his lieutenants in the Dojima family. The reason behind this has to do with an ‘Empty Lot,’ a key piece of land that will be a crucial asset for the person and group who owns it and where the apparent murder took place.

2. Yakuza (2005)<br> <p>The first Yakuza game stars Kazuma Kiryu as its only protagonist after he goes to prison for taking the blame for a murder he didn’t commit in 1995. The victim was Sohei Dojima, Kiryu’s boss, who was murdered by Akira Nishikiyama, Kiryu’s best friend. The reason behind this crime was that Sohei tried to rape Yumi Sawamura, a friend of both Kiryu and Nishikiyama.

3. Yakuza 2 (2006)<br> <p>Yakuza 2 starts with Terada, the Fifth Chairman of the Tojo Clan, asking Kiryu to help him prevent a war between his clan and the Omi Alliance, their eternal rivals. After being shot in an ambush, Terada seems to be dead and Kiryu looks for Daigo Dojima, son of Sohei Dojima, to make him the new chairman of the clan.

4. Yakuza 3 (2009)<br> <p>The first game in the series released on PlayStation 3, Yakuza 3 presents an unusual beginning with Kiryu far away from the yakuza lifestyle. Instead, in 2007, he’s taking care of the Morning Glory Orphanage in Okinawa. He’s assisted by Haruka, and he looks after many new kids living there.

5. Yakuza 4 (2010)<br> <p>One year after the events of the previous game, Yakuza 4 raises the stakes in a tale of families, betrayals, and crime from the eyes of four protagonists: Kiryu, Shun Akiyama, Taiga Saejima, and Masayoshi Tanimura.